Julie Cliff

Julie Laraine Cliff AO (born 1944) is an Australian physician and epidemiologist known for her work in the prevention and control of infectious diseases through investigating epidemics and health policy, particularly in Mozambique, where her career spanned around 40 years.

There, her investigations revealed that the re-emergence of the paralytic disease konzo in poor rural communities was caused by high levels of cyanide in insufficiently processed cassava, as a result of changes in food preparation practices due to the economic effects of war and drought.

[2] In 1974 Cliff was appointed honorary medical specialist at Muhimbili Hospital and lecturer in medicine at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania; spending two years in that country.

[1][2] From 1976 to 1979 she was medical specialist and director of the Infectious Diseases Unit at Maputo Central Hospital in Mozambique, joining there shortly after the country gained independence.

[1] Internationally, Cliff has become known for her role in revealing that the re-emergence of the paralytic disease konzo in poor rural communities in Mozambique was caused by high levels of cyanide in insufficiently processed cassava, as a result of changes in food preparation practices due to the economic effects of war and drought.

[4] Instead of the usual three day soaking of peeled cassava roots followed by drying it out in the sun and then grinding it to a flour, poverty and drought had led to hunger and resulted in shortening the preparation process.

[11][12] In 1989 Cliff became visiting fellow at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health in Canberra, Australia, and in 1993 SmithKline Beecham awarded her a fellowship.