Professor Peter Vuillermin has been named Health and Education Champion at the 2026 Future Geelong Leadership Awards.
The award recognises his contribution to child health and leadership of major research initiatives across Deakin University and Barwon Health.
The power of regional collaboration
Professor Vuillermin’s recognition highlights the role regional institutions can play in delivering world-class research, education and healthcare outcomes.
As Chair of Medicine at Deakin and Clinical Director of Research at Barwon Health, Professor Vuillermin has helped strengthen research capability across both organisations. He is also a member of Deakin’s Institute for Mental and Physical Health and Clinical Translation (IMPACT).
His work has created pathways that enable doctors, nurses and allied health professionals to complete a PhD while continuing their clinical work
This work has contributed to:
- more than 20 joint Barwon Health and Deakin research positions
- increased opportunities for clinician researchers
- stronger links between research, education and patient care.
The recognition also reflects the strength of the long-standing partnership between Deakin and Barwon Health. That partnership continues to support research, education and healthcare outcomes that benefit the community.
Professor Vuillermin said the recognition highlighted what could be achieved when universities, health services and communities work together.
‘One of the strengths of working in Geelong is the opportunity to collaborate across Deakin, Barwon Health and the wider community. Those partnerships have enabled us to build research programs that improve health outcomes locally and contribute to discoveries with global impact.’
Research that starts with local families
A key example of this collaboration is the Barwon Infant Study, which Professor Vuillermin founded and co-leads. The study follows local families from pregnancy onwards and has generated findings in childhood health, allergy, asthma, nutrition, immunity and the microbiome.
The study has secured 17 major grants and produced more than 100 peer-reviewed publications. Its findings are contributing to international understanding of how early life experiences shape lifelong health.
Professor Vuillermin’s work also extends to global research collaborations. He is one of 10 international leaders of the US$50 million Foundations of a Resilient Microbiome (FORM) program, which investigates how the microbiome influences children’s immune system and brain development.
He also established the Adrian Costa Clinical Trials Centre and the Barwon Health and Deakin University Clinical Trials Alliance. He designed Assessing the Reduction of Recurrent admissions using OM-85 for the treatment of preschool Wheeze (ARROW), the largest childhood asthma and wheeze trial ever conducted. The trial involved 1,088 children across 45 hospitals.
More recently, his team secured a $3 million grant for the Farm My School initiative, which will investigate whether improving maternal diet during pregnancy can better support brain health outcomes for mothers and babies.
Congratulations to Professor Vuillermin on this well deserved recognition and his continued leadership in advancing child health research and outcomes
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