CPC RPA Health for Life Program
The CPC RPA Health for Life Program is a partnership between the University of Sydney Charles Perkins Centre and Sydney Local Health District (SLHD). The program is designed to promote healthy lifestyle and to support residents of New South Wales (NSW) across the lifespan, in their journey to live and age well.
This program is led by a team of professors, researchers, and healthcare professionals, including doctors, nurses, dietitians, exercise physiologists, psychologists and a chef with expertise in healthy cooking. Participants gain understanding and practical knowledge about evidence-based strategies for maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and work towards enhancing their metabolic health, fitness, and overall wellbeing.
Our vision
While chronic diseases are the primary drivers of illness and death, and they exert significant economic and societal burdens, it is important to note that they are largely avoidable with appropriate prevention and management.
Our vision is to educate students, clinicians, patients, and the public about the importance of integrating lifestyle elements such as healthy cooking, optimal nutrition, regular exercise, sound sleep practices, and cognitive training into their daily routines. Embracing these practices early holds significant potential for enhancing health outcomes and effectively preventing, managing, and even treating metabolic health issues.
Our work
The CPC RPA Health for Life Program comprises two streams of work:
CPC RPA Lifestyle Medicine Clinical Service
Based at the CPC-RPA Clinic, this service specialises in a healthcare discipline that places importance on utilising therapeutic lifestyle interventions to prevent, manage, and in some cases even reverse chronic medical conditions, including abdominal obesity, prediabetes/type 2 diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidaemia, fatty liver disease, cardiovascular diseases, stroke, dementia, and some of the most common obesity-related cancers.
We target the underlying causes of metabolic and molecular changes that contribute to a range of chronic conditions and empower patients with the education and skills necessary to make healthy, sustainable, and safe lifestyle choices and healthier habits that positively impact their metabolic health and wellbeing.
Our clinical service operates on the foundation of eight essential pillars of lifestyle medicine, each of which plays a crucial role in overall health and the prevention of these conditions:
- maintaining a healthy body weight
- Mediterranean-like eating pattern
- regular physical exercise
- restorative sleep
- stress management
- cognitive training
- positive social connections
- avoidance of risky substances.
CPC RPA Health for Life Education and Outreach Initiative
Early integration of health literacy in education is pivotal for lifelong wellbeing. Despite extensive knowledge on the mechanistic links between nutrition, exercise, sleep, and cognitive health, these subjects are often overlooked in primary, secondary, and tertiary education, including medical schools. Through this initiative, we aim to engage with educational institutions in NSW (schools and universities), enabling them to become dynamic hubs that equip individuals with expertise for successful careers while imparting essential knowledge and practical skills connecting diet and lifestyle to both human and planetary health.
What impact will this research have?
The CPC RPA collaborative research, clinical and educational program leverages existing University of Sydney and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital infrastructure. It stands as the most comprehensive analysis of the impact of targeted nutritional, exercise, and cognitive interventions on highly prevalent age-related chronic diseases with a shared metabolic substrate. This new framework empowers both clinicians and individuals to tailor and optimize nutrition, exercise, sleep, and psychological well-being for specific health goals and to address the widespread lifestyle-related diseases in today's society. With demonstrated cost-effectiveness, these health programs can be readily scaled and integrated into primary care, as well as other clinical, educational, and community contexts.
CPC RPA Health for Life: Recipes for longevity and healthy living
CPC RPA Health for Life: Recipes for longevity and healthy living is a series of video recipes created by our team and led by our chef-in-residence, Marzio Lanzini. The recipe videos are built around our clinical, research, culinary and education experts developing resources for healthy longevity.
Chia morning bowl
Broccoli bruschetta
Wholemeal sugarless muffin
Roasted vegetable salad
Masoor daal and quinoa
Tofu stir fry with wild rice
Blog for life: Read our blogs and opinion pieces on health for life
Our people
Academic Director, CPC-RPA Clinic
Director, CPC RPA Health for Life Program
Professor Luigi Fontana is an internationally-recognised physician scientist and one of the world’s leaders in the field of nutrition, metabolism and healthy longevity in humans. His pioneering studies on the effects of dietary restriction in humans have opened a new area of nutrition-related research that holds tremendous promise for the prevention of age-related chronic diseases and for the understanding of the biology of human aging.
Professor Fontana has published over 140 manuscripts in prestigious journals including Science, Nature, Cell, New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA and is the recipient of several prestigious awards.
Healthy Longevity Chef, Charles Perkins Centre
Chef, CPC RPA Health for Life Program
Mr Marzio Lanzini is a multidisciplinary culinary expert with two decades of experience in kitchens across the globe. His diverse expertise encompasses a myriad of roles within the realm of hospitality, food manufacturing, consulting, and project management. Marzio’s unwavering commitment to promoting health, longevity, and education has led him to the role of Healthy Longevity Chef at the Charles Perkins Center. In this capacity he runs the cooking program as a part of the CPC RPA Health for Life program, delivered to stakeholders ranging from high schools across NSW to patients within the CPC RPA Clinic in Camperdown.
Research Specialist Dietitian and Head of Clinical Resources, CPC RPA Clinic
Dietitian, CPC RPA Health for Life Program
Dr Rosilene Ribeiro is our Research Specialist Dietitian and Head of Clinical Resources, bringing over 15 years of invaluable expertise to our team. As a prominent member of Dietitians Australia, she has spearheaded numerous human clinical trials and cohort studies, demonstrating her profound commitment to advancing our understanding of chronic diseases, including cardiometabolic health, gut microbiome, oral health, and body composition and function. In her role as the Head of Clinical Resources, Rosilene is enthusiastic about facilitating the journey of fellow researchers at the CPC RPA Clinic. She eagerly assists them in navigating grant applications and launching their clinical research programs, further cementing her reputation as a trusted mentor and leader in the field.
Senior Exercise Physiologist, CPC RPA Clinic
Exercise Physiologist, CPC RPA Health for Life Program
Dr Angelo Sabag is a senior exercise physiologist specialising in cardiometabolic health. In addition to over 10 years of clinical experience, Angelo is an accomplished scientist whose research centres on identifying and assessing the effectiveness of novel and established exercise interventions for people with or at risk of obesity-related disease such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, polycystic ovary syndrome, and diabetes. He has published over 40 manuscripts, including national and international clinical practice guidelines, is the deputy editor of JSAMS Plus, the open access journal of Sports Medicine Australia. He leads the exercise component of the CPC RPA Health for Life Program.
Digital Health Officer, CPC RPA Health for Life Program
Mr Sayan Mitra is the digital health lead for the Health for Life Program at the Charles Perkins Centre. With a strong foundation in medicine and public health, his current research focuses on comprehensive digital health strategies towards improving the cardiometabolic profile of patients diagnosed with low attenuation coronary artery plaques. He is actively involved in three clinical trials, including those using micro-randomised strategies to study physical activity and behaviour. A passionate advocate for digital health, Sayan also leverages his skills in video production and app development for this program.
The CPC RPA Health for Life Program is supported by the Australian Youth and Health Foundation (promoting the philosophy and practice of natural health).
The CPC RPA Health for Life Program is a partnership between the University of Sydney Charles Perkins Centre and Sydney Local Health District.
Professor Luigi Fontana