Dr Rachelle Warner

Dr Rachelle Warner is a multidisciplinary health researcher, policy expert, and executive leader with more than two decades of experience spanning military and veterans’ health, government, health policy, research, and national reform.

Rachelle holds a PhD in Medicine from the University of Adelaide, examining the reproductive health of Australian Defence Force veterans of the 2001–2009 Middle East conflicts, with a particular focus on environmental exposures and reproductive outcomes. Her research has examined the health effects of deployment-related exposures, including jet fuel, solvents and noise, and their implications for veterans and their families.

Rachelle spent more than 15 years in the Australian Department of Defence, including senior policy and strategic roles supporting ADF operations, international defence engagement, national capability programs and organisational reform. She deployed to the Middle East Area of Operations, Iraq, Syria, and the Philippines, bringing direct experience of the policy and operational environments in which military health issues arise. Her broader career has included senior roles across the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Australian Taxation Office, Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman, and the Aged Care Quality & Safety Commission.

Rachelle is a member of the Expert Advisory Group for the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Military Sexual Trauma Research Project and previously served for seven years on the Council of the Australasian Military Medicine Association. She is an Adjunct Fellow at Adelaide Medical School and the Robinson Research Institute, and her current research interests include health equity, reproductive and environmental medicine, endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain conditions, veteran-centred care, and the intersections of gender, disability and trauma. Her broader scholarship examines how health systems, policy, and institutional design shape outcomes for people and communities experiencing systemic disadvantage.

A proud Wiradjuri woman, disability advocate and veteran family member, Rachelle brings together scientific research, lived experience, policy expertise and Defence experience. As a member of the JMVH Editorial Board, she is particularly interested in research that strengthens the evidence base for veteran-centred care and advances understanding of the long-term health consequences of military service, deployment and environmental exposure.