Lesley Russell is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Sydney’s Leeder Centre for Health Policy, Economics and Data. She was the inaugural Menzies Foundation Fellow at the Menzies Centre for Health Policy and, prior to that, a health policy adviser to the federal Labor Party. She worked for seven years as health policy adviser on the Energy and Commerce Committee in the US House of Representatives and was a Senior Policy Adviser to the US Surgeon-General during the Obama Administration.
National affairs
An ounce of prevention…
Lesley Russell
6 December 2022
… is worth a pound of cure — which is why we need an Australian Centre for Disease Control charged with doing both
International
Game changers
Lesley Russell
16 November 2022
After last week’s midterm results, Donald Trump’s new run for president seems to come from a different era
International
American democracy at its best?
Lesley Russell
7 October 2022
Our correspondent votes early for Colorado’s candidates in the US midterm elections
International
Democrats resurgent?
Lesley Russell
7 September 2022
Has the battle for the US midterm elections reached an inflection point?
International
Bridging the jab divide
Lesley Russell
5 November 2021
Rich countries have dragged their feet on promises to help less well-off countries vaccinate. But there are small signs of progress
International
Joe Biden peers into the abyss
Lesley Russell
3 October 2021
The US president knows very well what history says about protracted and acrimonious legislative disputes
International
Home front victories
Lesley Russell
17 August 2021
Autumn approaches with Joe Biden on a domestic high
National affairs
How we tumbled down the Covid-19 league table
Lesley Russell
1 July 2021
This week’s blow-up between the premiers and the PM was triggered by the latest in a series of bad decisions about vaccination
International
Roe v Wade v Trump
Lesley Russell
1 June 2021
The one-term president and his allies have had an outsized impact on abortion rights
International
Building Obamacare back better
Lesley Russell
10 May 2021
Joe Biden’s prioritisation of healthcare has been evident from day one
Essays & reportage
In search of ground zero
Lesley Russell
7 April 2021
Politics meets science in response to the WHO’s report on the origins of the coronavirus
International
Vaccinating the world
Lesley Russell
2 March 2021
Sharing vaccines fairly is not only an ethical imperative but also essential to controlling Covid-19
International
When wealthier doesn’t mean healthier
Lesley Russell
11 February 2021
Covid-19 hit the United States hard, but life expectancy was already falling. The lessons for other countries are clear
International
Hitting the ground running
Lesley Russell
17 December 2020
Joe Biden’s team inherits a country deeply divided by the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus
International
Tracking the transition
Lesley Russell
10 November 2020
What needs to happen during Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s journey from win to White House?
International
America’s long wait
Lesley Russell
4 November 2020
In the absence of a clear result on election night, Donald Trump began pursuing his plan to pre-empt
International
Same stripes, no new tricks
Lesley Russell
23 October 2020
The final presidential debate is unlikely to have changed any minds — but it did remind attentive viewers that Donald Trump doesn’t have a clue about what would replace…
International
Politics behind plexiglass
Lesley Russell
8 October 2020
The vice-presidential debate maintained the focus on the US administration’s disastrous mishandling of the pandemic
International
Trump’s generation gap
Lesley Russell
8 September 2020
Young voters look like playing a bigger role than usual in this year’s election
International
Right candidate, right time
Lesley Russell
12 August 2020
In what’s likely to be a punishing campaign, Kamala Harris ticks all the boxes
International
Trump’s plot against America
Lesley Russell
9 July 2020
Now we know the president’s campaign target: the enemies within
International
How not to feed America
Lesley Russell
11 June 2020
Has the Trump administration turned the pandemic into a food crisis?
National affairs
Covid-19’s second wave
Lesley Russell
26 May 2020
Government can do more to flatten the mental illness curve
Essays & reportage
What are we learning from the coronavirus?
Lesley Russell
29 April 2020
A massive medical research effort is producing almost as many questions as answers
International
American democracy on hold?
Lesley Russell
7 April 2020
In the lead-up to the presidential elections, Republicans are using whatever weapons they can lay their hands on
National affairs
Ethics in a time of scarcity
Lesley Russell
29 March 2020
The coronavirus pandemic presents us with difficult choices, locally, nationally and internationally
International
Donald Trump’s biggest test
Lesley Russell
14 March 2020
Coronavirus has already changed life and national politics in the United States
National affairs
Gap year
Lesley Russell
13 February 2020
The latest Closing the Gap report brings cause both for scepticism and for guarded optimism
International
Whatever it takes
Lesley Russell
11 February 2020
A long week in American politics ends with a president still struggling in the national polls
International
Known unknowns
Lesley Russell
19 January 2020
The trial of Donald Trump will feed into the Democratic primaries, the election, and beyond
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