Debra Hector Australian & New Zealand Obesity Society 2016 Annual Scientific Meeting

Debra Hector

Debra gained her PhD in 1987 and worked in the UK, Papua New Guinea, Africa and Australia in applied biological and agricultural research, and as a lecturer, for 14 years. From 2000 to mid-2016 she worked for the NSW Centre for Public Health Nutrition and subsequently the Physical Activity, Nutrition and Obesity Research Group (PANORG) at the University of Sydney. PANORG is funded by NSW Health to undertake policy-relevant prevention research in order to guide efforts to improve the health of the population of NSW, and is part of the ‘Prevention Research Collaboration’ at the Charles Perkins Centre. Debra has extensive experience in evidence-based planning, applied research, and in monitoring and evaluation, in public health nutrition and obesity prevention. She has particular skills in the critical appraisal and synthesis, summary and communication of research evidence to inform planning, policy and practice. Debra has worked closely with government, local area health districts, public health advocacy groups and non-government organisations, as a ‘knowledge broker’, contributing to the translation of evidence into policy and practice, as well as providing advice on evaluation frameworks and methods. Debra has ongoing interests in methods for synthesising and communicating research evidence to inform policy and practice in population health. Debra is currently working in this capacity at Cancer Australia.