Prof Richard Saffery [BSc (Hons), GradDipLaw, PhD] is a Principal Research Fellow and Group Leader at the MCRI. Current appointments include;
· Prof of Paediatrics at University of Melbourne,
· Distinguished Prof Chonqing Medical University, China and
· Director of Biosciences for Generation Victoria (GenV), Australia’s largest longitudinal birth cohort.

Prof Saffery has led pioneering research for over two decades on how early-life environments shape lifelong health and disease. His “Early Origins of Chronic Disease” program spans pregnancy to adolescence, integrating advanced cellular and molecular profiling with rich clinical, environmental, and phenotypic data from population-based cohorts. His team focuses on immune-related conditions such as food allergy, juvenile arthritis, and pulmonary inflammation, and has also revealed how assisted reproductive technologies, maternal obesity, and gestational diabetes influence offspring epigenetic profiles.,

Key leadership roles of pregnancy cohorts include;
· Peri/Postnatal Epigenetic Twin Study (PETS)
· Barwon Infant Study (BIS)
· Chongqing Longitudinal Twin Study (LoTiS)
· Generation Victoria (GenV).