Abhinav Bassi is a physiotherapist trained in public health, currently working as a Senior Research Fellow and Operations Lead at the George Institute for Global Health, India. He has a wealth of experience in epidemiological research, advocacy, and civil society network coordination. At present, Abhinav is leading a team of researchers responsible for designing and conducting pragmatic academic trials specifically in the areas of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and COVID-19. His other work at the George Institute includes developing and testing mobile-based decision support systems to prevent, screen, treat, and manage non-communicable diseases.

Mobile health interventions, automation in project management, and interactive dashboard development are some of his key interest areas. 

Shani completed her bachelor’s in Medical Biotechnology and holds a Master’s degree in Public health from Amity University, India. In addition, Shani completed a course in Clinical Trial Fundamentals facilitated by Monash University, Australia and Project Management Fundamentals  by Australian Institute of Management.

Prior to joining George Institute, she worked as a Junior research fellow at the International Clinical Epidemiological Network (INCLEN) New Delhi on multiple epidemiological studies and was involved in project designing and database management. Presently, she is involved in the operations and management of academic randomised clinical trials like Long Covid ,PACE in COPD and works closely with the trial steering committees, regulatory authorities, ethics committees and clinical sites across India to conduct trials ethically and efficiently.

Daisy Coyle is a Research Fellow at The George Institute, Accredited Practising Dietitian (APD) and a Conjoint Lecturer at UNSW. She leads a program of work evaluating food policies to achieve healthier and more equitable diets. This research is supported by an NHMRC Emerging Leader Investigator Grant (2024-2028) and a Heart Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship (2024-2025).

Daisy generates evidence to support the design and development of policies that can meaningfully improve public health and she works closely with NGOs, government, and public health and academic collaborators to translate this evidence into action. Her research interests span across ultra-processed foods, foods for early childhood, salt reduction and added sugars. She is also a media Dietitian and regularly provides expert commentary on a range of nutrition topics across radio, TV and print media nationally.

Daisy received her PhD from UNSW in 2021 for her work in evaluating efforts to improve the healthiness of the food supply in Australia, with a specific focus on food reformulation. Daisy also holds a Bachelor of Nutrition and Dietetics from the University of Newcastle (First Class Honours) and a Bachelor of Science (Nutrition and Metabolism & Physiology) from the University of Sydney.

Professor Simone Pettigrew is the Head of Food Policy. She has qualifications in Economics, Marketing, and Consumer Psychology. Her broad areas of expertise include behavioural psychology, health promotion, health policy, communications, social marketing, and intervention research.

Along with nutrition, her substantive areas of research include obesity, physical activity, alcohol consumption, smoking, active transport, and healthy ageing. Simone sits on numerous advisory committees and regularly performs research consultancies for NGO and government entities. To date, she has published more than 400 peer-reviewed papers and produced more than 160 technical reports for NGOs and government departments.

See Professor Pettigrew's full CV here.

Dijlah is the Impact and Engagement Support Officer for the global Impact and Engagement Team. She works actively across multiple programs and projects, supports events and the development of impact and engagement materials.

Dr Anna Palagyi is a health systems scientist with expertise in co-design methodology and implementation studies with mixed-methods evaluation. She holds positions as Program Lead - Ageing & Health Systems in the Centre for Health Systems Science at The George Institute for Global Health and Conjoint Associate Professor at UNSW Sydney.

Anna's research centres on the co-design of effective implementation strategies to strengthen primary health care services in resource-constrained settings of the Asia-Pacific region. She has a particular interest in the development of appropriate health system responses to population ageing: Anna previously implemented a national longitudinal study on aspects of healthy ageing in older Australians with cataract, and currently collaborates with governments, civil society organisations and academic institutions across several Pacific Island countries to identify national healthy ageing policy, program and service priorities.

Anna is committed to evidence-informed health policy and practice. She has a strong track record of partnering with government stakeholders in the design and implementation of policy-relevant research, has co-authored commissioned reports for government bodies and advocacy groups, and has produced policy briefs for government departments.