Janet Fanslow

Associate Professor in Violence Prevention and Mental Health Promotion, University of Auckland
Janet Fanslow is an Associate Professor at the School of Population Health, University of Auckland, and Chief Advisor of the New Zealand Family Violence Clearinghouse. She is a population health scientist specialising in the violence prevention and the promotion of mental health. She has worked at the University of Auckland since 1991, first as a researcher, and as a faculty member since 2007. Her work is transdisciplinary, and she collaborates with colleagues in sociology, social work, psychology, public policy, and health. One of her goals is to identify and foster leaders in the field of violence prevention.

Janet undertook a postdoctoral research fellowship in the Violence Prevention Division of the USA Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, after completing her PhD at the University of Auckland in the field of public health – the first study on health response to victims of intimate partner violence in New Zealand. She also holds a Masters degree from the University of Otago, and a Bachelors Degree with Honors and Distinction from Iowa State University.

Janet’s post-doctoral work was with the USA Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Family and Intimate Violence Prevention Team, where she:
• collaborated on developing uniform definitions for intimate partner violence
• explored programs relating to responses perpetrators of violence
• supported work on healthcare responses to violence.

Areas of Expertise
• Epidemiology of violence, including intimate partner violence, child abuse and neglect, elder abuse and neglect and violence by non-partners
• Understanding the health and social consequences of violence
• Developing and supporting implementation of health care responses to violence
• Understanding community and societal factors that contribute to positive mental health
• Mental Health Promotion Knowledge Competencies https://www.iuhpe.org/images/IUHPE/Advocacy/IUHPE-MHP_KC.pdf

• In 2018, Janet was awarded membership of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to the research and prevention of family violence.