Jenny Cao

Jenny is a public health professional with a broad background in health promotion, project management, research and advocacy across government, academic and NGO sectors. She is committed to social justice and work which addresses health inequities for women and girls, particularly those from systemically marginalised communities in Australia and globally.

Jenny’s research interests are in global health, maternal and newborn health, and sexual and reproductive health and rights. At Burnet, her work has focused on studies on interventions to reduce maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality, and access to abortion including various systematic reviews, and qualitative studies. Jenny has also contributed to the World Health Organization’s guidelines on antenatal corticosteroids and tocolytics to improve preterm birth outcomes.

Prior to joining Burnet, Jenny has worked to foster international development cross-sector partnerships in the Asia-Pacific, in family violence prevention for migrant and refugee women and in infectious disease outbreak management.

Jenny holds a Master of Public Health degree, specialising in Gender and Women’s Health and Global Health, from the University of Melbourne. She also currently serves as a Board Director of Family Planning Alliance Australia.

• 2019 – 2023: Master of Public Health (Global Health, Gender and Women’s Health), The University of Melbourne
• 2016 – 2019: Bachelor of Biomedicine (Neuroscience), The University of Melbourne

• 2021–present: International Health Project Officer, Burnet, Australia
• 2022 – present: Board Director, Family Planning Alliance Australia, Australia
• 2021–2022: Prevention of Violence Against Women Project Officer, Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health, Australia
• 2020–2021: Public Health Officer, Department of Health, Victoria, Australia
• 2020: Research and Executive Officer, Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health, Australia
• 2019–2020: Research and Policy Intern, Global Health Alliance Australia, Australia

• 2023: Miller Foundation Public Health Travel Award, Burnet
• 2022: Melbourne Global Scholars Award, The University of Melbourne
• 2021: Post-graduate Award, MacRob Foundation
• 2019: Leaders in Communities Award, The University of Melbourne
• 2016: Undergraduate Scholarship Award for the Bachelor of Biomedicine, The University of Melbourne (2016)