Dr Gatford is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Medicine, and Research Leader in the Robinson Research Institute, at the University of Adelaide. She is nationally recognised for her work on programming of health by the early life environment and interventions to improve outcomes, from both human health and animal production perspectives. In addition to exploring metabolic and neurodevelopmental consequences of early life exposures, in recent work she has been exploring the impact on immune development, including susceptibility to allergy.