Dr Brooke Harcourt completed her PhD in Medicine at Monash University, Melbourne, in 2011. Her thesis examined the contribution of caramelised food compounds called Advanced Glycation End Products, or AGEs, to the development of kidney disease in type 2 diabetes mellitus and obesity. As a postdoctoral fellow at the Mater Research – UQ Institute in Queensland, Brooke continued to work in the fields of obesity, nutrition, digestion and disease processes. In 2014, Brooke was awarded an NHMRC Peter Doherty Early Career Fellowship, and returned to the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne. Her current fellowship examines the developmental origins and consequences of childhood overweight and obesity. The aim is to gain a better understanding of the multifactorial processes that lead to obesity in childhood, so that  better treatments, education and dietary advice can be offered to patients.