LG

Leah Gilbert

Food Research and Innovation Center, University of Fribourg, The University of Sydney Charles Perkins Centre, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, University of Lausanne

Research areas: Medicine · Obstetrics and Gynecology · Gestational Diabetes Research and Management · Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum · Birth, Development, and Health

ORCID iD 0000-0002-0580-0141
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About

Dr Leah Gilbert is a Maîtresse d'Enseignement et de recherche (Senior Lecturer and Senior Researcher) at the University of Fribourg within the Food Research and Innovation Center since October 1st 2024. Prior to this she was a Principal Investigator and Postdoctoral Researcher at the Charles Perkins Center at the Nepean Hospital, in Sydney, Australia between 2022 and 2024. Her PhD, completed in Lausanne, Switzerland in 2021received the Summa Cum Laude award for all of the aspects of her thesis: thesis defense presentation, scientific research and written thesis. She received her master degree in Child and Adolescent Psychology in 2016 .

Her research focuses on maternal and offspring mental and metabolic health and on solutions to reduce mental health issues as well as the development of metabolic disorders, such as infant obesity risk. She is currently investigating these questions with data from her Postdoc Project with a team in Australia, in Switzerland and another in the United Kingdom. She authored and co-authored over 25 scientific papers in international and peer-reviewed journals such as Frontiers in Psychology, Psychoneuroendocrinology, Journal of Psychosomatic Research and BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth.

Since January 2025 Dr Gilbert is a scientific collaborator within a project funded by Fribourg Agri & Food, focused on promoting healthier food choices in collective restaurants with colleagues from the Food Research and Innovation Center and collaborators from Grangeneuve (Fribourg). In late 2021, Dr Gilbert received a Postdoc.Mobility fellowship from the Swiss National Science Foundation to conduct her postdoctoral research in Sydney, Australia. Her PhD and early Postdoc were funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and Novo Nordisk.

At the University of Fribourg, she is currently teaching an interdisciplinary master-level course on Interdisciplinary approaches for behavior change and health as well as a seminar on psychonutrition and perinatal mental health. She is also supervising 2 PhD students, and supervising bachelor and master students for their thesis and for internships. In parallel she is developing two continuing education courses, one on: Interdisciplinary research & training at the interface of food, mental health and consumer behaviour and another in Ecopsychology together with colleagues in Fribourg and Lausanne.

She received a travel grant for her oral presentation at the Australian Diabetes in Pregnancy Society in 2023. She was also awarded the jury prize during her participation in "My thesis in 180 seconds" in 2018 for her outstanding competencies in oral communication and translation of science into a public presentation.

Dr Leah Gilbert co-developed a program for Early Career Researchers in 2019 at the Society of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, based in London, UK. Within this society she is a mentor of two early career researchers and gives workshops to help young researchers develop their academic skills. She trained two pre-master students in Sydney, Australia. During her PhD she also co-supervised 21 pre-master and master students.

Specializing in interdisciplinary interventions for behavior changes in health (nutrition, physical activity and mental health) during her PhD, she held the role of Lifestyle coach and counselled more than 50 women during the perinatal period about their and their infant's eating and physical activity habits as well as their mental health through motivational interviewing, mindfulness and supervised cognitive behavioral therapy. For this trial she co-developed all of the educational material in the domains of nutrition, diet, physical activity and mental health. Dr Gilbert is invited yearly to share her clinical expertise by teaching specialized nurse practitioners about motivational interviewing techniques at the Institute of Higher Education and Research in Healthcare, in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Employment

Education

Projects & Funding

  • All'Impact: leviers marketing et psychologiques pour transformer les comportements alimentaires Fribourg Agri&Food
    2025 - 2025
  • A two-item screening of maternal or infant perceived life threat during childbirth prospectively associated with childbirth-related posttraumatic stress symptoms up to six months postpartum: two observational longitudinal studies Society for Reproductive and Infant Psychology
    2024 - 2024
  • Travel Grant for the presentation of : Effect of the MySweetheart randomized controlled trial on birth, anthropometric and psychobehavioral outcomes in offspring of women with GDM. Australasian Diabetes in Pregnancy Society
    2023 - 2023
  • Equality Grant for The PsyNBIOsis study Swiss National Science Foundation
    2022 - 2024
  • Determining the interactions between psychological, nutritional and behavioral factors and their association with infant obesity risk in pregnancies with and without gestational diabetes mellitus. Swiss National Science Foundation
    2022 - 2024
  • Flexibility Grant for the Mysweetheart trial Swiss National Science Foundation
    2021 - 2021
  • Flexibility Grant for the MySweetheart trial Swiss National Science Foundation
    2020 - 2021
  • Jury Prize for : La santé mentale et métabolique durant la période périnatale University of Lausanne
    2018 - Present
  • Improving metabolic and mental health in women with gestational diabetes and their offspring Swiss National Science Foundation
    2017 - 2022

Publications (92)