Associate Professor Drew completed his PhD studies in 2008 through Monash University and then undertook post-doctoral studies as an NHMRC CJ Martin Fellow at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, USA (2009–2013). He returned to the Baker Institute in 2013 to establish his own research program and is now a Baker Institute Fellow, a Level II National Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellow and head of the Molecular Metabolism and Ageing Laboratory. He has been successful in attracting >$5M in research funding as a chief investigator including grants from the NHMRC, National Heart Foundation and Diabetes Australia Research Program.

A/Prof Drew also co-leads the Obesity and Lipids Program, co-chairs the Research Training and Education Committee, and manages the preclinical phenotyping facility at the Baker Institute. He leads a research team of staff and students that engages in cutting edge technologies and systems genetics to examine the molecular underpinnings of cellular and tissue energy metabolism, with a focus on identifying pathways with therapeutic potential to treat cardiometabolic disorders.

He has established ties with industry partners including Ionis Therapeutics and CSL, and his work has been published in many leading general and specialist journals including Nature, Cell Metabolism, Science Transl Med, Eur Heart Journal, Circulation, PNAS and Diabetes.