Associate Professor Nicole Nathan is an implementation and sustainability scientist with over 20 years of experience improving the delivery, scale-up and long-term sustainment of chronic disease prevention programs in schools and community settings. She is an NHMRC Research Fellow at the University of Newcastle, a Public Health Manager with Hunter New England Population Health, and Deputy Director of the National Centre of Implementation Science.

Associate Professor Nathan’s research focuses on identifying effective, scalable and sustainable approaches to improving physical activity, healthy eating and wellbeing among children and adolescents. Her work has informed policy and practice nationally and internationally, with programs reaching hundreds of thousands of children through education and health systems. She has led some of the largest school-based implementation trials internationally, including the award-winning Physically Active Children in Education (PACE) program, which supports schools to implement physical activity practices at scale.

She leads the National School Health Promotion Collective, bringing together health and education agencies across Australia to strengthen the implementation and sustainment of school-based prevention initiatives. Nicole also established the International Sustainability Consortia, a global network advancing sustainability science and the long-term impact of evidence-based health programs.

Associate Professor Nathan has secured more than $20 million in competitive research funding and currently leads a $4.8 million Medical Research Future Fund program focused on sustaining chronic disease prevention initiatives in secondary schools. Her work aims to strengthen the capacity of health and education systems to embed evidence-based prevention programs into routine practice and achieve lasting population health impact.