Peter Brukner OAM is a specialist sports and exercise physician who is the founding partner of Olympic Park Sports Medicine Centre in Melbourne and Professor of Sports Medicine at LaTrobe University. A founding Executive Member of the Australasian College of Sports Physicians, he served two terms as President and played a key role in establishing sports medicine as a medical specialty in Australia.
Peter is the co-author of the widely used text book Clinical Sports Medicine, now in its 6th edition, and has been team physician for professional football clubs as well as national athletics, swimming, soccer, and men’s hockey teams, including Olympic and Commonwealth Games. Peter was the Socceroos Team Doctor at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and subsequently became Head of Sports Medicine and Sports Science at Liverpool Football Club. He then served as Australian cricket team doctor from 2012-17, and as a consultant to the Melbourne Football Club during their premiership year in 2021.
Peter is the co-founder of the public health campaign SugarByHalf and is committed to the challenge of improving the nation’s health with an improved diet and increased physical activity. His best selling book, A Fat Lot of Goo,d was published in 2018. Peter is also the Founder and Chair of Defeat Diabetes, an app- and web-based program, aimed at improving diabetes control through diet. His latest book, The Diabetes Plan, was published in March 2023.
In 2022, Peter was awarded a Doctor of Science honoris causa by La Trobe University and delivered the inaugural Peter Brukner Distinguished Lecture. He was recently awarded both the 2023 Outstanding Contribution to Victorian Sport Award and the 2025 VIC Senior Australian of the Year.
