Wala joined QCIF as a Biostatistician in 2026, following her role as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Queensland, where she developed ensemble forecasting models for dengue fever across Vietnam's Mekong Delta, integrating climate covariates and Bayesian methods.

During this role, she also collaborated with Yale University on spatiotemporal disease modelling. She obtained her PhD in Statistics from Queensland University of Technology (2024), where her research focused on integrating machine learning and Bayesian statistics in spatial small area analysis, with applications in children's developmental vulnerability in Queensland.

She has published research in Q1 journals spanning spatial statistics, machine learning, and public health.

Wala is passionate about time series modelling, predictive regression models, and machine learning, and enjoys applying these methods to real-world health problems.

She enjoys translating complex statistical outputs into accessible tools for non-technical audiences, including building interactive Shiny dashboards in R that help researchers and policymakers make informed decisions from complex health data.

Outside of research, Wala enjoys cooking and cherishes time spent with her children, balancing a busy research career with a fulfilling family life.