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valerie verhasselt

Professor Verhasselt is Director of the Centre of Research for Immunology and Breastfeeding at The University of Western Australia (UWA) and Telethon Kids Institute (TKI). She trained at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium) where she obtained the diploma of Medical Doctor, Specialist in Internal Medicine and a PhD in Immunology. She has 20 years of experience in translational research on the impacts of breastfeeding on child immune development and health. With her team, she aims to establish the matches and, importantly, the possible mismatches, between what the infant needs for healthy development and the nutrition that they are provided.  
She has revolutionized the field of allergy prevention by early oral allergen exposure through breastmilk with a landmark study published in Nature Medicine in 2008. This study contributed to the recent major changes in feeding guidelines for food allergy prevention. Along with collaborators in Uganda, she is exploring a potential game changer in the field of vaccination – considering that breastfeeding may be a child tailored way to vaccinate children and protect them from infectious disease, including Malaria. Professor Verhasselt’s team is also investigating the importance of colostrum for growth, allergy and infection prevention. This knowledge will inform changes in clinical practice and drive policy changes, such as increased budgets to community and health services for early breastfeeding support.
Prof. Verhasselt has presented more than 40 invited lectures to international scientific meetings in the last 3 years and is a regular speakrt to local and international meetings of stakeholders in child nutrition. She co-coordinates and lectures at the course “Breastfeeding- A Foundation for Human Health” held at UWA. Prof. Verhasselt has authored more than 80 publications, many published in top 1% Journal.
Her research receives major financial support by the Larsson Rosenquist Foundation.
Importantly, ethics, respect, generosity and humanity are the drivers of her scientific career.


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