Associate Professor Nicole Nathan is a trained physical education teacher with a PhD in public health, specialising in implementation and sustainability science.

She is an NHMRC MRFF Research Fellow at the University of Newcastle and a Public Health Manager with Hunter New England Health. With over 20 years of experience, she has dedicated her career to implementing health promotion initiatives in schools, children’s services, and sporting clubs, aiming to enhance the health and well-being of children and young people.

Her research primarily focuses on the effective implementation of health promotion programs in educational settings including “fruit break” which has been adopted by over 90% of NSW primary schools since 2012.

Nicole has led some of the largest school implementation trials internationally, including the Physically Active Children in Education (PACE) program. PACE supports schools to meet the recommended 150 minutes of physical activity per week. The program received the HMRI Team Excellence Award and the NSW Health ‘Keeping People Healthy Award’ in 2022 and has reached over 500 NSW schools, benefiting more than 150,000 children.

In 2020, she was awarded an MRFF Investigator Grant to focus on sustaining public health programs. Recognising the importance of sustainability in public health, her research aims to develop strategies that ensure long-term program success. In 2024, she secured $4.8M from the MRFF to lead research on chronic disease prevention initiatives in secondary schools, collaborating with health agencies across Australia. Her work aims to provide tools and resources to help practitioners sustain health promotion programs.