Associate Professor
Melanie NicholsProfile page
Associate Professor
Faculty of Health/School of Health and Social Development/Institute for Health Transformation
Orcid identifier0000-0002-7834-5899
- Associate ProfessorFaculty of Health/School of Health and Social Development/Institute for Health Transformation
- +61 3 522 78446 (Work)
- Geelong Waterfront Campus, 1 Gheringhap Street Geelong, Victoria 3220
BIO
Dr Melanie Nichols is an Associate Professor in GLOBE - the Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition, a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention at Deakin University. Melanie's research focuses on the prevention and epidemiology of obesity, heart disease and other non-communicable diseases, and community-based approaches to promoting health.
Melanie currently leads the NHMRC funded project PRECIS: PRecision Evidence for Childhood obesity prevention InterventionS (GNT2002234), harmonising and analysing data from more than 20 large scale childhood obesity prevention projects, to build the generalisable evidence needed for the next generation of community interventions.
Melanie has worked extensively in evaluation of large scale community-based obesity prevention, including the successful Sentinel Site for Obesity Prevention programs in the Barwon South-Western region of Victoria, which generated world-leading evidence into the effectiveness of whole of community- approaches to obesity prevention.
Between 2011 and 2012 Melanie worked in the British Heart Foundation Health Promotion Research Group at the University of Oxford, UK, leading the European Cardiovascular Disease Statistics project as part of the EuroHeart II program, funded by the European Commission. The project examined Europe-wide cardiovascular disease mortality, morbidity, treatment and risk factors, with special attention to inequalities and recent trends.
Melanie completed her PhD in Public Health at Deakin University in 2010. Her PhD thesis investigated issues around prevention of obesity in early childhood, including recent trends in prevalence, behaviours and environments to address the question of whether early childhood should be a priority period for obesity prevention activities. Prior to beginning her research career, Melanie qualified as a dietitian, and worked in the field of gastroenterological disorders. Melanie holds tertiary qualifications in nutrition and dietetics and health promotion.
Melanie currently leads the NHMRC funded project PRECIS: PRecision Evidence for Childhood obesity prevention InterventionS (GNT2002234), harmonising and analysing data from more than 20 large scale childhood obesity prevention projects, to build the generalisable evidence needed for the next generation of community interventions.
Melanie has worked extensively in evaluation of large scale community-based obesity prevention, including the successful Sentinel Site for Obesity Prevention programs in the Barwon South-Western region of Victoria, which generated world-leading evidence into the effectiveness of whole of community- approaches to obesity prevention.
Between 2011 and 2012 Melanie worked in the British Heart Foundation Health Promotion Research Group at the University of Oxford, UK, leading the European Cardiovascular Disease Statistics project as part of the EuroHeart II program, funded by the European Commission. The project examined Europe-wide cardiovascular disease mortality, morbidity, treatment and risk factors, with special attention to inequalities and recent trends.
Melanie completed her PhD in Public Health at Deakin University in 2010. Her PhD thesis investigated issues around prevention of obesity in early childhood, including recent trends in prevalence, behaviours and environments to address the question of whether early childhood should be a priority period for obesity prevention activities. Prior to beginning her research career, Melanie qualified as a dietitian, and worked in the field of gastroenterological disorders. Melanie holds tertiary qualifications in nutrition and dietetics and health promotion.
DEAKIN UNIVERSITY CURRENT APPOINTMENT
- Associate ProfessorDeakin University, School of Health and Social Development
DEGREES
- Doctor of PhilosophyDeakin University
- Bachelor of Applied Science (Health Sciences)Deakin University
- Bachelor of Nutrition & DieteticsDeakin University
FIELDS OF RESEARCH (2020)
- Public health
- Epidemiology
- Clinical sciences
- Nutrition and dietetics
- Health services and systems
AVAILABILITY FOR SUPERVISION
- Masters by Research and PhD supervision
AREA/FACULTY
- Faculty of Health
DEPARTMENT/SCHOOL/INSTITUTE
- School of Health and Social Development
STRATEGIC RESEARCH AND INNOVATION CENTRE
- Institute for Health Transformation