Beverley Ann-Biggs

• Beverley-Ann Biggs

  Professor

  babiggs@unimelb.edu.au
  +61 3 8344 3256

Research Overview

Professor Beverley-Ann Biggs leads a group of clinicians and researchers with interests in infectious diseases, nutrition, and immigrant health. International health activities are based in Vietnam, Bangladesh and Malawi and include integrated approaches for improved child growth and development, the assessment and prevention of iron deficiency in women and children, and the control of parasitic diseases.

Refugee health projects focus on assessing and treating undiagnosed infections and malnutrition in immigrants and refugees.

Indigenous Australians in remote communities also face challenges related to malnutrition and infectious diseases. A current initiative in this area is the evaluation of a community-based program that encourages and supports metabolic health.

The Group is also active in Guideline and Policy Development through collaborations with the World Health Organisation, the Department of Health, Victoria and the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases.

Staff

• Professor Beverley-Ann Biggs, Head, International and Immigrant Health, Department of Infectious Diseases, Doherty Institute, and Victorian Infection Diseases Service, Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH)

• Dr Rosalind Beadle, Clinical Research Officer in Indigenous Health
• Associate Professor Sabine Braat, Senior Biostatistician
• Dr Hasthi Dissanayake, Research Fellow in Indigenous Health
• Dr Joanne Gardiner, Refugee Health Primary Health Care
• Ms Ruth Gulamanda, Indigenous Health Research Leader
• Mr Garambaka Gurruwiwi, Indigenous Health Research Leader
• Dr Sarah Hanieh, Infectious Diseases Paediatrician and Public Health Research Fellow
• Mr Thomas Hayman, Research Assistant in Indigenous and Refugee Health
• Ms Juanita Mooney, Nutritionist and Health Coach
• Dr Janet Pasricha, Refugee Medicine Specialist
• Dr Jennifer Shield, Guest Researcher
• Mr Tim Trudgen, Anthropologist and Educator
• Ms Dorothy Yunggirrnga, Galiwin’ku Nutrition Action Group Leader
• Ms Kristy Gardner, PhD Candidate
• Helen Clanachan, MPH Candidate
• Ms Beth Hilton Thorp, Project Consultant
• Ms Christalla Hajisava, Admin/Project Support Officer

University Guests

• John Hayman
• Jennifer Shield

Students

• Kristy Gardner (PhD) assisting Dr Simon Graham and Dr Hasthi Dissanyake
• Helen Clanachan (MPH) assisting Dr Hasthi Dissanayake

Collaborators

Major Collaborators

• Professor Jane Fisher, Jean Hailes Research Unit, Monash University, and her group
• Associate Professor Sant-Rayn Parischa, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI), and his group
• Associate Professor Julie Simpson, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health
• Dr Thach Tran, Women's and Global Health, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University
• Dr Barbara Cardoso, Senior Lecturer, Nutrition Dietetics and Food, Monash University.
• Dr Tuan Tran, Director, Research and Training Center for Community Development (RTCCD), Vietnam
• Ms Ha Tran and the RTCCD team
• Dr Jena Derakhshani Hamadani, icddr,b, Bangladesh, and her group
• Professor Shams El Arifeen, icddr,b, Bangladesh
• Professor Kamija Phiri, School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Malawi, and his group
• Associate Professor Julie Brimblecombe, Department of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food, Monash University
• Professor Michael Christie, Contemporary Indigenous Knowledge and Governance (CIKG), Charles Darwin University
• Associate Professor John Wentworth, WEHI
• Ms Joanne Garnggulkpuy, Charles Darwin University
• Mr George, Gurruwiwi, Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Melbourne
• Dr Bronwyn Clark, Cancer Prevention Research Centre, School of Population Health, University of Queensland
• Professor Leonard Harrison, WEHI, and his group
• Dr Emma Tonkin, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University
• Mr Tim Trudgen, Why Warriors Pty Ltd
• Professor Ruth Wallace, College of Indigenous Futures, Education and the Art, Charles Darwin University
• Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Victoria
• Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture (VFST)
• Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory (VIDRL)

World Health Organization (WHO), Geneva

Funding

Recent Funding

• Targeted Translation Research Accelerator (TTRA) Grant 2024: Walking together to reduce blood sugar and other cardiometabolic risk in remote Indigenous communities, using co-designed, innovative, culturally appropriate methods.
• Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Grant 2024: Walking together to reduce blood sugar in the community: Innovative and culturally appropriate strategies to reduce diabetes and chronic disease in Indigenous Australians living in a remote community in Arnhem Land.
• Northeast Arnhem Land Atlantic Philanthropies Grant, Internal Research Grant, 2023: Innovative and culturally appropriate strategies to reduce blood sugar levels in Indigenous Australians living in a very remote community in Arnhem Land.
• NHMRC Targeted Research Grant, 2020-2022: Evaluation of a community-led nutrition and lifestyle program for weight loss and metabolic health: a randomised controlled trial.
• NHMRC Project Grant, 2018-2022: IRMA: Benefits and safety of IRon supplementation with MAlaria chemoprevention to children in Malawi (IRMA) - A randomised controlled trial.
• NHMRC Project Grant, 2016-2020:Defining the impact of universal iron interventions in young children: a randomized controlled trial in rural Bangladesh.
• NHMRC Project Grant, 2016-2019: Learning clubs to improve women’s health and infant’s health and development in Vietnam: a cluster randomised controlled trial of a low-cost, evidence-informed, structured intervention.
• NHMRC Project Grant, 2013-2016: What are the clinical predictors and risk factors for child stunting and impaired cognitive development? Following up the Ha Nam cohort from birth to 3 years of age.
• NHMRC Early Career Fellowship, 2015-2019:The Stunting Risk Assessment Tool: identifying infants at high risk of impaired growth and development in resource poor settings.

Other Funding

• MDHS Internal Research Grant, 2020: Feasibility and stakeholder engagement for a randomised controlled trial to evaluate the Hope for health Program in a remote indigenous community.
• Shepherdson Foundation Research Grant, 2018-2020: Novel approaches to improve understanding of anaemia and its determinants in Indigenous communities.
• The Royal Melbourne Hospital Home Lottery Grant in Aid, 2018-2020: Enteric pathogen infection and gut microbiota disturbance-association with child cognition in remote Indigenous communities.
• R@M-Interdisciplinary Research Initiatives (Hallmarks & MSOG) Collaborations Grant, 2016-2017: New approaches to improve nutrition in indigenous children in a remote Yolngu community.  University of Melbourne.
• Victorian Government support for Refugee Health Fellow program.

Research Opportunities

This research project is available to PhD students, Masters by Research, Honours students to join as part of their thesis.
Please contact the Research Group Leader to discuss your options.

Research Outcomes

View the complete listing of Professor Bigg's publications

Research Publications

From 2020-2025

1. Tonkin, E, Kennedy, D, Hanieh, S, Biggs, BA, Kearns, T, Gondarra, V, Dhurrkay, R, Brimblecombe, J.  Dietary intake of Aboriginal Australian children aged 6-36 months in a remote community: a cross-sectional study. Nutr J. 2020 Apr; 19(34):1-12.
2. Hamadani JD, Hasan MI, Baldi AJ, Hossain SJ, Shiraji S, Bhuiyan MSA, Mehrin SF, Fisher J, Tofail F, Tipu SMMU, Grantham-McGregor S, Biggs BA, Braat S, Pasricha SR. Immediate impact of stay-at-home orders to control COVID-19 transmission on socioeconomic conditions, food insecurity, mental health and intimate partner violence in Bangladeshi women and their families: an interrupted time-series. Lancet Glob Health. 2020 Nov;8(11):E1380-89.
3. Hanieh S, Mahanty S, Gurruwiwi G, Kearns T, Dhurrkay R, Gondarra V, Shield J, Ryan N, Azzato F, Ballard SA, Orlando N, Nicholson S, Gibney K, Brimblecombe J, Page W, Harrison LC, Biggs BA; Child Health and Nutrition Study team.Enteric pathogen infection and consequences for child growth in young Aboriginal Australian children: a cross-sectional study. BMC Infect Dis. 2021 Jan; 21(1):9.
4. Shield J, Braat S, Watts M, Robertson G, Beaman M, McLeod J, Baird RW, Hart J, Robson J, Lee R, McKessar S, Nicholson S, Mayer-Coverdale J, Biggs BA. Seropositivity and geographical distribution of Strongyloides stercoralis in Australia: a study of pathology laboratory data from 2012-2016. PLOS Negl Trop Dis. 2021 Mar; 15(3):e0009160.
5. Pasricha S-R, Hasan MI, Braat S, Larson LM, Tipu SMM-U, Hossain SJ, Shiraji S, Baldi A, Bhuiyan MSA, Tofail F, Fisher J, Grantham‑McGregor S, Simpson JA, Hamadani JD, Biggs BA. Benefits and Risks of Universal Iron Interventions in Infants. N Engl J Med. 2021 Sep; 385(11):982-995.
6. Hanieh S, Braat S, Tran TD, Ha TT, Simpson JA, Tuan T, Fisher J, Biggs BA. Child linear growth trajectories during the first three years of life in relation to infant iron status: a prospective cohort study in rural Vietnam. BMC Nutr. 2022 Feb 15;8(1):14.
7. Fisher J, Tran T, Tran H, Luchters S, Hipgrave DB, Nguyen H, Tran T, Hanieh S, Simpson JA, Biggs BA, Tran T. Structured, multicomponent, community-based programme for women's health and infant health and development in rural Vietnam: a parallel-group cluster randomised controlled trial. Lancet Child Adolesc Health. 2023 May; 7(5):311-325.
8. Medhi SP, Pasricha J, Biggs BA. Hyperlipidaemia and weight amongst Afghani Refugees attending a general practice clinic in regional Australia. 2023; J Immigr Minor Health. 2023 Jun;25(3):589-595.
9. Yeji Baek, Zanfina Ademi, Thach Tran, Alice Owen, Trang Nguyen, Stanley Luchters, David B Hipgrave, Sarah Hanieh, Tuan Tran, Ha Tran, Beverley-Ann Biggs, Jane Fisher. Considering equity and cost-effectiveness in assessing a parenting intervention to promote early childhood development in rural Vietnam. Health Policy and Planning. 2023 Sep; 38(8), 916–925.
10. Baek, Yeji; Ademi, Zanfina; Tran, Thach; Owen, Alice; Nguyen, Trang; Luchters, Stanley; Hipgrave, David B.; Hanieh, Sarah; Tran, Tuan; Tran, Ha; Biggs, Beverley-Ann; Fisher, Jane. Promoting early childhood development in Vietnam: Cost-effectiveness analysis alongside the cluster-randomized trial. Lancet Glob Health. 2023 Aug; 11(8):e1269-e1276.
11. Mwangi MN, Mzembe G, Ngwira CC, Vokhiwa M, Kapulula MD, Larson LM, Braat S, Harding R, McLean ARD, Hamadani JD, Biggs BA, Ataíde R, Phiri KS, Pasricha SR. Protocol for a randomised, multicentre, four-arm, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial to assess the benefits and safety of Iron supplementation with Malaria chemoprevention to children in Malawi - IRMA trial. BMJ Open. 2023 Oct; 13;13(10):e069011.
12. Baldi A, Braat S, Imrul Hasan M, Bennett C, Barrios M, Jones N, Moir-Meyer G, Abdul Azeez I, Wilcox S, Saiful Alam Bhuiyan M, Ataide R, Clucas D, Harrison LC, Arifeen SE, Bowden R, Biggs BA, Jex A, Pasricha SR. Community use of oral antibiotics transiently reprofiles the intestinal microbiome in young Bangladeshi children. Nat Commun. 2024 Aug;15(1):6980.
13. Baldi A, Braat S, Hasan MI, Bennett C, Barrios M, Jones N, Abdul Azeez I, Wilcox S, Roy PK, Bhuiyan MSA, Ataide R, Clucas D, Larson LM, Hamadani J, Zimmermann M, Bowden R, Jex A, Biggs BA, Pasricha SR. Effects of iron supplements and iron-containing micronutrient powders on the gut microbiome in Bangladeshi infants: a randomized controlled trial. Nat Commun. 2024 Oct;15(1):8640.
14. Dissanayake HU, Guruwiwi G, Dhurrkay J, Tynan JC, Braat S, Harrap B, Trudgen T, Hanieh S, Clark B, Spencer M, Christie M, Tonkin E, Armstrong E, Harrison LC, Wentworth JM, Brimblecombe JK, Biggs BA.Improving cardiometabolic risk factors in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in northeast Arnhem Land: single arm trial of a co-designed dietary and lifestyle program. Med J Aust. 2025 Mar;222(4):183-190.
15. Larson LM, Baldi A, Hasan MI, Jones N, Pickle EO, Ataide R, Bennett C, Bhuiyan MSA, Mulk Uddin Tipu SM, Tofail F, Biggs, BA, Hamadani J, Pasricha S-R, Braat S. Role of hepcidin on benefits and risks of supplementation with iron syrup and multiple micronutrient powders in Bangladeshi children: a sub-study to a randomized controlled trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 2025 Feb;19:S0002-9165(25)00086-3.
16. Baek Y, Fisher J, Tran T, Owen A, Nguyen T, Luchters S, Hipgrave DB, Hanieh S, Tran T , Tran-Thi-Thu Ha, Biggs BA and Ademi Z. Economic returns on investing in early childhood development in Vietnam: A cost-benefit analysis. BMC Health Services Research. 2025;25:384.