Natasha HOWARD-mid-shot

Associate Professor

HOWARD Natasha

I am an interdisciplinary health policy and systems researcher, drawing primarily on theories and methodologies from sociology, political science/IR, and global health/development to engage in policy-relevant research in infectious disease control in Asia and strengthening health system responses during protracted adversity (e.g. fragility, complex emergencies, displacement). My teaching includes developing and directing NUS’s Doctor of Public Health (DrPH), previously developing and co-directing an MSc programme and postgraduate courses/modules, editing and writing textbooks, supervising doctoral and masters-level student research, and mentoring students and professionals.

Affiliations

  • NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health (Primary)
  • London School of Hygiene &Tropical Medicine (Joint)

Research Areas

  • Global health / One Health
  • Infectious disease control policy and practice
  • Health systems, particularly issues relevant to low and middle-income countries in Asia
  • Mixed, qualitative, and participatory methods

Teaching Areas

  • Global health
  • Mixed and qualitative research methods
  • DrPH

Academic/Professional Qualifications

  • DrPH, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)
  • PGCert Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, LSHTM
  • MSc Public Health for Development (Epidemiology focus), LSHTM
  • PGCert Teaching English as a Foreign Language, Transworld Teachers
  • AB International Relations (Development focus), University of California at Davis

Awards/Honours

  • Fellowship of the UK Higher Education Academy

Career History

  • (2012-2020) Assistant Professor in Global Health and Conflict, Department of Global Health and Development, LSHTM, UK
  • (2008-2012) Research Fellow, Department of Global Health and Development/Department of Disease Control, LSHTM, UK
  • (2010-2020) Lead Tutor, Postgraduate Diploma in Remote & Offshore Medicine, Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh, UK
  • (2006-2017) Distance Learning External Staff, LSHTM/University of London, UK
  • (2000-2015) Freelance global public health consultant
  • (1997-1999) Community Development Volunteer, Peace Corps, Jordan

Administrative Leadership

  • DrPH Programme Director
  • MPH Global Health Specialisation Lead

Professional/Consulting Activities

  • Member, Gavi Independent Review Committee.

Selected Publications

Please see here for a full list of publications.

  • Aviso M, Tay WD, Farwin A, Durrance-Bagale A, Lam ST, Nagashima-Hayashi M, Jacob-Chow B, Marzouk M, Liew J, Clapham HE, Howard N (2025): “Basically a PR exercise…”: a qualitative study of expert perspectives on ‘performative versus evidence-informed’ dengue vector control in the Asia-Pacific region. BMJ Global Health. 2025;10:e019723. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2025-019723.
  • López Toledano MD, Basnet H, Durrance-Bagale A, Howard N* (2025). Zoonotic anxieties: The cultural politics of Nepal’s quest for pandemic preparedness. Med Anth Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1111/maq.70025.
  • López Toledano MD, Low A, Aviso M, Lam ST, Jacinto K, Hyat Ayub M, Howard N* (2025). Toward ‘planetary health security’? Critical scoping review of conceptual linkages between ‘health security’ and ‘planetary health’. PLOS Clim 4(10): e0000593. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000593.
  • Nunes C, Mckee M*, Rushton S, Howard N (2025). ‘I Think, From the Beginning, the Ambitions Were Compromised’: A Case Study of COVAX as Vaccine Equity Policy Operationalisation, The International Journal of Health Planning and Management: 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1002/hpm.70028.
  • Howard A, Low A*, Howard N (2025): Exploring ways to improve healthcare service access for people experiencing homelessness in Manchester, UK, Health Promotion International, Volume 40, Issue 4, August 2025, daaf108, https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/daaf108.
  • Ali ZIA, Alhaffar M*, Howard N (2025): “I just wanted to be like everyone else…”: Qualitative exploration of women’s perspectives on female genital mutilation/cutting and its potential abandonment in Somalia. PLOS Glob Public Health 5(7): e0004571. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0004571.
  • Shiraz F, Knop MR, Low A*, Durrance-Bagale A*, López Toledano MD, Legido-Quigley H, Howard N. (2025) “…pretty much all white, and most of them are psychiatrists and men”: Mixed-methods analysis of influence and challenges in global mental health. PLOS Glob Public Health 5(3): e0003923. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0003923
  • Sharma E, Duclos D, Howard N* (2024): The nexus between maternity care and bordering practices: a qualitative study of provider perspectives on maternal healthcare provision for Afghan women migrating through Serbia to Western Europe, Social Science & Medicine, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116880.
  • Douedari Y*, Alhaffar M, Khanshor A, Alhiraki O, Marzouk M, Howard N (2023): ‘COVID-19 is just another way to die…’: a qualitative longitudinal study of frontline COVID-19 response governance across Syria. BMJ Global Health 2023;8:e013199.
  • Alshalah A, Douedari Y, Howard N (2023): ‘What we lacked was the courage to take decisions that differed from the rest of the world’: expert perspectives on the role of evidence in COVID-19 policymaking in Iraq. BMJ Global Health 2023;8:e012926.
  • Li B*, Chen J, Howard N (2023): Community nursing delivery in urban China: A social power perspective. Soc Sci Med. Volume 326, June 2023, 115923.
  • Alhaffar M, Hamid A, Douedari Y, Howard N (2022): ’We are trying to live in a normal way, but nothing is normal about us anymore…’: a qualitative study of women’s lived experiences of healthcare in opposition-controlled areas of Syria. BMJ Global Health, 2022;7:e008812. doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2022-008812.
  • Durrance-Bagale A, Marzouk M, Ananthakrishnan A, Nagashima-Hayashi M, Lam ST, Sittimart M, Howard N (2022): ‘Science is only half of it’: Expert perspectives on operationalising infectious disease control cooperation in the ASEAN region. PLOS Glob Public Health 2(5): e0000424. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0000424.
  • Durrance-Bagale A*, Omar M, Salman OM, Alhaffar M, Ferdaus M, Newaz S, Krishnan S, Howard N (2020): Humanitarian cluster lessons for strengthening health system responses to mass displacement in low and middle-income countries: a scoping review. J Migr Health. 2020;1-2:100028.
  • Pursch B, Tate A, Legido-Quigley H, Howard N (2020): Health for all? A qualitative study of NGO support to migrants affected by structural violence in northern France. Soc Sci Med, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.112838.

Media Coverage

Back to Faculty Directory
Scroll to Top