Shelley Gorman (BSc Hons, PhD) is Group Leader of the Cardiometabolic Sunhealth team at the Centre for Child Health Research (Telethon Kids Institute). She has interest and expertise in understanding how sunlight modulates health and disease, with a focus on understanding how UV light modulates metabolic dysfunction, inflammation, and immunity. Her research team aims to improve our understanding of biological processes modified by sun exposure, to provide evidence and do research in humans and for the development of new therapies, and, to help health policy makers give better-informed sun exposure advice. This research is done across 10 complementary projects and includes new avenues of research that include assessing the impacts of sun exposure on health within exposomes modified by climate change, as well as on COVID-19 illness and vaccination. The success of Gorman’s team is underpinned by the work of HDR, Honours, MD students and junior research staff, as well as the contributions of 30 active collaborators.

Gorman continues to publish new findings of the research team in leading metabolic journals, such as Diabetologia. These new findings suggest that novel metabolic pathways in metabolically active tissues are activated by UV light to prevent the development of metabolic dysfunction, and involve unexpected mediators, such as nitric oxide, bile acids and the gut microbiome. These findings have important ramifications in relation to improving sun exposure policies and provide rationale for ongoing research on the potential for phototherapy or safe sun exposure to be used to potentially prevent and treat metabolic dysfunction in the clinic. Gorman’s team has also developed new translational digital health products (i.e., the Sun Safe app) to better communicate these, and other important sun health concepts to young people and the community. This work is complemented by her ongoing outreach efforts to highlight the team’s research and importance of medical research and STEMM in the wider community. Gorman also chairs the Gender Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity Council at Telethon Kids Institute, and contributes to the activities of other special interest groups and committees. She also contributes significantly to international peer review.