14 January 2026
Institute news
We’re delighted to welcome renowned physiologist and molecular biologist, Professor Mark Febbraio, back to the Institute.
Professor Febbraio’s research is focused on understanding the mechanisms associated with exercise to develop novel therapies to treat obesity-related diseases.
He returns to the Baker Institute after ten years working at The Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, then at Monash University. He will head the Cellular and Molecular Metabolism laboratory.
Formerly Head of the lab within the Drug Discovery Program at the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Professor Febbraio already has existing collaborations with many scientists here to accelerate his work.
This is fortuitous, as his work tackling lifestyle-related diseases has never been so important, with a staggering 66% of the adult population in Australia now overweight or obese.
Traditionally, obesity has been linked to 'cardiometabolic' diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and more recently, many cancers.
In contrast, there is accumulating evidence that regular physical activity may decrease the risk for developing both cardiometabolic disease and obesity- related cancers. Exercise is also known to slow the progression of obesity-related diseases once a person is diagnosed. However, poor adherence to exercise intervention programs is widespread.
Given this conundrum, Professor Febbraio’s research focuses on uncovering precise molecular mechanisms associated with the deleterious effects of obesity and, conversely, the beneficial effects of exercise, to develop novel drug candidates to treat several obesity-related diseases.
This work has led to him becoming the Founder and Chief Scientist of Celesta Therapeutics, and a scientific advisor for Gallant Pharma.
hroughout his career, Professor Febbraio has won many prestigious awards, including the Australian Physiological Society AK McIntyre Prize, the Kellion Award for the Australian Diabetes Society, the Australian Museum Eureka Prize and The Endocrinology Society UK International Medal to name a few.
Director, Professor John Greenwood says Professor Febbraio’s appointment significantly strengthens our discovery work in obesity and cardiometabolic disease, one of the four key pillars of research at the Institute.
“By bringing together clinical, public health and bench-top researchers with expertise in molecular profiling, animal models, clinical trials and implementation studies, we aim to tackle the major health challenges driven by the obesity epidemic,” Professor Greenwood says.
