Professor Satzke obtained her PhD in molecular microbiology from The University of Melbourne in 2007. She then established a microbiological research laboratory at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute within the Pneumococcal Research Group led by Prof Kim Mulholland.

Professor Satzke led a project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which involved over 20 international collaborators. She has since attracted further funds to establish two serotype reference centres, facilitating vaccine impact studies in Asia. She led the update of World Health Organization (WHO) standards for pneumococcal carriage studies and made important contributions to studies in Fiji, leading to vaccination introduction.

Professor Satzke has been an investigator on grants totalling $39.7 million, notably $3.1 million as co-principal investigator on a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant. Prof Satzke received the inaugural Veski Inspiring Women Fellowship (2015-), the prestigious international Robert Austrian Research award (2012), has been an invited speaker at six international conferences and co-organised a WHO meeting.

Professor Satzke has published in journals including PLOS Medicine, Lancet, Vaccine and PLOS Pathogens. She currently supervises three post-doctoral researchers, one epidemiologist, five research assistants, one administrator, five PhD students and two Masters student, and regularly hosts Masters students. Professor Satzke was named MCRI's supervisor of the year in 2013.