Rate My Professor Beverley-Ann Biggs

Professor Beverley-Ann Biggs is Professor and Head of International and Immigrant Health in the Department of Infectious Diseases at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, University of Melbourne, and the Victorian Infectious Diseases Service, Royal Melbourne Hospital. Holding qualifications of MBBS, PhD, FRCP, FRACP, and FACTM, she has over 25 years of service to the University of Melbourne, where she was honoured for her contributions. As Head of the Global and Indigenous Health research group in Melbourne Medical School, her interests encompass infectious diseases, nutrition, maternal and child health, immigrant and refugee health, and challenges such as malnutrition and chronic diseases like diabetes in remote Indigenous communities in Northeast Arnhem Land. She leads the Royal Melbourne Hospital Refugee Health Program, aiding health providers in refugee settlement.

Internationally recognised for translational research in low-resource settings including Vietnam, Bangladesh, Malawi, Thailand, and Cambodia, her studies focus on anaemia prevention, impaired childhood development, parasitic infections, and integrated child growth interventions, informing public health policies. Major NHMRC Project Grants support initiatives like the IRMA randomised controlled trial of iron supplementation with malaria chemoprevention in Malawi (2018-2022), community-led nutrition and lifestyle programs for metabolic health in Arnhem Land (2020-2022), universal iron interventions in young children in rural Bangladesh (2016-2020), learning clubs for women's and infant health in Vietnam (2016-2019), and predictors of child stunting in Vietnam (2013-2016). She collaborates with the World Health Organization Expert Advisory Panel on Nutrition, Victorian Department of Health, and Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases on guidelines. Her scholarly impact includes 135 peer-reviewed articles, a parasitology textbook, and 15 book chapters. Key publications are 'Control of iron deficiency anemia in low- and middle-income countries' (Blood, 2013), 'Effects of daily iron supplementation in primary-school-aged children' (CMAJ, 2013), 'Benefits and Risks of Iron Interventions in Infants in Rural Bangladesh' (NEJM, 2021), 'Antenatal Iron Supplementation Regimens for Pregnant Women in Rural Vietnam' (2025), and studies on cardiometabolic risk reduction in Indigenous communities (2024-2025).