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Professor Susan Prescott MD PhD is a paediatrician and an internationally acclaimed physician scientist, well known for her cutting-edge research into the early environmental determinants of health and disease. She has a particular focus on immune health, and how this can be enhanced—for all aspects of wellbeing across the life course—through microbial biodiversity, healthy nutrition, stronger relationships with natural environments, and positive emotional assets. She works at highest level of her profession internationally, with over 25 years of research experience. Her early work as an immunologist, published in The Lancet, lead to a paradigm shift in understanding the importance of the early environment in immune programming for the risk of subsequent disease.
She is a passionate advocate for social change and adopting a holistic approach to life. As an artist and award-winning author, she communicates these ideas, not only through the knowledge base of science, but also through the inspiration of art. In finding common ground, she maintains we can work together to address many global problems, recognising the direct connections between personal and planetary health. With this goal, she leads both local and global efforts towards improving personal and planetary health: Her current Positions include
Professor | Paediatrics, University of Western Australia Director | Nova Network for planetary health: Baltimore, USA Editor-in-Chief | Challenges Journal Basel, Switzerland President | inVIVO Planetary Health (2012-2022) Director | ORIGINS PROJECT Telethon Kids Institute Immunologist and Paediatrician | Perth Children's Hospital, Scholar | Nova Institute for Health, Baltimore, USA Adjunct Professor | Family and Community Medicine University of Maryland, Baltimore, USA |
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At the international level, she is Founding President of inVIVO Planetary Health which seeks to improve personal, public and planetary health - as recently articulated in the aclaimed Canmore Declaration: Statement of Principles for Planetary Health. For more, visit the inVIVO website.
At the local level, Susan is a Founding Director of the ORIGINS Project at the Telethon KIDS Institute - a $26 million Federally funded legacy project (in conjunction with the Paul Ramsay Foundation) based at Joondalup Health Campus - examining how the environment influences health throughout life, and how we can improve this. This is a community project with a global vision. It is founded on the principle that planetary change must begin locally, and that each and every community.
She is the Founding President of the multidisciplinary ‘DOHaD’ Society in Australia and New Zealand (Developmental Origins of Health and Disease).
Her interests and expertise are focused around early life risk factors for inflammation as an antecedent (and preventive target) for a broad range of noncommunicable diseases (NCD), with a particular interest in early onset NCDs such as allergy, obesity and mental health. She works at the highest international level of her field, and is a former Director of the World Allergy Organisation (WAO).
A practicing physician at Perth Children's Hospital and researcher at the Telethon Kids Institute and the University of Western Australia, Susan is involved in a wide variety of activities promoting an idea of holism, in which inclusion is upheld, diversity is celebrated and the notion of all working together to solve our shared global challenges is encouraged.
Susan is an award winning author (a 2018 Gold Medal winner in Independent Publishers Awards) of a number of well-known books including The Allergy Epidemic, Origins: Early Life Solutions to the Modern Health Crisis, The Secret Life of Your Microbiome, and The Calling.
Her inspiration to study medicine came from her grandmother Monica, one of the few women to study medicine in the 1930s (the story of her life as a medical missionary in China underJapanese occupation told through the pages of The Calling), and her love of research and academia was inspired by her grandfather Sir Stanley Prescott, former Vice-Chancellor of The University of Western Australia.
A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO LIFE
Susan’s endeavours – both in the clinic and out of it – focus on multiple systems, are multidisciplinary and celebrate the idea of having lifelong impact. As such, she maintains that science and the findings from it should not be separated from any other field, something her studies on early immune development has reaffirmed: “From a biological standpoint, the environment begins to affect our future from our conception and, even before that, with the health of our parents,”she says. “Adverse conditions during critical stages of our development can have a profound effect on our body structures, functions and even our developing behaviours.”
In addition to acknowledging the vital role prevention plays in long-term health from the first moments of life, Susan is keen to encourage the idea that the majority of global challenges the human race faces come from the same root cause – namely, the way we live. Though, this should be understood to include societal constructs and values, as much as our lifestyle. “There is no doubt that we need a more collaborative and holistic vision to restore a sense of community,” enthuses Susan. “By continuing to look at things separately, we reduce our perspective and capacity.”
OUT WITH THE OLD
Susan firmly believes that empowering both men and women to dismantle some of the traditional ‘paternalistic’ approaches to problem solving is critically important in realising an integrated, collaborative approach. “How can a new approach be undertaken using an old mode of thought?” she asks. “By their very definition, the global challenges we face affect us all and should therefore involve us all.” This necessitates widespread engagement, not just among scientists but across local, national and international communities, where politicians and scientists of all creeds and colours – and both sexes – join forces to provide solutions for present and future generations. “I believe a shift in the style of approach is necessary to overcome restrictive and often dictatorial traditions, in addition to individual issues of gender and representation,” Susan explains. “It is about ‘de-normalising’ territorial, competitive and adversarial behaviour. All of us, men and women alike, need to be advocates for positive philosophical change.”
MORE THAN THE SUM OF OUR PARTS
It is extremely difficult to not be influenced and affected by Susan’s palpable passion for a holistic approach to life – she was once told she was too passionate to work in science – a sentiment that exemplifies precisely what she is rallying against. For Susan, passion is what drives humanity’s quest for discovery and its desire for change. As she puts it:
“A sense of excitement and wonder can drive innovation. Compassion and contributing to something greater than ourselves can bring a greater personal sense of purpose for each of us. This can only be a good thing”.
At the local level, Susan is a Founding Director of the ORIGINS Project at the Telethon KIDS Institute - a $26 million Federally funded legacy project (in conjunction with the Paul Ramsay Foundation) based at Joondalup Health Campus - examining how the environment influences health throughout life, and how we can improve this. This is a community project with a global vision. It is founded on the principle that planetary change must begin locally, and that each and every community.
She is the Founding President of the multidisciplinary ‘DOHaD’ Society in Australia and New Zealand (Developmental Origins of Health and Disease).
Her interests and expertise are focused around early life risk factors for inflammation as an antecedent (and preventive target) for a broad range of noncommunicable diseases (NCD), with a particular interest in early onset NCDs such as allergy, obesity and mental health. She works at the highest international level of her field, and is a former Director of the World Allergy Organisation (WAO).
A practicing physician at Perth Children's Hospital and researcher at the Telethon Kids Institute and the University of Western Australia, Susan is involved in a wide variety of activities promoting an idea of holism, in which inclusion is upheld, diversity is celebrated and the notion of all working together to solve our shared global challenges is encouraged.
Susan is an award winning author (a 2018 Gold Medal winner in Independent Publishers Awards) of a number of well-known books including The Allergy Epidemic, Origins: Early Life Solutions to the Modern Health Crisis, The Secret Life of Your Microbiome, and The Calling.
Her inspiration to study medicine came from her grandmother Monica, one of the few women to study medicine in the 1930s (the story of her life as a medical missionary in China underJapanese occupation told through the pages of The Calling), and her love of research and academia was inspired by her grandfather Sir Stanley Prescott, former Vice-Chancellor of The University of Western Australia.
A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO LIFE
Susan’s endeavours – both in the clinic and out of it – focus on multiple systems, are multidisciplinary and celebrate the idea of having lifelong impact. As such, she maintains that science and the findings from it should not be separated from any other field, something her studies on early immune development has reaffirmed: “From a biological standpoint, the environment begins to affect our future from our conception and, even before that, with the health of our parents,”she says. “Adverse conditions during critical stages of our development can have a profound effect on our body structures, functions and even our developing behaviours.”
In addition to acknowledging the vital role prevention plays in long-term health from the first moments of life, Susan is keen to encourage the idea that the majority of global challenges the human race faces come from the same root cause – namely, the way we live. Though, this should be understood to include societal constructs and values, as much as our lifestyle. “There is no doubt that we need a more collaborative and holistic vision to restore a sense of community,” enthuses Susan. “By continuing to look at things separately, we reduce our perspective and capacity.”
OUT WITH THE OLD
Susan firmly believes that empowering both men and women to dismantle some of the traditional ‘paternalistic’ approaches to problem solving is critically important in realising an integrated, collaborative approach. “How can a new approach be undertaken using an old mode of thought?” she asks. “By their very definition, the global challenges we face affect us all and should therefore involve us all.” This necessitates widespread engagement, not just among scientists but across local, national and international communities, where politicians and scientists of all creeds and colours – and both sexes – join forces to provide solutions for present and future generations. “I believe a shift in the style of approach is necessary to overcome restrictive and often dictatorial traditions, in addition to individual issues of gender and representation,” Susan explains. “It is about ‘de-normalising’ territorial, competitive and adversarial behaviour. All of us, men and women alike, need to be advocates for positive philosophical change.”
MORE THAN THE SUM OF OUR PARTS
It is extremely difficult to not be influenced and affected by Susan’s palpable passion for a holistic approach to life – she was once told she was too passionate to work in science – a sentiment that exemplifies precisely what she is rallying against. For Susan, passion is what drives humanity’s quest for discovery and its desire for change. As she puts it:
“A sense of excitement and wonder can drive innovation. Compassion and contributing to something greater than ourselves can bring a greater personal sense of purpose for each of us. This can only be a good thing”.
The global challenges we now face affect us all, and the solutions must involve us all.”
Medical and Scientific Career
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Current Roles
Susan Prescott is a Professor of Paediatrics in the School of Medicine at University of Western Australia. She is a Paediatrician and an Immunologist, specialising in Allergy at the Perth Children’s Hospital. Susan is a Founding Director of the ORIGINS Project at the Telethon KIDS Institute, a legacy project which will examine how the environment influences health throughout life. Leadership Susan is founding President of the multidisciplinary ‘DOHaD’ Society in Australia and New Zealand (Developmental Origins of Health and Disease). She also founded and continues to direct inVIVO Planetary Health, an interdisciplinary research network with over 250 members from more than 50 partner institutions. Expertise Her interests and expertise are focused around early life risk factors for inflammation as an antecedent (and preventive target) for a broad range of noncommunicable diseases (NCD), with a particular interest in early onset NCDs such as allergy, obesity and behavioural disorders. She works at the highest international level of her field, and is a former Director of the World Allergy Organisation. Susan cares deeply about the social determinants of health, and takes a holistic approach to life. She has over 300 scientific publications, and is also author of several books: The Allergy Epidemic – a Mystery of Modern Life (published for an international public audience), The Calling, and Origins - Early Life Solutions to the Modern Health Crisis, and most recently The Secret Life of Your Microbiome: Why Nature and Biodiversity are Essential to Health and Happiness. Education: Susan is a medical graduate of the University of Western Australia where she also went on to complete her PhD. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP) and studied Immunology at the Hospital for Sick Kids in Toronto, Canada. She has received numerous prizes, awards and fellowships including a Winston Churchill Fellowship. In 2009 she was awarded a prestigious Practitioner Fellowship (2009-2018) by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and in 2010 her work was recognised in the “10 of the best” in Australia. Her inspiration to study medicine came from her grandmother, one of the few women to study medicine in the 1930s, and her love of research and academia was inspired by her grandfather Sir Stanley Prescott, former Vice-Chancellor of The University of Western Australia. |
