Areas of interest
Stillbirth
Research group
Epidemiology and Clinical Trials
Biography
Dr Natalie Holowko obtained her PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Queensland in 2016. With a background in public health and a strong interest in social inequalities over the life course, Natalie completed her PostDoc in Breast Cancer Epidemiology at Karolinska Institute, Sweden.
Following this, Natalie joined the Reproductive and Perinatal Epidemiology group (Clinical Epidemiology) at Karolinska Institute, where she was involved in a number of different projects. Natalie remains affiliated with the group, and is a co-applicant (with Prof. Olof Stephansson’s) on a $700,000 project funded by the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research (FORTE) to investigate diabetes during pregnancy and strategies to improve maternal and infant outcomes.
In line with her skillset and interest in social inequalities, Natalie also collaborates with researchers from Stockholm University on epidemiological studies among women with disability – including cancer diagnosis and prognosis, and care over the life-course for women with disability.
As a perinatal epidemiologist, Natalie is involved at all stages of the research process – study inception, design, data (collection, management, analysis), and dissemination of research findings.
At The Ritchie Centre, Natalie is excited to be using her epidemiological skillset to contribute to knowledge to prevent still births and improve both maternal and infant outcomes.
Education
| PhD (Epidemiology) |
University of Queensland |
Brisbane |
| MSc (Population Health: Societal and Individual Perspectives) |
Centre for Health Equity Studies, Stockholm University |
Stockholm, Sweden |
| Grad.Dip.Ed |
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT |
Melbourne |
| BA (Sociology, Social work) |
LaTrobe University |
Melbourne |
Awards and fellowships
| 2023 |
CIB: Diabetes in pregnancy – understanding the role of intensified treatment, social inequalities, and co-creation of care strategies to improve maternal and infant outcomes. |
FORTE ( Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life, and Welfare) |
Affiliations
| Adjunct Research Fellow |
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Monash University |
| Research fellow/Epidemiologist |
Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden |
Publication highlights
Xinhe M, He W, Humphreys K, Eriksson M, Holowko N, Yang H, Tapia J, Hall P, Czene K. (2024) Breast cancer incidence after a false-positive mammography result: a population-based study with over 20 years of follow-up. JAMA Oncology. 10 (1):63-70. doi: 10.1001/jamaoncol.2023.4519
Ivert A, Holowko N, Liu X, Edqvist M, Roos N, Gustafson P, Stephansson O. (2023) Maternal and pregnancy risk factors for suboptimal care during childbirth: a nationwide cohort study. Scientific Reports. 13 (1): 21731. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-49234-7
Xu H, Holowko N, Näslund I, Ottosson J, Arkema E, Stephansson O, Johansson J. (2023) Pregnancy weight gain after gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy: a nationwide population-based matched cohort study. JAMA Open Network. 6 (12): e2346228. doi: 1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.46228
Xinhe M, He W, Eriksson M, Lindström L, Holowko N, Bajalica Lagercrantz S, Hammarström M, Humphreys K, Easton D, Hall P, Czene K. (2023) Prediction of breast cancer risk for sisters of women attending screening. JNCI. (accepted). doi: 1093/jnci/djad101
Holowko N, Haas J, Ahlberg, M, Stephansson O, Örtqvist A. (2023) More than time: travel time to the delivery ward and maternal outcomes – onset of labour, postpartum haemorrhage and OASIS. Public Health. 217:105-114. doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2023.01.27
Holowko N, Eriksson M, Kuja-Halkola R, Azam S, He W, Hall P, Czene K. (2020) Heritability of mammographic breast density, density change, microcalcifications, and masses. Cancer Research. 80 (7): 1590-1600. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-19-2455
Yang H, Pawitan Y, He w, Eriksson L, Holowko N, Hall P, Czene K. (2019) Disease trajectories and mortality among women diagnosed with breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res. 21(1):95. doi: 10.1186/s13058-019-1181-5.
Holowko N, Jones M, Tooth L, Koupil I, Mishra G. Combined effect of education and reproductive history on weight trajectories of young Australian women: a longitudinal study. Obesity (Silver Spring). 24 (10): 2224-31. doi: 10.1002/oby.21610
Holowko N, Jones M, Tooth L, Koupil I, Mishra G. High education and increased parity are associated with breastfeeding initiation and duration among Australian women. Public Health Nutrition. Oct 19 (14): 2551-61. doi 10.1014/S1368980016000367
Holowko N, Mishra G, Koupil I. (2014) Social Inequality in gestational weight gain. International Journal of Obesity. 38(1):91-6. doi: 10.1038/ijo.2013.62
