Post-doctoral research officer
PhD, FRACP, MBBS, BSc, DTM&H
Dr Kajal Hirani is a Consultant Pediatrician and Adolescent Medicine Physician with a PhD in the area of Adolescent Refugee Health. She is currently a post-doctoral research officer within the END RHD program at Telethon Kids Institute. She also works clinically across both Perth Children’s Hospital (Department of Infectious Diseases and Refugee Health Service) and Fiona Stanley Hospital (Department of General Paediatrics).
Dr Hirani has extensive experience in provision of clinical care, medical education, programmatic implementation, guideline/policy development and both research and quality improvement initiatives within both developed and developing countries including Kenya, Malawi, Bangladesh, UK and Australia. Her work has been geared towards provision of evidence-based healthcare delivery to children and young people from marginalised backgrounds, with a specific focus on high-risk youth populations, and those from culturally and linguistically diverse communities. Her research interest within the END RHD program at Telethon Kids Institute is focused towards improving healthcare delivery to children and young people living with, and at risk of rheumatic heart disease through holistic models of care addressing both medical and psychosocial needs. She has a strong interest in the linkage between health and education to improve health outcomes and her current project is related to capacity building among school health nurses to promote primordial prevention of acute rheumatic fever.