ProfessorSamantha Thomas

Professor Samantha Thomas is Professor of Public Health in the Determinants of Health Team, Institute for Health Transformation. Samantha is currently the Editor-in-Chief of Health Promotion International, a Q1 (Health Social Sciene) Oxford University Press journal. She is the co-lead of the Policy and Regulation Stream of the VicHealth Centre for the Commercial and Economics Determinants of Health. She recently was the lead editor for the first special issues on the Commercial Determinants of Health and Digital Determinants of Health at Health Promotion International. She is the host of the Ottawa Charter at 40 Podcast Series.

Samantha graduated with a PhD in Community Health from the University of Auckland. She started her career at the World Health Organisation in Geneva. She has held research positions at King's College London, Monash University, and the University of Wollongong. Samantha has previously held leadership roles as Head of Postgraduate Studies, and Higher Degree Research Coordinator. 

Her current research focuses on the social, commercial and political determinants of health, with particular interest in the impact of harmful and predatory industries on the health and equity of women, and children and young people. Her projects have investigated the corporate and political tactics of the gambling industry, the fossil fuel industry, and the alcohol industry. Her most recent research investigates the commercial capture of women's health, with a particular focus on menopause. She had completed a number of studies investigating how messages about health and wellbeing are framed by powerful stakeholders, and the role of the public health and health promotion communities in reframing unhelpful narratives from those with vested interests. She has a strong commitment to the engagement of lived experience perspectives in advocating for government reforms of industries whose products and practices are harmful for health and wellbeing. 

Samantha is most well known for her research and advocacy in gambling reform - particularly relating to the impact of gambling marketing. She has testified to numerous national and international parliamentary inquiries, and participated in parliamentary forums and roundtables in the Australian Parliament. Her work to reframe gambling as a public health issue, and her call for bans and restrictions on gambling promotions has been cited in numerous parliamentary and policy reports. She is regularly interviewed by national and international media, and has had invited opinions pieces in The Guardian. She has developed novel education programs for young people and sporting organisations about the harms associated with the gambling industry which have been implemented in Australia.

Samantha has an extensive track record in competitive grant funding. She has received funding from the ARC Discovery and Linkage Grant Schemes, the NHMRC, VicHealth, the Victorian Department of Justice, the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, BUPA, Gambling with Lives (UK), NSW Office of Gaming, and ACT Gaming and Racing Commission. Her research has led to over 200 peer reviewed publications mostly in Q1 journals including the BMJ, Social Science and Medicine, BMC Public Health, Health Promotion International, Qualitative Health Research, the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, and Critical Public Health.

Samantha has an outstanding track record of PhD supervision. Her PhD students have won awards for their research, including the Alfred Deakin Medal for Best Thesis, and as finalists in Research Australia Awards and Victorian Premiers Awards. Her students have gone on to receive prestigious competitive postdoctoral fellowships including from the ARC DECRA Scheme, and VicHealth Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme, as well as the ARC Future Fellowship Scheme. Current PhD, Honours, and Masters students have projects focused on the social and commercial determinants of menopause; gambling, sexual and reproductive health rights for ethnic minority women; workplace suicide prevention programs; and harmful industry CSR tactics.