Dr Cindy Needham

Dr Cindy Needham transitioned into academia from local government with extensive experience in public health policy and planning and is currently a Research Fellow at Deakin University. Dr Needham’s work emphasises knowledge translation including their work supporting local governments to implement systems thinking techniques to inform Municipal Public Health Wellbeing Plans.

Cindy is a Chief Investigator on the VicHealth Impact Grants project “Food swamps, deserts or swampy deserts? This study and earlier works seek to monitor the food retail environment; and understand the most effective way to measure the food environment and examine the role it plays in diet and obesity outcomes. Cindy’s publications and longitudinal food environment data are presented on the Prevention Centre’s Australian Food Environment Dashboard and are utilised by local governments to compare and contrast food environments across local government areas; and how they have changed over time. Her research influences policies at the local level that may contribute to improving the healthiness of the food environment and local communities.