Dr Courtney Ryder is an ECR injury epidemiologist, Aboriginal academic and Discipline Lead for Injury Studies in the College of Medicine and Public Health. Her research is leading new ways of working with Indigenous Data through knowledge interface methodology and Indigenous Data sovereignty to change the deficit discourse surrounding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health statistics, particularly in injury. Ryder earned her BScBEng(Biomed)(Hons) in 2006 from Flinders University and her PhD, entitled ‘Discovering the Interwoven Health Inequities in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children with an Acute Burns Injury,’ from UNSW in 2021.

In 2021 Ryder returned to Flinders as a Senior Lecturer in Public Health. On her return Ryder has made a substantial contribution to scholarship through building high-impact cross-disciplinary education teams as a previous Teaching Program Director (TPD) of Public Health. Ryder was also involved in establishing a Community of Practice in Indigenous Knowledge which supports staff across the University. With over a decade’s experience in higher education, Ryder is viewed as a leader transforming student learning in Cultural Safety and Aboriginal health. Work which has been recognised nationally and internationally, through keynote addresses, congress papers, good practice case studies, teaching innovation and scholarship awards and a Churchill Fellowship.

Outside of teaching and research, Ryder sits on a range of committees:

• South Australian Public Health Council
• Indigenous Engineering Group Executive (Engineers Australia)
• Human Genetics Society of Australasia (HGSA) Indigenous Genomics Steering Committee   

Ryder is an advisory group member for Sex and Gender Policies in Medical Research, Nasal Oxygen Therapy After Cardiac Surgery, and Safer Pathway Project. She is a Research Fellow (academic status) with The George Institute for Global Health, and Senior Lecturer (academic status) at the School of Population Health UNSW. Ryder also LOVES running, competing at SAAL competitions, and chasing after her young family!