Danielle Muscat, B.Psych. (Hons: Class 1), PhD, is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow and Westmead Lead of the Sydney Health Literacy Lab.
Dr Muscat’s work is focused on improving health literacy among socially disadvantaged groups to empower them to be active participants in decisions about their health. Her doctoral work involved the development and evaluation of a world-first health literacy program for Australian adults attending adult basic literacy courses at TAFE across New South Wales.
Dr Muscat has continued this work in her post-doctoral role he currently leads a projects to improve health literacy for Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and new parents in the diverse communities of western Sydney.
Dr Muscat is an active member of the Health Literacy Research Network, and the Health Literacy Node at the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney. In 2019, she was appointed as an Advisor on Health Literacy to the World Health Organization. She has also been involved in teaching students throughout her career, including teaching graduate and post-graduate coursework units in decision-making and health literacy, and acting in a supervisory role for University of Sydney research students.
Academic Institute: Sydney Health Literacy Lab, University of Sydney
Research Interests: Dr Muscat’s research interests includehealth literacy, decision-making, and patient-provider communication, with a particular focus on improving the quality of health communication and decision support for socially disadvantaged, lower literacy populations.
Stillbirth CRE project: Within the Stillbirth CRE, Dr Muscat is leading a pilot study of a group-based health literacy program to reduce stillbirth in culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) groups in western Sydney.
Email address: danielle.muscat@sydney.edu.au