Natalie Walker (academic)

Natalie K. Walker is a New Zealand academic, and is a Professor of Social and Community Health at the University of Auckland, specialising in the reduction of harm from non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. She has an interest in smoking cessation but also researches on alcohol, cannabis and sugar.

Academic career
After a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science, Walker joined the faculty of the University of Auckland in 1995, first as a Research Fellow. She completed a PhD in medicine titled Epidemiological studies of leg ulcers in Auckland, New Zealand at the University of Auckland in 2000. Walker was later appointed to full professor. Walker is associate director of the Centre for Addiction Research, and leads addiction research in the National Institute for Health Innovation.

Walker's research focuses on respiratory and cardiovascular health, and the prevention and treatment of non-communicable diseases such as heart disease and cancer. She has a particular interest in smoking cessation, conducting community-based clinical trials to create evidence to inform policy decisions. She has researched reduced harm and replacement products, vapes, nicotine reduced products, and smokefree environments, and also researches other addictive substances such as cannabis, ibogaine and sugar.

Walker and Chris Bullen led a team that was awarded a Research Excellence Medal by the University in 2018, for their work on ways to assist people quit smoking. She was elected a Fellow of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco in 2019.