Bircan Erbas is currently a Professor at La Trobe University. She has skills and expertise in environmental epidemiology and biostatistics with a Master’s degree in Statistics and a Ph.D. in Biostatistics from the University of Melbourne. She is at the forefront of research to lessen the burden of disease on individuals, families and the community over the life span, while using expert sought after knowledge in designing state-of-the art studies and developing and implementing methods to address complex health issues. She is a leading pollen epidemiologist globally, as her team was responsible for establishing the link between pollen and childhood asthma exacerbations as a major clinical and public health issue. In 2008, she and colleagues were awarded an NHMRC project grant to assess the relationship between environmental pollen, fungi and the admission of children with poorly controlled asthma. She is also a chief investigator on several competitive (NHMRC and other) funded projects on environmental and respiratory health. She has received a fully funded prestigious Harvard fellowship from the International Union Against Cancer - UICC. She was shortlisted as a potential awardee for the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Prestigious Paediatric Research Awards and in 2010, she was awarded the Vice-Chancellor Award for Excellence in Research - La Trobe University.