August – September 2025 Highlights
Strengthening the World Health Organization’s approaches to food classification in Jordan
Over the past 3 months, Dr Erica Reeve has been working the World Health Organization to support the Jordanian Ministry of Health to tighten food regulations to implement front-of-pack warning labels on unhealthy foods, and restrictions on unhealthy food marketing. In August, she visited Jordan to present at a two-day workshop to advance Jordan’s National Acceleration Plan to Stop Obesity, and at a high-level panel meeting hosted by the Health Minister. This work forms a part of Dr. Reeve’s ongoing support to the World Health Organization to strengthen approaches to food classification to support food environment regulation. Her work to support WHO in Jordan is ongoing, and supported by Dr Tailane Scapin, GLOBE.
Read more about Erica’s work on the WHO website.
Advocating for reform at the Parliamentary Roundtable on Gambling
Professor Samantha Thomas and Dr Hannah Pitt joined a powerful coalition of voices at Parliament House on Thur 28 August 2025, calling on the federal government to act on long-standing recommendations to ban gambling advertising and address gambling harm. The roundtable, convened by Senator David Pocock, brought together experts, advocates, and people with lived experience — including Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja — to highlight the urgent need for reform.
Senator Pocock had the opportunity to raise the need for gambling reform in the Senate and mentioned Prof Samantha Thomas’s advocacy efforts at the Parliamentary Roundtable on Gambling.
The Australian Centre for Behavioural Research in Diabetes marks 15 year milestone
On Thursday 14 August 2025, Diabetes Victoria and Deakin University celebrated the 15-year anniversary and renewal of their groundbreaking partnership supporting the Australian Centre for Behavioural Research in Diabetes (ACBRD). The milestone event brought together researchers, partners, people with lived experience of diabetes and other community members to celebrate the Centre’s achievements and look ahead to its next 5-year chapter.
Improving healthcare access for adults in residential aged care – DELIVER RIR Trial launch
Western Alliance Academic Health Science Centre, a regional Research Translation Centre accredited by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), in collaboration with The Grampians Local Health Service Network (GLHSN) (formerly Grampians Region Health Service Partnership), the health service network for the Grampians region, has officially launched an evaluation of the Grampians Residential In Reach (RIR) Program, an initiative designed to improve access to specialist healthcare for older adults living in residential aged care homes across rural and regional western Victoria. This launch marks the beginning of a 14-month evaluation in partnership with the DELIVER research team, which is investigating evidence-based solutions to support clinical care delivered at or closer to home for older adults.
Pictured left: Left to right back row: Jade Odgers – Manager, Clinical Innovation and Development, Grampians Health, Narelle Ryan – Senior Project Lead Residential in Reach Redesign project, Grampians Local Health Service Network, Dale Fraser – CEO, Grampians Health, Drew Aras – Executive Director Western Alliance, Kate Huggins – DELIVER Program Director, Terrance Haines – Head of School Primary and Allied Health Care, Monash University, , Ingrid Tudias – Registered Nurse and Care Community Manager at Kurrajong Lodge Aged Care, Grampians Health Horsham, Sue Leibling Nurse Manager, Residential in Reach Grampians Health
Left to right front row: David – Resident, Aged Care Community, Grampians Health Ballarat, Hon Sam Rae MP – Minister for Aged Care and Seniors , Hon Catherine King MP – Member for Ballarat, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government
Congratulations to:
- A big congratulations to Deakin Distinguished Professor Catherine Bennett who has been awarded the 2025 Sidney Sax Public Health Medal from the Public Health Association of Australia. It’s a well-deserved recognition of her significant contribution to public health. Professor Bennett contributed her immense expertise to the Aus Gov COVID-19 Response Inquiry panel by documenting and evaluating Australia’s response and distilling the lessons learned.
- Congratulations to Professor Lisa Gold, Deakin Health Economics, on being awarded Best Discussant at AHED workshop (AHES conference).
- Congratulations to Kaitlyn McKenna, Deakin Health Economics, received the Best Poster Award at the 2025 AADPA Conference, 25-27th July, for her work on “Costs and wait times of ADHD private care in Australia”.
Pictured are Deakin Distinguished Professor Catherine Bennett, Professor Lisa Gold and Kaitlyn McKenna
- Professor Catherine (Cate) Nagle appointed to the Inaugural role in the Barwon Health Partnership of Chair in Midwifery (Barwon Health).
- Senior Lecturer Julie Abimanyi-Ochom, Deakin Health Economics, was named one of only six iHEA Fellows for 2025. Project Title “Modelling the Economic and Health System Implications of US HIV Funding Withdrawal from Nigeria: Implications and Mitigation Strategies”.
- Clara Gomez Donoso was awarded the Best Young Researcher Presentation Awards at the Spanish and Portuguese Epidemiology Societies Annual Meeting.
- Dr Navoda Liyana Pathirana was awarded an ANU Planetary Health Equity Hothouse Future Leaders Fellowship.
- Troy Walker appointed First Nations Principal Research Fellow.
- Ramas McRae was recently awarded a Churchill Fellowship and a Sir William Kilpatrick sponsorship for his research into deaf mental health.
- Dr Virginia Hagger was awarded an Honorary Life Member of the Australian Diabetes Educators Association (ADEA). This prestigious award is the highest honour that ADEA bestows on a member.
- The MRFF Safer Spaces project is well on its way, having achieved many of their key 12-month goals including establishing the Queer Health Alliance, with engagement across 40 organisations with strong community feedback on the project’s commitment to keeping queer young people at its centre. The team also warmly welcomed their new Senior Project Officer Megan Wilson who will support the coordination and the management of the project. In addition, the team are also delighted to have Aydin Balcioglu as permanent research assistant after successfully completing his first social work placement as part of Deakin’s Bachelor of Social Work program.
Celebrating our recent graduates
Congratulations to the PhD students who were conferred their degrees at the September graduation ceremonies:
- Dr Paula Medway FACM – Policy to Practice: Exploring the Implementation and Impact of Australia’s National Maternity Strategy Supervisors: Professor Linda Sweet and Deakin Distinguished Professor Alison Hutchinson
- Dr Jessica Lees: Exploring How Digital Technology Features in the Teaching of Physical Examination Practice for Health Professional Students Supervisors: Professor Linda Sweet and Professor Margaret Bearman
- Dr Annie Tan: Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Women and Maternity Services Supervisors: Deakin Distinguished Professor Tracey Bucknall, Caroline Homer and Dr Robin Digby
- Dr Michael Le Grande: Screening for Obstructive Sleep Apnoea in Cardiac Rehabilitation Patients Supervisors: Deakin Distinguished Professor Andrea Driscoll, Associate Professor Debra Kerr, Professor Alun Jackson and Associate Professor Alison Beauchamp.
- Dr Nina (Noor) Imad: Improving Sustainment of Obesity Prevention Interventions in Childcare. Supervisors: A/Prof Serene Yoong, Prof Anna Peeters and external supervisors Prof Regina Belski and Dr Alice Grady.
Recent Conference presentations
Professor Rochelle Wynne, invited speaker at the following Conferences:
- ACNAP EuroHeartCare Congress, Sophia Antipolis, France, June 2025. Presented a paper titled: Multimodal analgesic effectiveness on acute post-operative pain management
- Ambulance NSW, Canberra Health Service, Canberra, August 2025. Presented a paper titled: Research or Quality Improvement? Navigating the evidence pathways in healthcare. Virtual panel discussion
Professor Samantha Thomas was an invited speaker at the Prevention in Practice Summit on Wed 24 September 2025. Hosted by Evermind, the one-day summit focused on bridging the knowledge-to-practice gap in the prevention of mental health concerns. The event brought together more than 150 participants and 20 national experts across government, lived experience and expertise, community, research, industry, and the mental health sector.
Go back to the October 25 Newsletter
