Rate My Professor Deborah Gleeson

Deborah Gleeson is Professor of Public Health in the School of Psychology and Public Health at La Trobe University, where she serves as Discipline Cluster Lead for Health Practice and Management and teaches postgraduate courses in health policy and health law. She earned her PhD in Health Policy from La Trobe University in 2010, Master of Public Health in 2002, and Postgraduate Diploma in Health Promotion in 1997 from the same institution, along with a Bachelor of Applied Science from RMIT University in 1992. Her career trajectory at La Trobe includes positions as Research Officer (2004–2005), Research Fellow (2008–2011), Lecturer (2012–2017), Senior Lecturer (2017–2020), Associate Professor (2021–2025), and Professor since 2026. Earlier, she was a sessional Lecturer in the School of Exercise Science at Australian Catholic University (2002–2006).

Gleeson's research specializes in public health policy, with a primary focus on the interface between international trade agreements and public health outcomes, including impacts on pharmaceutical policy, access to medicines, alcohol and tobacco regulation, and food and nutrition. Key publications include 'A new generation of trade policy: potential risks to diet-related health from the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement' (2013), 'Negotiating tensions in developing organizational policy capacity: Comparative lessons to be drawn' (2011), 'Emerging threats to public health from regional trade agreements' (2013), 'Will the next generation of preferential trade and investment agreements undermine prevention of noncommunicable diseases? A prospective policy analysis of the Trans Pacific Partnership' (2015), and 'The high price of "free" trade: US trade agreements and access to medicines' (2013). She has contributed over 35 peer-reviewed articles in this area. Additionally, Gleeson was co-convener of the Public Health Association of Australia's Political Economy of Health Special Interest Group from 2008 to 2025 and served on the PHAA Board from 2022 to 2025. Since November 2025, she has been Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Q1 journal Globalization and Health.