DrPriscila Machado

Dr Machado is a National Health and Medical Research Council Emerging Leadership Fellow in the Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition (IPAN) at Deakin University. She is a Nutritionist and holds a Masters and PhD in Public Health Nutrition.

Her research focuses on understanding the role of ultra-processed foods in the food system and human health, evaluation of sustainable healthy diets, and nutrition policy. This includes substantial experience in the Nova food classification system and its identification of ultra-processed foods, dietary patterns research using complex datasets (e.g. national surveys, cohort studies), developing methodologies to incorporate food processing on health and sustainability assessments, and policy analysis.

She was able to attract >$1.5M in fellowships and grants, including an Alfred Deakin Postdoctoral Fellowship (2021-23), succesful in a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA), and led (CIA) a 2023 Heart Foundation Vanguard Grant. She was awarded a 2024 NHMRC Investigator Grant Emerging Leadership Fellowship to address the burden of chronic diseases attributable to ultra-processed foods in Australia (2025-29).

Dr Machado has supervised 4 Masters and 1 PhD student to completion, and currently supervises 4 PhD candidates, and 1 postdoctoral fellow.