Danielle Mazza

Professor Danielle Mazza is the Head of the Department of General Practice at Monash University. Her major interest is in translational research, with particular focus on closing evidence practice gaps in women's sexual and reproductive health, preventive care, and primary care aspects of cancer. Her methodological expertise lies in primary care research, the development and trial of complex interventions in the general practice setting, utilising routinely collected primary care data to inform policy and practice and in guideline development and implementation

Professor Mazza is ranked among the top general practice academics in Australia. Over the course of her career, she has acquired more than $22.52 million in competitive funding for 50 research grants as a Chief Investigator ($4,692 million as CIA). Of this, $19.85 million was awarded in the last 5 years for 28 research grants, of which $15.72 million was from Category One funding (NHMRC for two Project grants, one Partnership Projects grant, one Dementia Research Team Grant; two Centres of Research Excellence; two Project grants funded by the Priority Driven Cancer Research Scheme; and one grant from the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute). She has 142 peer-reviewed publications (51 as first-author) in high-quality journals, 89 of which were published in the last five years. Professor Mazza is also the author of the textbook 'Women's health in general practice', which is a recommended text for the RACGP's core curriculum and has been translated into Mandarin to meet the need for improved delivery of women's sexual and reproductive health in Chinese general practice.

Professor Mazza is particularly committed to improving the quality of sexual and reproductive health care for women in general practice. In addition to her textbook, Professor Mazza is leading a research program that is focused on closing evidence-practice gaps in relation to contraception uptake, preconception care and unplanned pregnancy in Australia. She is the lead Chief Investigator of The Australian Contraceptive Choice Project, a 4-year NHMRC-funded cluster RCT aimed at increasing the uptake of long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs) among Australian women. She also currently holds a number of positions that reflect her long-standing commitment to improving health outcomes for Australian women. These include membership of the Steering Group for Cancer Australia’s Guidance for the Management of Early Breast Cancer in Women and membership of the Steering Committee for the Renewal Implementation Project (SCRIP) as part of the National Cervical Cancer Screening Program.

Professor Mazza is also actively involved in collaborative programs that are aimed at improving the delivery of quality care in general practice. One example is EQUIP-GP, a large $2 million collaborative project with researchers at Monash University, the University of Wollongong, and the University of Tasmania that is investigating the effects of incentivising longer consultations and continuity of care on patient outcomes.  She is also collaborating with researchers at the University of Newcastle and the University of Melbourne on projects that are focused on overcoming evidence–practice gaps in areas such as cardiovascular disease, the prevention and early diagnosis of cancer, and depression.

Professor Mazza has also made considerable contributions to the development and implementation of guidelines for Australian GPs. She is currently leading a national collaboration aimed at developing evidence-based guidelines to support GPs in diagnosing and managing work-related mental health claims. She previously led the development of Cancer Australia’s Investigating Symptoms of Lung Cancer: An Evidence-based Guide for General Practitioners (2012). She was Chair of the editorial group that developed the third edition of the RACGP’s “Green book” Putting Prevention into Practice and was a member of the editorial group for two of the RACGP’s other flagship guidelines: the 7th, 8th, and 9th editions of the “Redbook” Preventive Care Guidelines for General Practice and the 2nd edition of the RACGP's "SNAP" population health guide to behavioural risk factors in general practice.

In addition to her academic commitments, Professor Mazza continues to work as a GP in the Bayside area of Melbourne. She is also a current board member of the South East Melbourne Primary Health Network and was previously on the board of the Bayside Medicare Local, Central Bayside Division of General Practice and the Victorian Metropolitan Alliance (a regional general practice training provider).