Alexandra completed her PhD in 2020, exploring human milk lipids, at The University of Western Australia. She joined the Metabolomics laboratory as a Postdoctoral Researcher shortly after.

Evidence and understanding of effective prevention of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease is essential in a world experiencing an ever-growing obesity epidemic. Breastfeeding and human milk are known to reduce the risk of later life development of these non-communicable diseases; however, human milk is understudied and the mechanisms through which this protection occurs are largely unknown.

Alexandra’s current research focuses on the complex human milk lipidome and aims to gain understanding of human milk lipids that protect the infant against obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. This involves utilising the state-of-the-art lipidomics platform to identify novel human milk lipids and perform comprehensive analysis of the human milk lipidome, and use of human birth cohorts to elucidate the role of these lipids in early life.

Alexandra is passionate about promoting human milk research and generating scientific evidence to improve breastfeeding understanding, policy and healthcare; and thus healthy infants who develop into healthy adults.