Speakers

Boyd Swinburn is Professor of Population Nutrition and Global Health in the School of Population Health, University of Auckland. He trained as an endocrinologist but is now a public health physician and conducts research on community and policy actions to prevent childhood and adolescent obesity, and reduce, what he has coined, the ‘obesogenic’ food environment. He leads an international network (INFORMAS) in over 60 countries to monitor and benchmark the healthiness of food environments and the implementation of food policies and actions to reduce obesity. He established the World Health Organisation's first Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention, at Deakin University in Melbourne and has also contributed to over 30 WHO consultations and reports on obesity. He was previously Co-Chair of the International Obesity Taskforce and then World Obesity's Policy & Prevention section. He led two Lancet Series on Obesity and Co-Chaired the Lancet Commission on Obesity. He is chair of the Health Coalition Aotearoa, which is an alliance of over 60 health organisations working to reduce harm from tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food.

He has co-authored over 500 peer-reviewed research papers, books and book chapters on obesity, nutrition and food policy.

Distinctions/Honours: University of Auckland Gluckman Medal for health and medical research, 2021 Distinguished Visiting Professor, Academy of Sciences of South Africa , 2020 Rockefeller Foundation Writing Residency Award, Bellagio, Italy, 2019 Muriel Bell Lecture, Nutrition Society, Auckland, 2018 Alfred Deakin Professor, Deakin University, 2009-2018 Patron and Honorary Fellow, Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine, 2017- George Salmond Oration, 2016 Sax Oration, 2009 Founding director, WHO Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention, Deakin University, 2003-2014