Prof Stephen Simpson AC FAA FRS

Academic Director of the Charles Perkins Centre and Professor in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Sydney, Executive Director of Obesity Australia

Professor Stephen Simpson is Academic Director of the Charles Perkins Centre, an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow and Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Sydney. 

Together with colleague David Raubenheimer, Stephen developed an integrative modelling framework for nutrition, the Geometric Framework which has been applied to a range of problems including the dietary causes of human obesity and ageing. 

Stephen has won several awards for his research including the Eureka Prize for Scientific Research (2008) and NSW Scientist of the Year (2009). He was also co-writer, narrator and presenter of the four-part documentary Great Southern Land, for ABC TV, which was aired to critical and viewer acclaim in September 2012.

A/Prof Annette Schmiede

CEO Digital Health CRC, Chair of Research Australia

Northern Sydney LHD And Research Australia

Annette maintains leadership and governance roles across Australia’s health, university and medical research sectors.  Until recently she was the Executive Leader of the Bupa Health Foundation, Australia’s leading corporate foundation dedicated to funding health and medical research. 

She is Deputy Chair of the NSLHD and Chair of Research Australia. She has a deep understanding of the complex policy and funding issues facing the provision of health services in Australia and the challenges of building a sustainable health system, particularly through maintaining healthy populations. This is especially evident with obesity and the need for action on obesity prevention to reduce the burden of other chronic diseases. Annette is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Public Health at Sydney University.

Prof Emeritus Ian Caterson AM FRSN

Professor of Human Nutrition and Foundation Director of The Boden Collaboration for Obesity Nutrition, Exercise & Eating Disorders at the University of
Sydney

MBBS (Hons) BSc(Med) (Hons) PhD (The University Of Sydney) FRACP

Ian Caterson is currently Foundation Director of the Boden Institute of Obesity Nutrition Exercise and Eating Disorders, as well as Boden Professor of Human Nutrition at the University of Sydney. 

Prior to that he was Senior Staff Specialist and Director of Clinical Endocrinology at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, where, in 1984, he established the first multi-disciplinary weight management service in Australia. He was a recipient of the prestigious Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Foundation Medal for 2015.

In 2005, Professor Ian Caterson alongside fellow colleagues, Professor Kopelman and Dr DIetz wrote a book titled Clinical Obesity, published by Blackwell Publishers.

Ian is a recognised expert on obesity, its causes, prevention and management. He was on the Prevention and Community Health Committee of the NHMRC of Australia and chaired the Expert Obesity Committee of the Australian National Preventive Health Agency. He is President-elect of World Obesity.

Ms Sue Bellino

Former Political Director for the Australian Nursing And Midwifery Federation

Sue Bellino is the Political Director for the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, the union for nurses, midwives and assistants in nursing in Australia. The ANMF is Australia’s largest trade union. 

Sue Bellino coordinates the national campaigns, political strategy, and media and communications for the ANMF federally and has done for the last 10 years.

Sue currently coordinates the campaign and strategy for the national aged care campaign for the ANMF, Ratios for Aged Care, Make them Law Now.

Previously, Sue held the position of Senior Advisor at CPR Communications and Public Relations, and was Political Co-ordinator for the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union for the 2007 WorkChoices Campaign.

Mr Andrew Wilson

Engagement lead for the Weight Issues Network

Andrew Wilson is a husband and father of a teenage son. He is passionate about helping people living with obesity and struggling with mental health issues. He enjoys swimming at his local pool, walking in the beautiful Blue Mountains, presenting on local community radio (10 years), beekeeping, trying to become a self-sustainable gardener and is a local Rural Fire Service volunteer firefighter. In 2019, Andrew founded Lads Living Large, a men’s obesity self-support group, with other likeminded men. Just months after losing a friend in 2019, he also founded the Mid Mountains Men’s Walk & Talk, a group of men who exercise, connect and support each other in the Blue Mountains area. Both of these groups have managed to support men through some very challenging times.

Prof Caroline Miller

Director of the Health Policy Centre at SAHMRI

Professor Caroline Miller is the Director of the Health Policy Centre at SAHMRI. She is also an NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow 2 at the University of Adelaide. Caroline is qualified in Psychology, Economics and Public Health.

The Health Policy Centre undertakes research in public health prevention – specialising in obesity prevention, tobacco control and COVID-19 policy. The Centre delivers timely and relevant evidence to inform public health policy reform, social marketing campaigns, and other interventions to change the context for health behaviours and reduce the preventable burdens of disease.

Caroline leads a program of research in obesity prevention, with a specialist focus on ultra-processed foods and beverages, including sugar sweetened and non-sugar sweetened beverages. She has specialist expertise in labelling and is currently investigating added sugar labels and consumer warning labels for beverages. She also has interests in public health communication, policy dialogue and reducing weight-stigma.

Caroline has specialised in tobacco control for over 25 years. She was one of a select group of scientists advising the Australian Government on world-leading tobacco plain packaging laws. She contributed to the research program which underpinned the law, and its defence against international legal challenges. She established and leads the Tobacco Control Research + Evaluation program which undertakes population monitoring, research and evaluation in all aspects of tobacco control, including vaping.

Caroline leads SAHMRI’s Community and Consumer Engagement strategy, and is committed to the involvement of people with lived experience in research, policy and services.

She is Vice President (Policy) Public Health Association of Australia, and Council Member Australian New Zealand Obesity Society (ANZOS).

Mr Alan Garner

BComm (University Of Calgary, Canada), CPA (CPA Canada and CA ANZ)

Alan was born in Calgary, Canada, moving to Australia with his wife in 2017. Alan believes that creating change and awareness starts with supporting our communities while fostering a sense of individual agency. Since arriving in Australia, Alan has discovered a passion for triathlons and a love of the coast.

Alan is a partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). He co-leads PwC Australia’s international capital markets team, supporting Australian companies navigate the complexities of global debt and equity offerings. With over 15 years’ experience at PwC, Alan has worked in Australia, Canada, the US and the UK across external audit, private client, not-for-profit, accounting technical, and consulting services.

Throughout his career, Alan has supported organisations undergoing significant transformations to enhance their governance practices and meet growing stakeholder needs. Alan previously served as the Director, Treasurer and Audit Committee Chair of Aventa Addiction Treatment for Women from 2013 to 2017.

Prof Stephen Colagiuri OA

Professor of Metabolic Health, Charles Perkins Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney

Primary area of interest/work: Preventive public health and policy interventions. Weight loss interventions

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?: High level acknowledgment of the impact of excessive weight on individual and population health and the need for policies to promote a less obesogenic environment. PBS reimbursement of proven and effective weigh loss medications.

Dr Terri-Lynne South

General Practitioner, a registered dietitian, Chairperson of the RACGP Specific Interest in Obesity Medicine group

Primary area of interest/work: Medical treatment.

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?: Better prevention of obesity requires a change in our environment, from a government down point of view. A significant improvement in the management of obesity as a chronic health condition would come from reduced weight-related stigma, in all it’s forms.

Brief history of your experience related obesity: My first career was as a dietitian and I worked in several tertiary hospitals, community health centers and private practice, primarily regarding weight management and diabetes. I then retrained as a medical practitioner and have worked as a General Practitioner for the last 14 years. Since 2022 I have focused solely on obesity management and the management of weight-related health conditions.

Dr Hiba Jebeile

Research Fellow, University of Sydney, co-lead and Program Manager of the Eating Disorders In weight-related Therapy (EDIT) Collaboration

Primary area of interest/work: Behavioural weight management, eating disorder risk, adolescent obesity.

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?: To provide effective treatments for obesity we need evidence for a range of treatment approaches, better understanding on how to personalise treatments to individuals and how to balance both physical and mental health.

Brief history of your experience related obesity: My research focuses on the use of novel dietary interventions for the treatment of adolescent obesity and the association between diet interventions, mental health and disordered eating. I am the co-lead and Program Manager of the Eating Disorders In weight-related Therapy (EDIT) Collaboration, assessing individual eating disorder risk during obesity treatment in adolescents and adults.

Dr Blake Lawrence

Lecturer & Researcher in obesity, weight stigma and childhood adversity, Curtin School of Population Health, Curtin University

Primary area of interest/work: My research explores the psychosocial risk factors associated with overweight and obesity, including socioeconomic disadvantage, childhood trauma, disharmonious family environments, bullying, food addiction, weight bias and stigma.

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?: People living with overweight and obesity urgently need access to a multidisciplinary team of healthcare professionals to support their health goals. Specifically, many people will benefit from support from psychologists who have experience working with people with overweight and obesity.

Brief history of your experience related obesity: I lived with overweight during my childhood and adolescence and which developed into obesity during my early years of adulthood. I have the lived experience of someone who has consistently struggled with their weight and so I try and use my lived experience to inform and improve my research.

Prof Amanda Lee

Professor Public Health Policy, School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland

Primary area of interest/work: Amanda’s focus is on preventive health in the areas of public health nutrition, food and nutrition systems, food security, and Indigenous health.

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?: Systematic development, implementation and evaluation of public health policy actions to prevent and help manage obesity and non-communicable disease (NCD), with a focus on regulatory responses targeting food environments, food insecurity (especially economic access to healthy food and drinks), and poor diets.

Brief history of your experience related obesity: Amanda has over 40 years’ experience in public health, in government policy, academic, non-government organisation, and consultancy roles. With the people of Minjilang in the early 1990s she helped demonstrate, using objective biomedical indicators, that marked, rapid, cost-effective and sustained improvements in diet and diet-related conditions in remote Aboriginal communities are possible. Among numerous leadership positions, she was Chair of the NHMRC Australian Dietary Guidelines Working Committee from 2008-2013. Her work takes a strong systems focus, underscored by the pillars of health and wellbeing, equity and environmental sustainability.

Dr Shirley Alexander

Paediatrician and the Head of Weight Management Services at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead

Shirley is a staff specialist at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead and Head of the Weight Management Services, a multidisciplinary team helping children and adolescents with obesity, and their families, to make sustainable lifestyle changes for better health. She has worked in the area of paediatric obesity for the past 14 years and has contributed to a number of research studies, publications and presentations both nationally and internationally. In addition, from 2013-2022 Shirley was the paediatric representative on the ANZOS (Australia and New Zealand Obesity Society) Committee and is currently the paediatric representative on the NACOS (National Association of Clinical Obesity Services) Committee.

Additionally, Shirley is the Medical Program Director for CARPA (Community, Ambulatory care, Rehabilitation, Population Health and Allied Health), Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network, and the Clinical Lead in Paediatrics for the University of Notre Dame Auburn clinical school.

Prof Steve Allender

Professor of Population Health and founding Director of the Global Obesity
Centre at Deakin, a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention

Primary area of interest/work: Steve has an ongoing programme of research on solving complex problems with a focus on the burden of chronic disease and obesity prevention. Prof Allender leads two NHMRC Partnership grants on community-based childhood obesity strategies and is a lead investigator for the Centre of Research Excellence in Food Retail Environments for Health, the European Union Horizon 2020 Co-Create grant for healthier policy in Europe and a named researcher for the Australian Prevention Partnership Centre.

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?: Recent work has seen a particular interest in the burden of chronic disease, malnutrition and climate change in developed and developing countries and the possibilities for using complex systems approaches for community-based intervention.

Brief history of your experience related obesity: Steve has received lead investigator funding from bodies including the US National Institutes of Health, National Health and Medical Research Council, the Australian Heart Foundation, VicHealth, the British Heart Foundation, the Western Alliance, European Heart Foundation and the European Union. The GLOBE team support efforts to improve health in over 30 countries world-wide and work directly with the WHO to achieve these aims.

Ms Elizabeth Calleja

Senior Advisor, Physical Activity, National Heart Foundation of Australia

Primary area of interest/work: Physical Activity, Prevention, Chronic disease, Advocacy and Policy

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?: It is vital that we have a whole of systems approach at supporting individuals and communities to managing overweight and obesity. There are may systemic, cultural and environmental factors that contribute to the health as a nation. Having government advocacy and buy in is extremely important to make system changes to support the individual. Government support is crutial to provide funding for clinical services, built environments, & policy changes. Policy changes, accessibility of foods and marketing to individuals, especially children are needed to support and change the culture that enhances an obesegenic environment.

A high priority is to ensure we have adequate clinical interventions available for the individual and their family to facilitate and support healthy & sustainable behaviour change.

Brief history of your experience related obesity: Elizabeth has had over 15 years clinical experience as an Accredited Exercise Physiologist working with weight management, cardiovascular and metabolic health in Western Sydney, NSW.

Her research interest and experience is in pediatric obesity, working on physical activity interventions and research grants for children who are overweight or obese.

Elizabeth is currently the Senior Advisor for Physical Activity for the National Heart Foundation of Australia. She is the lead for advocacy and evaluation for physical activity and healthy built environments, supporting the Heart Foundation Walking initiative and key messaging for all programs and products related to physical activity.

Prof Louise Baur AM Pres FAHMS

Chair of Child & Adolescent Health, University of Sydney, Consultant Paediatrician, Weight Management Services, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, President of the World Obesity Federation

Primary area of interest/work: 

• Professor of Child and Adolescent Health, University of Sydney
• Consultant paediatrician, Weight Management Services, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Sydney
• Director, NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in the Early Prevention of Obesity (EPOCH) – Translate
• President, World Obesity Federation

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?:

• Treatment of child and adolescent obesity
• Prevention of obesity in childhood and adolescence
• Health services and treatment of obesity
• Broad interest in obesity-related policy (state, national, WHO) and systems change

Brief history of your experience related obesity:

We need a suite of strategies to tackle the issue of obesity.

• Obesity stigma needs to be tackled at many levels, including within the health system
• We need to make it easy for people of all ages with obesity to receive effective clinical care in a supportive environment. This may include equitable access to multidisciplinary team support, group programs, pharmacotherapy, intensive diets and bariatric surgery, as appropriate.
• We must also use a systems-frame to tackle the fundamental drivers of high BMI in our communities, going far beyond a focus on individuals being responsible for their own behavioural change. I am especially keen to see a) restrictions on the marketing of unhealthy food and beverages to children, and b) strategies to increase the affordability of vegetables and fruit and more healthful foods in regional areas and in communities experiencing social disadvantage.

Dr Jo Mitchell

Senior Adviser with the Prevention Centre, Adjunct Associate Professor in both University of Sydney and UNSW Sydney, former Executive Director for the NSW Ministry of Health

Primary area of interest/work: Chronic disease prevention – policy.

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?: Creating environments and policies that support healthy eating and physical activity. Health behaviour change is complex – we need to act on the physical and social environments to create change.

Brief history of your experience related obesity: I started my career as a clinical dietitian, then quickly moved to public health as I drawn to the benefits of preventing ill health across the population. After many years focusing on regional health promotion programs, I moved to a state-wide policy role for chronic disease prevention. I currently provide policy advice to health and research organisations.

A/Prof Michael Talbot

Bariatric Surgeon, Board member and former President of ANZ Metabolic and Obesity Surgery Society 2013-2021

Primary area of interest/work: Main interest in treatment of Severe Obesity. Lifestyle, medical and surgical therapies.

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?: Teaching a greater understanding about the science of overweight and obesity will hopefully reduce stigma, which is a large barrier to action for prevention and treatment. We probably need to focus on clinicians for a while, I think. There are many clinicians who report confusing and potentially stigmatising views about obesity and this likely affects the general public’s perceptions as well. We need to get our house in order. Consistent messaging from everyone involved in health has helped with managing the smoking epidemic, and we need that same messaging about obesity and other lifestyle associated conditions.

Brief history of your experience related obesity: Nearly 20 years as a clinician in the obesity space. Treating and learning from patients, training younger clinicians and trying to advocate for access to healthcare for our patients.

Ms Kristie Cocotis

Head of Prevention and Health Promotion, Diabetes Victoria

Primary area of interest/work: health equity, policy, public health and health promotion

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia? To better prevent obesity, we require significant systems changes to ensure healthier environments to live, work and study. We need to end weight discrimination and stigma and provide evidence-based interventions based on a person/family/community centered approach and respecting lived experience.

Brief history of your experience related to obesity: Kristie is a public health practitioner, with over 15 years’ experience in the health sector, mostly working in non for profit in Victoria, New South Wales and in Tonga. Most of her career has been focused on health equity and working with Aboriginal communities and Culturally and Linguistically diverse communities. She has a keen interest in the use of language, risk perception and organizational health literacy and public health policy. Kristie is currently the Head of Prevention and Health Promotion at Diabetes Victoria leading the Life! program.

Ms Judy Nean

Senior Director, Health Promotion. Health and Wellbeing Queensland

Primary area of interest/work: Chronic disease prevention. Obesity prevention. Healthy food and physically active environments. System change

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?: Investment and buy-in by all levels of government and across sectors to drive implementation of the National Preventive Health Strategy and the National Obesity Strategy.

Brief history of your experience related obesity: Judy is a public health nutritionist with 25+ years experience in the health sector across government (state, regional and local levels), university and private sectors. In her current position at Health and Wellbeing Queensland, she is leading Queensland’s response to the National Obesity Strategy with the development and implementation of a Queensland obesity prevention strategy and foundational action plan.

A/Prof Priya Sumithran MBBS (Hons), PhD, FRACP

Clinical Leader Obesity Medicine, Alfred Health. Head of the Obesity and Metabolic Medicine Group, Monash University

Primary area of interest/work: Treatment of obesity in adults.

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?: We need more equitable access to effective management strategies for obesity and obesity-related health conditions.

Brief history of your experience related obesity: I am an endocrinologist and Head of Obesity Medicine at Austin Health, and leader of the Obesity Research Group at the University of Melbourne, Department of Medicine (St Vincent’s). My clinical work focuses on the care of people with obesity and its complications. I completed a PhD (University of Melbourne) on the regulation of body weight and have a research interest in the neuroendocrine regulation of appetite and eating behaviour, as well as improving access to effective treatment of obesity.

Prof Stephen Simpson AC FAA FRS

Academic Director of the Charles Perkins Centre and Professor in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Sydney, and Executive Director of Obesity Australia

After graduating as a biologist from the University of Queensland, Steve undertook his PhD at the University of London, then spent 22 years at Oxford before returning to Australia in 2005 as an Australian Research Council Federation Fellow, then ARC Laureate Fellow. He took up the inaugural Directorship of the Charles Perkins Centre in 2012, with the mission to ease the burden of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and related conditions by taking a multi-disciplinary, systems approach.

Steve is a world-renowned nutritional scientist. With colleague David Raubenheimer he has developed an integrative modelling framework for nutrition (the Geometric Framework), which has been applied to a wide range of organisms, from insects to humans, and problems, from agriculture and conservation biology to the dietary causes of human obesity and ageing. Steve and David have co-authored many hundreds of peer reviewed papers and two books: The Nature of Nutrition (Simpson & Raubenheimer, 2012, Princeton University Press) and Eat Like the Animals (Raubenheimer & Simpson, 2022, HarperCollins, now published in translation in 10 languages). Steve has also pioneered understanding of swarming in locusts, with research spanning neurochemical events within the brains of individual locusts to continental-scale mass migration.

In 2007 Steve was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, in 2013 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, in 2015 was made a Companion of the Order of Australia, and in 2022 he was awarded the Macfarlane Burnet Medal of the Australian Academy of Sciences.

Steve has been prominent in the media, including presenting a four-part documentary series for ABC TV, “Great Southern Land”.

Mr David Burns

Founder Collective Leisure (social enterprise reducing health inequity including a whole of system initiative to reduce physical inactivity)

David has worked in the sport, leisure and physical activity sector in England and Australia for 23 years, in roles spanning Local Government, peak bodies, private sector and the social economy.

David is an agent of change and capacity builder, operating from two platforms, as the CEO and Founder of Collective Leisure and Director of DB Consulting.

Collective Leisure is a systems aware social enterprise reducing health inequity within our communities. This is summarised in our purpose statement of “enabling well-being without boundaries”.

Collective Leisure is a certified social enterprise by the Australian regulator Social Traders.

Collective Leisure is the lead of WSYD Moving – A whole of system initiative to reduce physical inactivity in Western Sydney.

Collective Leisure is a ‘Work Integration Social Enterprise’ (WISE). Creating meaningful employment for people from a refugee background in the sport, leisure and physical activity sector.

DB Consulting works with government and peak bodies in leadership, policy, planning and strategic context.

Prof Kathryn Backholer

Professor of Global Public Health Policy, Co-Director, Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition, Institute for Health Transformation, Deakin University

Primary area of interest/work: Equitable population food and nutrition policy, with a focus on food marketing and pricing 

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia? No single action will reverse the tide of obesity. We need comprehensive measures across prevention, management and treatment. In the area of prevention, we need to de-normalise unhealthy foods in our children’s everyday lives by establishing an environment where only healthy foods and promoted and are affordably priced. In today’s food environment, saturated with unhealthy food marketing and soaring costs of healthy staple foods, this will require government interventions to correct the market failures.

Brief history of your experience related to obesity: I started as a lab-based scientist with a PhD in reproductive neuroscience. The hormones I studied during my PhD are also crucial for body weight regulation, which was how I transitioned into public health and obesity prevention. I have 15-years experience working in obesity prevention policy across the globe, particularly locally in Australia and in many low and middle-income countries. I am co-director of the Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition and Deakin University.

Adj Prof Louise Sylvan

University of Sydney, Former Head of the Australian National Preventive Agency

Primary area of interest/work: Policy, Prevention, Economics, System Change.

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?: Changing the ‘blame the victim’ attitude that permeates the society, and creating the new framing around food environments/human biology that is at the core of the obesity epidemic.

Brief history of your experience related obesity: Headed the Australian National Preventive Agency which had policy carriage for obesity programs at the Commonwealth level, as well as grants and social marketing responsibility.

Jane Martin BA MPH Hon Doc

Executive Manager, Food for Health Alliance (FHA) and Alcohol and Obesity Programs at Cancer Council Victoria

Primary area of interest/work: Advocating for government policy and regulatory controls on the activities of the processed food industry to put the health of Australians above food industry profits. Public education campaigns to reduce cancer risk from diet, weight, alcohol. Supporting health professional training re diet and weight.

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?: Implementation of the National Obesity Strategy, including policies on marketing, labelling, tax and reducing availability of unhealthy food. Appropriate referral pathways for management and treatment for living with obesity, or at risk of being above a healthy weight.

Brief history of your experience related obesity: Led the Obesity Policy Coalition since 2006, a collaboration advocating for the creation of healthy environments for all Australians, free from the influence of the processed food industry.

Ms Carrie-Anne Lewis

Senior Dietitian, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and PhD Candidate, University of Queensland

Primary area of interest/work: Treatment of obesity and lived experience

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?As we increase our knowledge of the physiological causes of obesity, it is important that we prioritise embedding this into clinical practice, to inform obesity prevention and treatment service delivery. I believe it is also important to include the voice of those living with obesity, when developing or modifying these prevention and treatment strategies.

Brief history of your experience related obesity: I have been a dietitian for over 15 years, 10 years specialising in the treatment of obesity, with expertise in nutritional management after bariatric surgery in a tertiary hospital setting. I have led research that delves into the patient experience with obesity care as a part of my PhD.

A/Prof Gary Sacks

Co-Director, Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition (GLOBE), Institute for Health Transformation, Deakin University

Primary area of interest/work: Policies for improving population diets, Food environments

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?: Effective obesity prevention will require a transformation in the healthiness of food systems. Such transformation will require: (1) strong government leadership to create a regulatory environment that supports healthy food environments; (2) changes to business practices away from a focus on profiting from over-consumption of unhealthy foods.

Brief history of your experience related obesity: Gary leads a program of research focused on policies for improving population diets and preventing obesity. Gary has co-authored several international reports on obesity prevention, including the Lancet Commission on Obesity. Gary co-founded INFORMAS – a global network for monitoring food environments, now active in 60+ countries. Gary leads the component of INFORMAS focused on monitoring the actions of food companies in relation to obesity prevention and nutrition. He has also led studies to benchmark progress on obesity prevention by Australian governments.

Dr Kathryn Williams

Clinical Lead and Manager, Nepean Family Metabolic Health Service and HOD Endocrinology, Nepean Hospital, NBMLHD

Primary area of interest/work: Treatment, Lived Experience, Health System Change, Integrated Care, Virtual Care.

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?: Health System Change to enable better integration of care to ensure early access to evidence based best practice. Access to effective therapies for those with severe obesity. Better ability to address socioeconomic drivers of disease, such as financial insecurity and social isolation. Identification and management of stigma in all forms, including at an institutional level. Better messaging for obesity to improve the understanding of this condition in the community

Brief history of your experience related obesity: Kathryn Williams is the Clinical Lead and manager of Australia’s first lifespan public obesity service, the Nepean Blue Mountains Family Metabolic Health Service (FMHS) and would now like to enhance community care for obesity and diabetes in the NBMLHD. She has a strong passion for virtual care, with the FMHS selected as an exemplar for virtual care by the ACI.

Kathryn is lead of the Lifespan Obesity Node at the Charles Perkins Centre, the University of Sydney, and has a passion for research in the areas of severe and complex obesity, integrated care, health service design and virtual care.

Prof Leonie Heilbronn

Head, Obesity and Metabolism Lab, and Professor, Adelaide Medical School, The University of Adelaide

Primary area of interest/work: The goal of our work is to prevent and/or delay the onset of chronic diseases that are associated with obesity through randomized controlled trials that explore concepts of nutrition and metabolism in obesity. Our work has contributed to current concepts in calorie restriction, intermittent fasting and time restricted eating and we currently have a number of clinical trials aimed at understanding the role of meal timing and fasting to alter metabolism.

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?: Obesity prevention is incredibly important. In terms of management, I believe that the focus should shift away from weight-based outcomes and towards health and wellbeing. Eating high quality diets, at the right time of day, and moving more can be impactful to reduce chronic disease risks, without necessarily needing to lose a large amount of weight. But at the same time there needs to be a lot more wholistic care and subsidised government support for people living with obesity. Changing perceptions around obesity is a key to this.

Brief history of your experience related obesity: Professor Heilbronn is a clinical research scientist with more than 20 years of experience in human nutrition, obesity and metabolism. She has published more than 135 peer-reviewed manuscripts. She is an Associate Editor of Obesity, Vice President of the Australia and New Zealand Obesity Society (ANZOS), and an Associate Member of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.

Dr Jaithri Ananthapavan

Economics of Obesity team lead, Senior Research Fellow, Deakin Health Economics & Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition, Institute for Health Transformation, Deakin University.

Primary area of interest/work: Economic evaluation of obesity prevention policies (food and physical activity environments). Methods to enhance the use of economic evidence in policy decision-making.

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?: Taking a whole of society approach to obesity prevention which includes action from all sectors of government, industry, communities and individuals.

Brief history of your experience related obesity: My experience is in the economic evaluation of obesity prevention interventions. I led a priority-setting study that evaluated the cost-effectiveness of 16 obesity prevention policies and programs. Our findings show that the most cost-effective interventions are policy-based interventions that improve the healthiness of the food environment. We also found that the implementation of the strategies would require collaboration across government sectors.

Recognizing that action need to be taken across various government sectors to improve the healthiness of the food/physical activity environment – I have also developed economic evaluation frameworks that facilitate cross-sectoral decision-making for preventive health.

Dr Teresa Girolamo

Director and Co-Founder of Re:You Health (GP lead weight mgt clinic)

Primary area of interest/work: Treatment – Clinical management of people living with obesity in a primary and tertiary care setting.

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?: Reduction of stigma so that people will seek appropriate treatment. This also involves better education around the contributors to obesity, the pathophysiology around weight regain as well as understanding of all of the evidence based treatment options.

Brief history of your experience related obesity: 20 years of general practice experience. 15 years working as part of a multi-disciplinary team managing patient pre and post bariatric surgery. Started Re:You Health in 2018, this is an evidence based GP lead weight management clinic focusing on all evidence based options for weight management (including lifestyle, pharmacotherapy, intragastric balloons and bariatric surgery).

A/Prof Samantha Hocking

Associate Professor Diabetes NSW & ACT, Sydney School of Medicine (Central Clinical School), Charles Perkins Centre
President National Association of Clinical Obesity Services

Primary area of interest/work: Treatment of obesity in adults. Clinical research including the metabolic consequences of obesity.

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia? We need more equitable access to evidence based care for the management of obesity and its complications.

Brief history of your experience related to obesity: I am an endocrinologist and clinical academic at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and The University of Sydney. I am the current President of the National Association of Clinical Obesity Services (NACOS). My clinical work focuses on the care of people with obesity and its complications. I completed a PhD (University of New South Wales) on the metabolic differences between subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue and continue clinical research in the treatment of obesity and its metabolic complications including diabetes.

Dr Catherine Bacus

Founder and director of Alevia Medical Weight Loss (primary care clinics specialising in medical obesity management)

Dr Catherine Bacus is founder and director of Alevia Medical Weight Loss – a group of primary care clinics specialising in medical obesity management. Catherine is dedicated to alleviating the stigma and burden of obesity that patients live with, through evidenced based approaches to weight management, understanding the complex drivers of weight gain, and assisting her patients with compassion and empathy.  She has trained and mentored several GPs and is committed to educating and upskilling GPs so that more patients can access the care that they deserve.

Prof Rosemary Calder

Director, Australian Health Policy Collaboration and Professor of Health Policy, Mitchell Institute

Rosemary Calder is a respected health and social policy expert. She has held positions as a senior executive in health policy and administration in both State and Commonwealth Departments of Health and was head of the Office for the Status of Women in the Commonwealth Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet from 2000 to 2003. Rosemary has also served as Chief of Staff to a Victorian Minister for Health.

Rosemary leads the Australian Health Policy Collaboration at Victoria University, a national collaboration of public health experts, clinicians and organisations, aimed at evidence based policy leadership to reduce preventable chronic diseases in the Australian population.

Rosemary has also worked extensively in and with non government organisations in health and social issues. She is a sociologist and began her career as a journalist in print and broadcast media.

Dr Daisy Coyle

Research Fellow, The George Institute for Global Health, Conjoint Lecturer UNSW and Accredited Practicing Dietitian

Primary area of interest/work:Developing, implementing and evaluating food policy initiatives aimed at promoting healthier population diets and improving health outcomes for those experiencing food insecurity and living with chronic conditions, including obesity.

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia? To see more investment in health promotion and food based policy initiatives including taxes, restrictions on marketing and stronger reformulation programs. Create referral pathways for food-based treatment options for those living with chronic conditions to better support lifestyle changes.

Brief history of your experience related obesity: My program of research is focused on policies for improving population diets and preventing obesity. I have led the dietary components of Food Is Medicine research interventions in Australia, which aims to explore the potential of food provision as a treatment option for those living with chronic conditions and experiencing food insecurity. I am a working group member of the Healthy Food Partnership’s, Foods for Early Childhood committee.

Dr Dorota Sacha-Krol

Manager, Health Reform, Policy and Advocacy, Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP)

Primary area of interest/work: Physicians and paediatricans see patients who live with obesity every day. The RACP works to address the drivers of obesity and to effectively manage obesity.

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?: I’ve experience in policy and advocacy related to prevention and treatment of obesity. In addition to my current position at the RACP, I worked to address obesity at the NSW Ministry of Health.  

Prof Helen Skouteris

Monash Warwick Professor in Health and Social Care Improvement and Implementation Science

Primary area of interest/work:

• Developmental psychology
• Implementation science
• Health and social care improvement
• Health equity

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?: We need to co-develop (with consumers and community) non-blaming, non stigmatising, equitable solutions and resources to support people living in larger bodies. We need systems changes that focus on social determinants of health. We need to prevent rather than treat. And importantly, we need to support all parents and families to nurture their children’s growth and development using an integrated holistic approach. That is, we should not focus on obesity prevention in a siloed way; we need to support child development in the formative infant and preschool years broadly and holistically and that necessarily includes adequate nutrition and good health for optimal growth. Equity is key here. Every child deserves to grow and thrive and to be healthy from birth. 

Brief history of your experience related obesity: A strong track record in longitudinal multi-factorial research, randomised controlled trials, and implementation science, with a predominant focus since 2010 on promoting health and wellbeing across preconception, pregnancy, preschool, and childhood, including adolescence, to reduce the prevalence of obesity. With state government funding, her postdoctoral research fellow and team are implementing and scaling the Healthy Eating Active Living Matters (HEALing Matters) program to support young people living in out-of-home care across Victoria and South Australia. Also the principal investigator and Director of the NHMRC funded Centre of Research Excellence in Health in Preconception and Pregnancy, focused on maternal obesity prevention.

Prof Lucie Rychetnik

Co-Director, The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre; Professor, School of Public Health, University of Sydney

Primary area of interest/work: Chronic disease prevention, public policy, systems change.

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?: Large scale systems change is required to create healthier work and living environments for all young people and individuals struggling with their weight. This should include ensuring that healthy foods are readily available and affordable, that kids are not continually bombarded with advertising of unhealthy foods high fat and high sugar foods, and that we recognize and curtail the impact of the strategic lobbying, corporate donations and general profiteering of unhealthy food and drinks industries at the expense of people’s health.

Brief history of your experience related obesity: Lucie has over 30 years of experience in translating research and mobilising knowledge for public health policy and practice; conducting empirical research in population health, disease prevention and clinical settings; and leading methodological work on evidence synthesis and appraisal for public health decisions. She is currently a co-investigator on an ARC funded grant to address weight stigma during preconception, pregnancy and postpartum periods. Lucie has also worked in health promotion, community nutrition, migrant health and clinical dietetics.

Prof Nuala Byrne

Head of the School of Health Sciences, University of Tasmania

Primary area of interest/work:I am a Professor in Exercise Physiology and Energy Metabolism, and an Accredited Exercise Physiologist. My research commonly sits in the nexus between nutritional and exercise physiology. My research (and that of my team) is focused on better understanding the roles of resting metabolism, diet and physical activity in the aetiology and management of obesity and associated co-morbidities, and in exploring ways to optimise body composition for health and human performance.

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia? The ultimate goal is to define a range of effective weight-loss approaches that can be tailored to people’s individual variability. I am also keen to ensure research findings are translated accurately to the popular media quickly and in a form that is easy to understand and distribute. It is so important to get the right information out into the community in a way that can counter the overwhelming number of misleading and confusing health advice and weight-loss related messages

Brief history of your experience related to obesity: Over many years I have investigated which is more important to achieving effective weight loss – metabolism or behaviour? Another research theme is exploring the relationship between protein metabolism and energy expenditure in optimising lean body mass.

Early in my career, I was awarded the prestigious Young Investigator Award for the Australia and New Zealand Obesity Society (ANZOS). I was elected as President of ANZOS, only the second non-medical practitioner to achieve this position.

Adj Prof Bill Bellew

Professorial fellow Prevention Research Collaboration, Charles Perkins Centre

Dr Georgia Rigas

VMO Obesity Doctor, St George Private Hospital Kogarah NSW

Primary area of interest/work: My primary area of interest is the multi-generational effects of obesity. This stems from my UK experience working in women’s reproductive health and paediatrics/young persons (diploma on both). My passion is education:

1. of people living with obesity (pwO) i.e. translating the science to be understood  by those with the lived experience, to ensure they can make an informed decision and with time become empowered to be actively involved in their chronic disease management.
2. educating and upskilling GPs and other healthcare professionals.

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?: Given that currently no cure for obesity exists, and as a clinician who sees PwO every day:

1. optimize the health of a couple prior to conception, during pregnancy and the first few years of the infant’s life; this is when metabolic imprinting is taking place, and when collectively we can make a difference for the next generation.
2. obesity is heterogeneous i.e. it affects people differently; therefore we need to tailor the management strategy to the needs of the patient, as these will vary at different life stages
3. proactive intervention by healthcare professionals, as per the recent National Obesity Strategy recommendations (March 2022).

Brief history of your experience related obesity: I have worked in obesity management for approximately 15 years in various capacities. I have worked in several clinical settings offering lifestyle advice in addition to adjunct therapies including very low energy diets, anti-obesity medications, bariatric endoscopic and bariatric metabolic surgical therapies.

I am involved with several obesity related research projects at St George Private Hospital, collaborative work with the Garvan Institute and author on several publications.

Furthermore, I am on several medical scientific advisory boards pertaining to obesity therapies both in Australia and abroad. I have been invited to two PBAC stakeholder meetings (2017 and 2021), represented the RACGP at the Health Ministers Obesity Summit (February 2019), assisted in the development of the Australian Public Bariatric Surgery framework (2020) and the recently published Australian Obesity Management Algorithm (August 2022).

In addition to being a member of the Weight Issues Network, I have been interviewed by mass media on issues relating to obesity, in particular advocating for the (i)eradication of weight stigma and bias and for (ii) equitable access to evidence based therapies for those who PwO who need it the most.

Ms Clare Mullen

Executive Director Health Consumers Council WA, Chair Weight Issues Network

Primary area of interest/work: Lived experience perspectives across the whole spectrum of issues relating to obesity and health

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?: 

• More recognition of the importance of people with lived experience as true partners in change. It’s time to move beyond ticking a box and start making the necessary changes to enable people with lived experience to have a seat at the table – nothing about us without us.
• increased awareness of the impact of systemic and individual weight stigma and bias (including how it impacts the allocation of research funds, health service funding and individual healthcare experiences)
• an environment that supports health for all, (including one where families are able to raise children with minimal exposure to early childhood trauma)
• regulation to reduce harm from foods and drinks
• equitable affordable access to the right care and treatment for all people, regardless of their weight (this might mean support to lose weight for some, it might also mean support to improve nutrition, physical activity, sleep and social connections regardless of the impact on weight for others, or also means access to healthcare to treat something else entirely not being withheld because of someone’s size)

Mr Benyamin Hakak-Zargar

Medical student, Deakin University

Primary area of interest/work: Behavioural interventions, surgical and medical therapy for obesity, food and environment policies, weight stigma

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia? A comprehensive approach is needed that includes changes to the healthcare system, education to address weight stigma, and evidence-based policies to increase access to healthy food and lifestyle choices. This approach should involve the establishment of publicly funded multidisciplinary care centres that offer behavioural, medical, and surgical treatments. Additionally, efforts should be made to educate people in various sectors about weight stigma and how to combat it, while also implementing policies that promote healthy food and lifestyle choices based on scientific evidence.

Brief history of your experience related to obesity: I have over five years of experience working at a multidisciplinary obesity management centre in British Columbia, where I developed a deep understanding of the complexities surrounding obesity and the obstacles individuals face in managing their weight. During my undergraduate studies, I established and led an Obesity Canada chapter at Simon Fraser University. Currently, I am involved in a research project aimed at exploring consumer and policymaker perspectives on factors influencing healthy eating habits and opinions on food policy interventions.

Prof Anna Peeters AM

Professor of Epidemiology and Equity in Public Health & Director of the Institute for Health Transformation at Deakin University

Primary area of interest/work: Health and food system transformation; healthy food retail environments.

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?: An integrated series of policies to enable better access to effective treatment for people living with obesity and an integrated series of policies to improve the healthiness of all the food environments people interact with.

Brief history of your experience related obesity: Experience in obesity epidemiology, modeling, health economics, equity, population prevention, and food retail environments. Roles including President, Australian and New Zealand Obesity Society and Director of the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Food retail Environments for Health.

Ms Stephanie Heard

Accredited Practising Dietitian, specialising in mental health, disordered eating and weight concerns

Dr Anna Wood

Endocrinologist at Royal Darwin Hospital where I lead a public weight management clinic

Primary area of interest/work: I am interested in both the prevention and treatment of obesity, though my work is mostly in the treatment of obesity. I am interested in holistic, person-centered management that works on destigmatizing obesity.

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?: We need to tackle this at every level. From government policy that helps improve access to affordable healthy food choices and appropriate places to exercise through to empowering and listening to individuals about what they would like.

Brief history of your experience related obesity: I work in a weight management clinic and work with a lot of people with obesity. I have experience with individualized management plans, using VLED and using obesity medications. I am working with bariatric surgeons  in the NT do develop a public bariatric service.

Ms Catherine Smith

Nurse Practitioner (NP) – Bariatrics and Perioperative. Director WHY Clinic. Director of ACNP,  FACORN.

Primary area of interest/work: 10 yrs clinical experience and education in provide patient- centred medical and surgical weight loss services to Australians. Developed and operating a NP weight loss clinic which has 3 NP providing both Telehealth and Face to face services.  As a board member for the Australian College of Nurse Practitioners ( ACNP) I have changed  the understanding of NPs about our role in weight loss services, this has included submissions, workshops and conference presentations. Recent co authored a poster presentation at ICO on  the results of a a group of NPs practice audit. We have complete some interesting audits on our services so far. I did started a PhD looking at NP bariatric services but my dyslexia did not cooperate,  however I am still interested in research. Within my clinic we have between 500 to 600 clients and there are several other NP clinic with similar client numbers.

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?: Prevention of obesity needs the community to be supported in how to manage life stress better. We need more research into treatments for things like sleep, pain, night duty, menopause in weight management. Understanding by health practitioner no how to provide effective services which don’t increase weight bias and stigma. More education of health practitioners on all areas related patients with obesity care, which might include referral to special services if your services does not have the ability to provide the length of appointments and follow up services.

Ms Deanne Minniecon

National Manger, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Engagement, Diabetes Australia

Primary area of interest/work: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health, health promotion and prevention.

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership. Supportive environments

Brief history of your experience related obesity: 25 years’ experience working in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and education at a community, regional, state and national level, leading statewide preventative health initiatives including nutrition, physical activity and healthy lifestyle programs targeting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.  I hold a Master of Health Science (Health Promotion) and Graduate Diploma in Health Promotion.

Dr Kimberley Norman

Research Fellow with Monash University with a focus on focus on the multi-levelled, individualised and complex nature of obesity and weight management

Kimberley Norman is an emerging health researcher with primary interest in improving health outcomes, reducing inequity, and increasing quality of life for individuals, communities, and populations. Her main areas of health research interest focus on the multi-levelled, individualised and complex nature of obesity and weight management healthcare, particularly with how obesity relates to further health risks including physiological, psychological, social, economic, and culturally specific health concerns.

Kimberley has recently completed a PhD exploring weight management health care in general practices. Prior to this she completed a MSc in critical health psychology which looked at understanding the lived experiences (and intersectionality) of stigma and social identity with significant weight loss in women in New Zealand. Kimberley is a rare researcher who is able to assist with bridging the gaps between primary care and patient needs through her qualifications and academic experiences alongside her lived experience of obesity and long-term weight management.

Kimberley continues to work collaboratively to reduce obesity and weight related stigma to improve health outcomes. In her short academic career, she has been published in highly reputable international journals and successfully been awarded funding both individually and as part of multi-disciplinary research teams. She is currently a Research Fellow with Monash University in Melbourne.

Prof Brian Oldfield

Department of Physiology and Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Monash University

Primary area of interest/work: Basic Science; Studies in animals of the mechanisms that underpin appetite and energy expenditure that informs approaches to pharmaceutical intervention that will enable those living with obesity to reduce body weight and improve health. Interests of my group extend from understanding the bases of the efficacy of weight reduction surgery to the biological drivers of anorexia nervosa.

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?: The new wave of effective medicines to treat obesity offer, until very recently unforeseen, opportunities for those living with obesity to reduce weight and their improve health. In order to reduce weight bias it is necessary for the whole of society to more completely understand that these approaches harness naturally occurring hormones and peptides that have been dysregulated by genetics, an issue confounded by an obesogenic environment.

Brief history of your experience related obesity: For all of my working life I have been a fundamental neuroscientist interested in understanding the intricacies of the way that the brain controls appetite and energy balance, where the latter encompasses both the “yin” of intake and the “yang” of expenditure. Through the process of “rationale pharmacology” it has been shown over and again that the detailed understanding of brain processing at the cellular and even the molecular level enables the development of drugs that change lives. My group and I have followed this path and have tried to shed light on mechanisms of aspects of obesity research as diverse as appetite, energy expenditure, bariatric surgery and anorexia nervosa.

I also believe strongly in broad-based coalitions that bring together advocates from the full breadth of obesity prevention, management and treatment and that promote unified approaches to understand the bases of the obese condition and try to reduce it. As such I have been proud to have roles as President of ANZOS, President of AOASO (Asia and Oceania), VP World Obesity and am very proud of my role and my alignment with the Obesity Collective. I have also recently taken on a role as Editor in Chief of Obesity Reviews.

Laureate Prof Clare Collins OA, FAHMS

Director Food and Nutrition Program, College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, University of Newcastle

Primary area of interest/work: My expertise is in nutrition technologies, dietary assessment methods and interventions, nutrition epidemiology, evidence synthesis, and in clinical nutrition across the lifespan and in chronic conditions, including obesity.

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?: To have evidence-based guidelines for both prevention and treatment that are support by relevant public health and healthcare national and stat based policies and underpinned by funded implementation plans.

Brief history of your experience related obesity: I was a founding member of the Australian Child and Adolescent Obesity Research Network. I have led research interventions to improve nutrition related health in both children and adults with obesity, within in-person and eHealth trials. I led the initial development and the update of dietary guidelines for clinical weight management for my professional body, Dietitians Australia.

Prof John Dixon

Adjunct Professor, Iverson Health Innovation Research Institute, Swinburn University of Technology

Primary area of interest/work: Clinical Care, Clinical Research, Biology, Impact of obesity on Biopsychosocial aspects of health.

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?: Address weight stigma. Understand the biology and science generating this complex chronic disease. Promote the voice of those living with obesity. Provide excellent clinical care.

Brief history of your experience related obesity: I have been involved in full -time research into obesity for the last 25 years. I am recognized as a global leader in the clinical research and education for obesity and its numerous complications.

Dr Elizabeth Holmes-Truscott

Senior Research Fellow, The Australian Centre for Behavioural Research in Diabetes (partnership between Diabetes Victoria and Deakin University)

Primary area of interest/work: Behavioural science, Health psychology, Psychosocial aspects of diabetes

Why is weight stigma of special interest to you? My research explores how we can best support those affected by diabetes to achieve optimal physical and emotional wellbeing. Weight stigma stands in the way of people with, or at risk of, diabetes accessing, receiving, and adopting appropriate person-centred health care. I am passionate about improving the way we communicate with and about people living in larger bodies, and working with community and health organisations to develop and evaluate effective and, crucially, non-stigmatising health campaigns.

Dr Briony Hill

NHMRC Early Career Fellow and Deputy Head, Health and Social Care Unit at Monash University

Briony is a researcher with an interest in understanding the social and environmental contributors to weight stigma relevant to women across the reproductive years, particularly in the lead up to pregnancy, during pregnancy and in the post-birth period. It is Briony’s hope that by learning about and tackling the factors in society that contribute to weight stigma, we can reduce weight stigma and discrimination across the reproductive years and can improve health and wellbeing outcomes and quality of life of both women and the next generation.

Dr James Kite

Prevention Research Collaboration, University of Sydney

Primary interest/work area relating to weight stigma: Weight stigma and mass media

Why is weight stigma of special interest to you? Much of my research centres on the development, implementation, and evaluation of public health mass media campaigns, including obesity prevention campaigns. The evidence we have on obesity prevention campaigns suggests that, at best, they have very limited impact. One compelling reason why is because the messages tend to focus on or reinforce individual responsibility, ignoring or downplaying other factors. This led me to exploring how weight is portrayed in all forms of media, what impact weight stigma when present in media, and how we might use media to reduce and address weight stigma.

Dr Zanab Malik

Specialist Special Needs Dentistry

Primary interest/work area relating to weight stigma: PhD evaluating weight stigma amongst dental professionals

Why is weight stigma of special interest to you? As a dental specialist in Special Needs Dentistry, Zanab has been a strong advocate for the oral healthcare needs of the most vulnerable members of our society. She has extensive clinical experience in the dental management of people with clinically severe obesity and first-hand experience in understanding the unique considerations for their comprehensive dental management. Her qualitative research investigating barriers to accessing dental services revealed the experience of weight stigma in this cohort. This finding has led Zanab to embark on a PhD evaluating the stigma of obesity amongst dental professionals. She is very passionate about this area and hopes to increase awareness of weight stigma in the dental profession and improve access to oral health services for people living with obesity.

Prof John Dixon

Adjunct Professor, Iverson Health Innovation Research Institute, Swinburn University of Technology

Primary area of interest/work: Clinical Care, Clinical Research, Biology, Impact of obesity on Biopsychosocial aspects of health.

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?: Address weight stigma. Understand the biology and science generating this complex chronic disease. Promote the voice of those living with obesity. Provide excellent clinical care.

Brief history of your experience related obesity: I have been involved in full -time research into obesity for the last 25 years. I am recognized as a global leader in the clinical research and education for obesity and its numerous complications.

Dr Blake Lawrence

Lecturer & Researcher in obesity, weight stigma and childhood adversity, Curtin School of Population Health, Curtin University

Primary area of interest/work: My research explores the psychosocial risk factors associated with overweight and obesity, including socioeconomic disadvantage, childhood trauma, disharmonious family environments, bullying, food addiction, weight bias and stigma.

What changes do you think are most important to better prevent obesity and/or help people manage obesity and their health in Australia?: People living with overweight and obesity urgently need access to a multidisciplinary team of healthcare professionals to support their health goals. Specifically, many people will benefit from support from psychologists who have experience working with people with overweight and obesity.

Brief history of your experience related obesity: I lived with overweight during my childhood and adolescence and which developed into obesity during my early years of adulthood. I have the lived experience of someone who has consistently struggled with their weight and so I try and use my lived experience to inform and improve my research.

Dr Joanne Rathbone

Post Doctorate Research Fellow – The Australian National University

Primary interest/work area related to weight stigma: Social psychology, health psychology, drivers of weight stigma

Why is weight stigma of special interest to you? My research sits at the intersection of social, health, and clinical psychology, with a focus on social determinants of health and behaviour (e.g., stigma, social connection, norms). In my PhD I investigated drivers of weight stigma and discrimination in primary health care and evaluated alternative weight-inclusive approaches to health promotion. I am continuing this work in my current role as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Australian National University, focusing on understanding how we can reduce weight stigma and progress positive social change. I am passionate about supporting people’s health and believe that reducing weight stigma and discrimination is critical to achieving this goal.

Dr Timothy Broady

Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Social Research in Health, UNSW

Tim has a background in psychological and social sciences research and has previously worked in research positions within the not-for-profit sector. His current research interests include addressing stigma and discrimination, particularly in relation to health care access, health outcomes, and wellbeing. Since 2017, he has worked on the Stigma Indicators Monitoring Project, which monitors experiences and expression of stigma towards population groups affected by blood borne viruses in Australia.

Dr Xochitl delaPiedadGarcia

Senior Lecturer in the School of Behavioural and Health Sciences (Psychology) at the Australian Catholic University

Primary interest/work area relating to weight stigma: I am a member of the Body image, Eating and Weight research Team (BEWT) and have a special interest in the study of weight stigma and its relationship to wellbeing.

Why is weight stigma of special interest to you? I believe that the study of weight stigma is important not only because of its implications for the health and wellbeing of people living with higher weight, but also because, in itself, weight stigma is a social justice problem that needs to be addressed to achieve an equitable society.

Emily Arday

Emily has been involved with the Obesity Collective since 2018. As of 2022 she has now joined the team as a Project Officer. Emily is currently completing her Master of Nutrition and Dietetics at the University of Sydney and is looking forward to becoming an Accredited Practicing Dietitian at the end of 2023. She is passionate about advocating to reduce weight stigma in clinical practice.

Mr Benyamin Hakak-Zargar

Benyamin has been a volunteer with The Obesity Collective since 2022 and joined the core team in 2023. He is currently a medical student at Deakin University and further supports The Obesity Collective as one of our expert advisors.

Monica Garner

Monica hails from Canada originally and firmly believed at a young age that she wanted to help people with their well-being using Eastern science and healing. With her own lived experience navigating harmful diet culture and self acceptance, she brings a clear insight and compassion to the complexity of wellness and obesity. Monica specialises in Yoga, Meditation, Pranayama, subtle body anatomy healing, training & education. She has completed over 1000 hours of yoga teacher training and is Yoga Australia certified. Additionally, Monica has had the pleasure of helping to train and build competent yoga teacher trainees from over 30 different countries. She is passionate about reducing weight stigma that occurs on and off the yoga mat – all body sizes deserve to move and feel good.

Prof Tim Gill

Tim originally trained as a dietitian working in clinical and community environments before being appointed as State Nutrition officer within the Tasmanian Department of Health. This was followed by work for a range of international and national health-related NGOs before taking up an academic appointment. For the past 25 years Tim has worked at the University of Sydney in a variety of academic positions before moving to an advisory role within Sydney Local Health District in 2024. He has had a long-standing involvement with obesity issues having served as the Scientific Secretary and Regional Coordinator for the International Obesity Taskforce and has been Executive Officer for the Australian and New Zealand Obesity Society for the past 20 years. Tim was involved in the original conceptual and development work to establish the Obesity Collective and has served on the Leaders group since then.

Tim has authored several key reports on nutrition, obesity and chronic disease for State and Federal Government departments as well as national and international agencies and has served on a number of World Health Organization expert committees on these issues. He has also produced many original papers and book chapters on obesity, nutrition and public health. In 2023 he was awarded a lifetime achievement award from the Australian and New Zealand Obesity Society.