VicHealth researcher: David Crawford

“My research is about understanding the underlying drivers of the community’s eating and physical activity habits”

David Crawford, Research Fellow at the Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition, Deakin University seeks to identify strategies to promote healthy eating and increased physical activity for children and families.

Contact Professor Crawford
Email: dcraw@deakin.edu.au
Phone: +61 (03) 9244 6616

Poor nutrition and inadequate physical activity increase the risk of a range of chronic health conditions including heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, osteoporosis and various cancers that are common in our community. David’s research is concerned with understanding the underlying drivers of the community’s eating and physical activity habits, and with identifying strategies to promote healthy eating, increase physical activity and prevent obesity in children and their families.

The Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition Research (C-PAN) is Australia’s premier research institution concerning with the population health aspects of nutrition and physical activity. The Centre’s mission is to understand the role of nutrition and physical activity in common health conditions in order to develop strategies to enhance population health by improving nutrition and increasing physical activity to optimal levels.

David’s research is concerned with creating evidence of the role of diet and physical activity in health and disease, and with using this knowledge to develop and evaluate novel health promotion strategies to prevent chronic health conditions.

The support provided to David by VicHealth allows him to remain focused on his research program and to build capacity in the area. Currently he is responsible for training a large group of postgraduate students and postdoctoral research fellows.