Dr Dee Tomic is a PhD candidate in diabetes epidemiology with the Baker Institute. She has a background in medicine (Monash MBBS), management consulting (Boston Consulting Group) and clinical research. Dee is passionate about population health, chronic disease and mental health, and has served as an ambassador for Headspace.

Her PhD uses large, linked datasets including the National Diabetes Services Scheme, the National Death Index, and hospital admission datasets from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, to explore emerging complications of diabetes mellitus from a population health perspective. Some of the areas of focus in her research include the reasons for hospitalisation in Australians with diabetes compared to the general population; trends in cause-specific mortality among those with diabetes; and emerging metrics of measuring the global burden of diabetes such as lifetime risk and life expectancy. Her literature review, the first published review of emerging diabetes complications, was published in Nature Reviews Endocrinology in 2022.

Over the remaining course of her PhD, Dee will continue to explore emerging complications of diabetes. The results of her research have meaningful public health and clinical implications. As evidence mounts for the diversification of diabetes complications, through Dee’s research and abroad, diabetes management including screening and prevention may need to shift to acknowledge the burden of a wide range of complications.