Julie Laraine Cliff (born 1944), is an Australian epidemiologist and physician, known for her work in prevention and control of infectious diseases through investigating epidemics and health policy. This includes her role in revealing high levels of cyanide in insufficiently processed cassava, combined with a low protein diet, causing the paralytic disease konzo in poor rural communities in Africa.
In 1996, Cliff was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia, and awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws by Monash University. In 2013 she delivered the John Snow Society's Pumphandle Lecture, titled "From London to Mozambique, from cholera to konzo".
Early life and education
Julie Cliff was born in 1944 in Essendon, Victoria. As a medical student she took up an elective in New Guinea, and in 1967 graduated MBBS from the University of Melbourne. She subsequently completed a diploma in tropical medicine at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and post-graduate medical training in London.
Early career
In 1974 Cliff was appointed honorary medical specialist at Muhimbili Hospital and lecturer in medicine at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. The following year she became medical specialist and director of the Infectious Diseases Unit at Maputo Central Hospital in Mozambique; a position she held for three years. From 1976 to 1988 she was professor auxiliar Faculdade de Medicina at Maputo's Eduardo Mondlane University.
From 1980 to 1984 she was epidemiologist at Mozambique's National Directorate of Preventative Medicine. She returned to the LSHTM to complete a masters degree in community health and then returned to Mozambique. Subsequently, she spent four years as head of the Epidemiology Section of the National Directorate of Heath of the Ministry of Health in Maputo, and two years as acting head of the Department of Community Health in the Faculdade de Medicina Universidade Eduardo Mondlane. In Mozambique she became known for her role in revealing high levels of cyanide in insufficiently processed cassava, combined with a low protein diet, causing the paralytic disease konzo in poor rural communities in Africa.
Later career
In 1988 she moved to the United States, where she became International Epidemiologic Fellow at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. The following year she was Visiting Fellow at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health in Canberra. In 1993 she became a SmithKline Beecham Fellow.
Honors and awards
In 1996, Cliff was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia, and awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws by Monash University. She is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London.
In 2013 she presented the John Snow Society's Pumphandle Lecture in London, titled "From London to Mozambique, from cholera to konzo".
Selected publications
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