Prof Josephine Forbes

Professor Josephine Forbes is a Program Leader of the Chronic Disease Biology and Care research theme at Mater and a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Senior Research Fellow. Josephine leads the Diabetes and Metabolism Research Group at Mater Research with a team of 10 researchers. Josephine is the author of over 160 scientific publications with her research currently focused on diabetes and its' complications.

Josephine’s lab is investigating new treatments for diabetes and the devastating chronic complications associated with it such as kidney disease, blindness, amputations and heart disease. With this research, Josephine aims to build a greater understanding of the biological basis of diabetes in connection with a broad range of chronic diseases and develop preventative strategies and innovative treatments to improve patient outcomes.

Josephine has been studying diabetes since she completed her PhD in Nephrology in 1999 and has worked at Royal Children's Hospital, the University of Melbourne and Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne Australia. She has held research grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and the National Institutes of Health (USA). She has also received awards including the TJ Neale Award in 2017 for outstanding contribution to nephrological science, the Commonwealth Health Minister’s Award for Excellence in medical research in 2010, an NHMRC Achievement Award in 2009, a Young Tall Poppy Award in 2008 and a Young Investigator Award from the International Diabetes Federation in 2002.

Josephine is a scientist at heart, who likes to be close to discovery and innovation as she believes this is to be the key to future health discoveries. She keeps a clear focus on the health outcomes of her research for individuals affected by diabetes and is passionate about training our future leaders in medicine and science.

“Diabetes has become so prevalent that it touches all of our lives. My inspiration is to discover something that will better someone's life.”