HEALTHIER FOOD RETAIL
Professor Anna Peeters AM, PhD
Chief Executive Officer, VicHealth, Victoria, Australia
RESEARCHER PROFILE
Filmed in Melbourne, Australia | July 2026
Professor Anna Peeters AM is a globally recognised public health leader whose career has spanned academia, policy and health system reform, with a strong focus on prevention and health equity. She is the CEO of VicHealth, bringing decades of experience in epidemiology, population health and evidence-based health promotion.
Prior to her appointment as CEO, Professor Peeters was Director of the Institute for Health Transformation at Deakin University and a Professor of Epidemiology and Equity in Public Health. In this role, she led multidisciplinary research addressing major health challenges including obesity, chronic disease, health system sustainability and health outcome inequities. She has also held leadership roles at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute and the Australia and New Zealand Obesity Society and has contributed to national and international advisory bodies.
Professor Peeters is widely recognised for her research into obesity prevention, food systems and the social determinants of health. She established the world-first RE-FRESH Centre of Research Excellence in healthier food retail environments, advancing practical solutions to improve population diets and reduce health inequities. Her work has consistently focused on translating evidence into policy and real-world impact at scale.
A Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences and a Member of the Order of Australia, Professor Peeters continues to shape prevention systems through a strong emphasis on equity and collaboration.
Source: Supplied
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Professor Alex Fornito
PROFESSOR ALEX FORNITO
HEAD OF THE BRAIN MAPPING AND MODELLING RESEARCH PROGRAM
TURNER INSTITUTE FOR BRAIN AND MENTAL HEALTH, MONASH UNIVERSITY
VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA -
Clinical pathways for acute care in Tasmanian Emergency Departments
Assoc Prof Viet Tran has built Emergency Medicine Research in Tasmania from the ground up, which has culminated in the success of a AUD$3 million Australian Government Medical Research Futures Fund grant looking into the Implementation of Clinical Pathways for Acute Care in Tasmania project. Dr Tran is also the Emergency Medicine Discipline lead within the Tasmanian School of Medicine and has key roles to play within Emergency Medicine training. He feels privileged to be able to teach and mentor across the whole spectrum of becoming a doctor, from watching students grow into junior doctors, senior registrar and as fellow medical specialists.
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Systems genetics to determine risk of developing diabetes complications
Dr Mara Zeissig is a recently appointed Lab Head within the Tumour Inflammation and Immunotherapy Program at the South Australian immunoGENomics Cancer Institute (SAiGENCI).
Her research focuses on studying immune evasion mechanisms in lung and pancreatic cancers to identify novel ways to increase response to immunotherapy. Her expertise is in genetically engineered mouse models of lung cancer, CRISPR-Cas9 screening technologies and T cell based immunotherapies (e.g Checkpoint inhibitors).
