Professor Kirsten Perrett is Group Leader of the Population Allergy Research Group at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI). She is also Director of the National Allergy Centre of Excellence (NACE) and the National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Centre of Research Excellence in Food Allergy (CFAR), hosted at MCRI; Paediatric Allergist and Vaccinologist at The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne and Honorary Professorial Fellow at The University of Melbourne.

For 20 years, Prof Perrett has spear-headed over 30 Investigator-led and Industry-sponsored vaccine and food allergy clinical trials and is a highly sought-after allergist, trials expert, clinician-scientist and key opinion leader. Awarded continuous fellowship funding since 2013 via National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator Awards (2013-18, 2022-26) and Melbourne Children’s Clinician-Scientist Fellowships (2018-27), Prof Perrett has also received more than $53.8 million in competitive, government, philanthropic and industry research funding and has more than 120 peer-reviewed publications, including 90 in the past five years. Her research has helped shape global changes to food allergy prevention, diagnosis and management.

Initially Prof Perrett’s research focused on vaccinology. Her PhD – at the Oxford Vaccine Group, University of Oxford, UK – investigated the persistence of immunity and immunological memory to meningococcal vaccines. Her NHMRC funded post-doctoral fellowship explored maternal Immunisation at the Vaccine and Immunisation Research Group, MCRI. Additionally, Prof Perrett was a Visiting Scholar with the Stanford Lucille-Packard Children’s Hospital Vaccine Program at Stanford University, US, in 2013-14.

Having two children with cow’s milk allergy, she moved her research focus in 2018 from the prevention of infectious disease through vaccination to food allergy – one of the world’s leading health challenges. Her current program of pragmatic clinical trials research focuses on investigating novel strategies for the prevention and early intervention/treatment of food allergy, eczema and atopic disease. She is also involved in research investigating immunological mechanisms underlying allergic disease pathogenesis and exploring strategies to improve the diagnostic accuracy of minimally invasive tests for food allergy diagnosis.

In 2022, the NACE launched thanks to a $10.2 million Federal Government investment. As Director and Pillar 1 Allergy Research Lead, Prof Perrett oversees the national plan of action to facilitate and accelerate research across drug, food, insect, and respiratory allergic disease. As Director and Chief Investigator of the third continuous five-year term of the NHMRC funded Centre of Research Excellence (CFAR) – launched in 2012 – Prof Perrett oversees the team that ensures Australia continues to be a global leader in food allergy research.