Rate My Professor Lisa Wood

Professor Lisa Wood serves as Pro Vice-Chancellor of the College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing at the University of Newcastle, Australia, since 2025. She previously headed the School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy from 2020 to 2025 and advanced through roles such as Associate Professor, Senior Lecturer, and Lecturer in the same school. Her early career included an NHMRC Postdoctoral Fellowship in the School of Medicine and Public Health from 2002 to 2006 and the University of Newcastle Brawn Fellowship from 2007 to 2010. Professor Wood holds a PhD in Nutrition and Dietetics from the University of Newcastle completed in 2001 in collaboration with Westmead Children's Hospital, a Bachelor of Science with Honours and University Medal from the University of Sydney in 1991, and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Newcastle. Before academia, she spent six years in the food industry at MasterFoods Australia. She has supervised 25 higher degree research students, leads the Nutrition and Metabolism theme in the Immune Health Programme at the Hunter Medical Research Institute, and has served as President of the Nutrition Society of Australia from 2017 to 2019, Chair of Asthma Australia's Research Advisory Committee, and convenor of the Asthma and Allergy Special Interest Group for the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand from 2011 to 2015.

Professor Wood's research specializes in nutritional modulation of inflammation in airways diseases such as asthma, COPD, and cystic fibrosis, exploring impacts of dietary antioxidants, fatty acids, soluble fibre, and obesity on airway inflammation, lung function, and medication responses. Key publications encompass "Methodology for the determination of biological antioxidant capacity in vitro: a review" (2006), "Biomarkers of lipid peroxidation, airway inflammation and asthma" (2003), "Airway inflammation is augmented by obesity and fatty acids in asthma" (2011), and "Role for NLRP3 inflammasome–mediated, IL-1β–dependent responses in severe, steroid-resistant asthma" (2017). Her findings contribute to the Australian Asthma Handbook. Awards include the Nutrition Society of Australia Medal (2022), HMRI Director’s Award for Mid-Career Research (2018), Faculty of Health Research Award (2014), and multiple Thoracic Society travel fellowships. With over 200 peer-reviewed articles and more than A$18 million in grants, her interdisciplinary work advances dietary strategies for respiratory health management.