DrLewan Parker

Dr Parker is a joint NHMRC & Heart Foundation Early Career Fellow and leader of the Redox Regulation of Health and Disease research group at Deakin’s Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition (IPAN). Dr Parker's internationally recognised research program explores how physical activity, redox biology, bone metabolism, and vascular health, regulate glycaemic control, exercise capacity, and cardiometabolic health and disease. Through the identification of novel mechanisms, his research continues to explore new ways to harness exercise and nutrition for the prevention, management, and treatment of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

His research career is underscored by numerous invited talks and publications in esteemed journals such as Redox Biology, and successful competitive funding (~$3.8 million AUD) as a cheif investigator. The impact of his research program has been officially recognised by over 17 awards including James Cook University Early Career Alumni Award (2022), Journal of Physiology (UK) Editorial Board Fellowship (2022), and Exercise and Sports Science Australia Early Career Researcher Award (2018). Dr Parker has extensive experience in exercise physiology, endocrinology (measurement of glycaemic control through gold standard and emerging techniques), vascular function and health (modern ultrasound imaging of the vascular network), redox physiology (redox biomarker assessment), and biochemistry (cell metabolism, function, and signalling assessment). 

Dr Parker’s clinical, applied, and mechanistic research program aims to:
• Explore the underlying causes (on a molecular and functional level) of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

• Explore how exercise and nutrition can be optimised to improve vascular function, exercise capacity, glycaemic control and overall cardiometabolic health.

• Explore novel interventions (e.g., patient screening to inform personalised nutrition and exercise prescription) to improve vascular function, exercise capacity, glycaemic control and overall cardiometabolic health.