Our people

Professor Barbora de Courten is a Professor at Monash University, Specialist Physician, and Honourary Fellow of the Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine (ASLM). She has a PhD in epidemiology, extensive training in clinical trials from the National Institutes of Health, US, and is a Master of Public Health. She has expertise across the translational research continuum from human mechanistic studies to clinical trials and public health interventions through to practice. Barbora heads a Chronic disease prevention and Healthy Ageing Group at Department of Medicine, School of Clinical Sciences at Monash University. Barbora’s vision is to establish innovative, safe and scalable strategies that target insulin resistance through lowering inflammation to prevent and treat type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and related conditions including polycystic ovary syndrome, gestational diabetes, obesity related infertility and musculoskeletal disorders and more recently neurodegenerative diseases as well as associated mental health impact these chronic diseases often have. Her goal is that her research findings will ultimately translate into treatment guidelines, reduced morbidity and mortality and reduced health-care costs. She is passionate about holistic research approaches to preventing chronic diseases by promoting health as she believes this will impact not only the health of individuals but also will be beneficial to our society and environment we live in. She has worked in a variety of international settings, as reflected by her appointments at prestigious institutions in the USA (NIH), Australia (Baker IDI, Monash University) and Europe (University of Copenhagen and Steno Diabetes Centre). She enjoys an active national and international research network. She is an author on over 160 publications and more than 300 presentations at national and international meetings. She is on the National Health and Medical Research Council and Diabetes Australia Research Trust grant review panels and the Lead Fellow for Continuing Professional Development on the Adult Medicine Division Council for Royal Australasian College of Physicians.