Executive Team and Staff

Professor Paul O’Brien is Director of the Centre for Obesity Research and Education. His areas of expertise include: The morbidity of obesity and the health benefits of weight loss; laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding procedures; treatments for obesity and their relative effectiveness; effects of obesity and weight loss on survival.

Professor O’Brien can be contacted on 03 9903 0721 or 03 9520 9520.

Associate Professor John Dixon is Head and of Clinical Studies in the Centre for Obesity Research and Education, and a Senior Research Fellow of Monash University. His areas of expertise include: Health changes with weight loss and the problems of obesity-related disorders including: type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, hypertension, infertility, polycystic ovary syndrome, problems with pregnancy, sleep disturbance, lung function, and asthma; quality of life; depression; body image; nutrition.

Dr Dixon can be contacted on 03 9903 0721 or 03 9903 0607 or 0448 447 020

Dr Anna Peeters is the Program Head of the Public Health Studies at CORE, and a VicHealth Research Fellow in the Department of Epidemiology and Preventative Medicine at Monash University Her areas of expertise are chronic disease, aging and medical demography, with particular focus on the population implications of overweight and cardiovascular disease.

Professor Brian Oldfield is Head of Basic Research in the Centre for Obesity Research and Education, and a Professor of Physiology at Monash University and a NHMRC Principal Research Fellow. His areas of expertise include: the role of the brain in mediating energy balance with a focus on the control of energy expenditure; the use of neurotropic viruses in experimental animals to determine the brain pathways involved in either energy intake or expenditure and the nature of the neurochemicals that mediate either energy intake or expenditure.

Professor Leon Piterman is Head of Professional Education in the Centre for Obesity Research and Education, and the Head of the School of Primary Health Care at Monash University . His areas of expertise include: clinical and education issues related to general practice, He has special interests in distance learning, cardiovascular disease and mental health.

Professor Piterman can be contacted on 03 9905 4315 or 03 8575 2213.

Sonia Osborne is Commercial Manager in the Centre for Obesity Research and Education Monash University . Sonia has joined CORE after 12 years blue-chip marketing management experience in the corporate sector.

Sonia Osborne can be contacted on 03 9903 0721 or 03 9903 0613.