NHMRC Strategic Award for Monash to help prevent obesity

August 28, 2006

NHMRC Strategic Award – Preventing Healthcare and Strengthening Australia’s Social and Economic Fabric, has been awarded to The Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine (DEPM).

Associate Professor Bebe Loff from DEPM is Chief Investigator and other investigators are Dr Anna Peeters from DEPM, Professor Boyd Swinburn and Dr Mark Lawrence from the Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition Research, Dr Michael Ackland from the Victorian Department of Human Services. Ms Kellie-Ann Jolley from the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation is an Associate Investigator.

This multidisciplinary team includes those with extensive experience in constructing public health law in Australia and internationally, and those involved in both national and international efforts to prevent obesity.

Bebe Loff is Head of the Human Rights and Bioethics Unit at DEPM, has a background in law and was the first lawyer to graduate with a doctorate in the Faculty of Medicine at Monash University.

The funding of approximately $760,000 over 5 years will be used to develop a regulatory strategy to decrease the prevalence of obesity and reduce social inequalities across Australia.