Professor Debra Anderson is the Director and Founder of Dawn and the Women’s Wellness Research Program based at the Menzies Health Institute Queensland. Professor Anderson has forged innovative solutions to promote the health of women and girls, partnering with them to manage symptoms of health-related conditions and improving their quality of life across the lifespan. Professor Anderson’s research focuses on understanding the basis and effects of risk behaviours in women. Her research aims to promote wellness and healthy behaviour change in women with and without chronic disease, including midlife women and women cancer survivors, including physical activity, dietary intake, stress management, and smoking cessation; and to develop and test interventions that promote these behaviours.
Over the last 15 years Professor Anderson has secured over $4.4 million dollars in funding from peak bodies such as the National Health and Medical Research Council, The Australian Research Council, Diabetes Queensland and Cancer Council Queensland, to fund development of research programs.
In late December 2019 Professor Anderson joined the University of Technology Sydney as Associate Dean of Research, just prior to this she held the position of Head, School of Nursing and Midwifery at Griffith University. Her previous roles included Director of Research at the School of Nursing, Queensland University of Technology and the Research Leader of the Chronic Conditions research group at the Institute of Health and Biomedical Research. She has a PhD in Social and Preventive Medicine and over thirty years’ experience in education and research.
After years of intervention development, tweaking and trialing, Dawn brings together a collective of health and wellness programs ready for the public arena.
