Michael Cowley is the founding director of the Monash Obesity & Diabetes Institute and a Professor of Physiology at Monash University, with a focus on obesity, diabetes, and metabolic disorders. He received his science degree from the University of Melbourne, and did his PhD at Prince Henry’s Institute of Medical Research at Monash Medical Center, before a post-doctoral fellowship at The Vollum Institute in Oregon. He was later an Assistant then Associate Scientist at Oregon National Primate Research Center in the USA. In 2008 he returned to Australia to Monash University. His work has mapped the neural circuits in the brain that sense nutrients and fat, to control appetite and body weight. He has published more than 85 papers and chapters, is the inventor of 85 patents, and the co-founder of Orexigen Therapeutics, a publically listed (NASDAQ: OREX) San Diego biotech company where he served as the Chief Scientific Officer till December 2008. Orexigen recently won marketing approval from the EMEA and FDA for Contrave™, an obesity medication that he invented. Michael is a director of an Australian diabetes drug development company, Verva Inc, and a primate contract research company. Michael has a significant focus on public outreach, the promotion of science in schools, and better metabolic health. Michael is a fellow of The Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, a Veski Innovation Fellow, in 2009 he was awarded The Australian Science Ministers Prize for Australian Life Scientist of the Year and in 2014 the inaugural Jacques Miller Medal for Experimental BioMedicine from the Australian Academy of Science.