Natalie Walker

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.

Selected works

• A Rodgers; N Walker; S Schug; et al. (1 December 2000). "Reduction of postoperative mortality and morbidity with epidural or spinal anaesthesia: results from overview of randomised trials". The BMJ. 321 (7275): 1493. doi:10.1136/BMJ.321.7275.1493. ISSN 0959-8138. PMC 27550. PMID 11118174. Wikidata Q34105313.
• Chris Bullen; Colin Howe; Murray Laugesen; Hayden McRobbie; Varsha Parag; Jonathan Williman; Natalie Walker (9 September 2013). "Electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation: a randomised controlled trial". The Lancet. 382 (9905): 1629–1637. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(13)61842-5. ISSN 0140-6736. PMID 24029165. Wikidata Q34370483.
• Andrew B Jull; Nicky Cullum; Jo C Dumville; Maggie J Westby; Sohan Deshpande; Natalie Walker (6 March 2015). "Honey as a topical treatment for wounds". Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (3): CD005083. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD005083.PUB4. ISSN 1469-493X. PMID 25742878. Wikidata Q24187363.
• Joanne Barnes; Christine Y Dong; Hayden McRobbie; Natalie Walker; Monaz Mehta; Lindsay F Stead (6 October 2010). "Hypnotherapy for smoking cessation". Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (10): CD001008. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD001008.PUB2. ISSN 1469-493X. PMID 20927723. Wikidata Q24234471.
• Natalie Walker; Colin Howe; Marewa Glover; et al. (18 December 2014). "Cytisine versus nicotine for smoking cessation". The New England Journal of Medicine. 371 (25): 2353–62. doi:10.1056/NEJMOA1407764. ISSN 0028-4793. PMID 25517706. Wikidata Q28254090.
• Natalie Walker; Varsha Parag; Marjolein Verbiest; George Laking; Murray Laugesen; Christopher Bullen (9 September 2019). "Nicotine patches used in combination with e-cigarettes (with and without nicotine) for smoking cessation: a pragmatic, randomised trial". The Lancet. Respiratory medicine. 8 (1): 54–64. doi:10.1016/S2213-2600(19)30269-3. ISSN 2213-2600. PMID 31515173. Wikidata Q90082784.