# Sophia Zoungas
**Sophia Zoungas** is an Australian endocrinologist and clinical trialist whose large-scale trials and cohort studies in type 2 diabetes, cardiorenal health, and healthy aging have shaped global clinical guidelines for blood-pressure and glucose control in diabetes. She is Executive Director of The George Institute for Global Health Australia and a practicing endocrinologist.[1](https://www.georgeinstitute.org/about-us/our-people/people-at-the-george-institute/sophia-zoungas) Before that appointment she spent seven years as Head of the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at [Monash University](https://www.edgepedia.org/monash-university), where she is Professor of Diabetes, Vascular Health and Ageing and Academic Director of the Monash University Clinical Trials Centre, according to her [Diabetologia](https://www.edgepedia.org/diabetologia) editors' profile.[3](https://diabetologia-journal.org/editors/sophia-zoungas/)
| Key facts | |
|---|---|
| Field | Endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism; clinical trials and cardiorenal health[1](https://www.georgeinstitute.org/about-us/our-people/people-at-the-george-institute/sophia-zoungas) |
| Current role | Executive Director, The George Institute for Global Health Australia, from April 2026[2](https://www.georgeinstitute.org/news-and-media/news/professor-sophia-zoungas-appointed-executive-director-of-the-george-institute-for-global-health) |
| Monash roles | Professor of Diabetes, Vascular Health and Ageing; Academic Director, Monash University Clinical Trials Centre; formerly Head, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine (seven years)[3](https://diabetologia-journal.org/editors/sophia-zoungas/) • [2](https://www.georgeinstitute.org/news-and-media/news/professor-sophia-zoungas-appointed-executive-director-of-the-george-institute-for-global-health) |
| Clinical posts | Monash Health, including the Victorian Heart Hospital, and Alfred Health, where she is Deputy Director of Research[3](https://diabetologia-journal.org/editors/sophia-zoungas/) • [4](https://www.alfredhealth.org.au/find-a-doctor/bio/prof-sophia-zoungas) |
| Qualifications | MBBS(Hons), FRACP, PhD (Monash University)[4](https://www.alfredhealth.org.au/find-a-doctor/bio/prof-sophia-zoungas) |
| Signature work | ADVANCE-ON post-trial follow-up of blood-pressure lowering and glucose control in type 2 diabetes, New England Journal of Medicine, 2014[5](https://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/id/eprint/4652585/1/nejmoa1407963.pdf) |
| Honors | Kellion Award (2022); Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (2022)[2](https://www.georgeinstitute.org/news-and-media/news/professor-sophia-zoungas-appointed-executive-director-of-the-george-institute-for-global-health) • [6](https://aahms.org/fellowship/professor-sophia-zoungas/) |
## Training and career
Zoungas holds MBBS with honors, the Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, and a PhD from Monash University.[4](https://www.alfredhealth.org.au/find-a-doctor/bio/prof-sophia-zoungas) Her doctoral thesis, *Cardiovascular risk in chronic renal failure: impact of transplantation and folic acid therapy on outcome, artery structure and function*, is held in the Monash University repository; it examined how transplantation and folic acid therapy affect cardiovascular outcomes and artery structure and function in chronic renal failure.[7](https://doi.org/10.26180/14930823) She then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at The George Institute, where she played a central role in the ADVANCE trial and its follow-up.[2](https://www.georgeinstitute.org/news-and-media/news/professor-sophia-zoungas-appointed-executive-director-of-the-george-institute-for-global-health)
Her subsequent career combined hospital practice with academic leadership. Alfred Health lists her as Deputy Director of Research; Diabetologia records clinical appointments at Monash Health, including the Victorian Heart Hospital, and at Alfred Health in Melbourne.[4](https://www.alfredhealth.org.au/find-a-doctor/bio/prof-sophia-zoungas) • [3](https://diabetologia-journal.org/editors/sophia-zoungas/) At Monash she established the Monash University Clinical Trials Centre and a Health Economics Group, and served seven years as Head of the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, a period in which the school rose to 40th in the world in the Shanghai Rankings and reached more than $90 million in research income in 2025.[2](https://www.georgeinstitute.org/news-and-media/news/professor-sophia-zoungas-appointed-executive-director-of-the-george-institute-for-global-health)
## Representative work
Her best-known single work is the ADVANCE-ON post-trial follow-up, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2014.[5](https://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/id/eprint/4652585/1/nejmoa1407963.pdf) ADVANCE-ON followed about 6,800 of the 11,140 patients originally randomized in the ADVANCE trial, for a median of 5.9 years in the blood-pressure comparison and 5.4 years in the glucose-control comparison. The mortality benefit of routine blood-pressure lowering persisted in attenuated form: a hazard ratio (statistical measure comparing death risk between treatment groups) of 0.91 (95% CI 0.84 to 0.99) for death from any cause and 0.88 (95% CI 0.77 to 0.99) for cardiovascular death. Intensive glucose control, by contrast, showed no long-term mortality or macrovascular benefit, with hazard ratios of 1.00 (95% CI 0.92 to 1.08) for both outcomes.[5](https://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/id/eprint/4652585/1/nejmoa1407963.pdf) The glucose separation itself disappeared quickly: the 0.67% HbA1c difference seen during randomized treatment was gone by the first post-trial visit an average of 2.9 years later.[8](https://doi.org/10.1111/dom.13894) According to a George Institute news release, the two studies argued for moderate, hypoglycemia-sparing glucose targets combined with routine blood-pressure lowering, a position that informed guidelines internationally.[2](https://www.georgeinstitute.org/news-and-media/news/professor-sophia-zoungas-appointed-executive-director-of-the-george-institute-for-global-health)
Her review [Hypoglycaemia, cardiovascular disease, and mortality in diabetes: epidemiology, pathogenesis, and management](https://doi.org/10.1016/s2213-8587(18)30315-2) appeared in The Lancet Diabetes & [Endocrinology](https://www.edgepedia.org/endocrinology) in 2019.
In 2022 she led a pre-specified meta-analysis in *Nature Medicine* assessing the cardiovascular safety of tirzepatide, pooling all seven randomized trials of at least 26 weeks from the SURPASS program: about 4,900 participants on tirzepatide and about 2,300 controls. Tirzepatide did not increase major cardiovascular event risk, with hazard ratios of 0.80 (95% CI 0.57 to 1.11) for MACE-4, 0.90 (95% CI 0.50 to 1.61) for cardiovascular death and 0.80 (95% CI 0.51 to 1.25) for all-cause death.[9](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8938269/)
## Guidelines, registries and clinical leadership
Her trial work has had particular impact on global clinical guidelines for blood-pressure and glucose control in diabetes.[1](https://www.georgeinstitute.org/about-us/our-people/people-at-the-george-institute/sophia-zoungas) In Australia she co-authored the 2022 consensus statement of the Australian Diabetes Society, the Australian Diabetes Educators Association, and the Australian Paediatric Endocrine Group on managing type 2 diabetes in adults aged 18 to 30 years, published in the Medical Journal of Australia. It treats type 2 diabetes in young adults as more aggressive than in older age and recommends stricter targets than for older adults: HbA1c of 6.5% or below and blood pressure below 130/80 mmHg, with GLP-1 receptor agonists and SGLT2 inhibitors preferred as second-line agents where obesity or cardio-renal risk is present.[10](https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2022/216/8/management-type-2-diabetes-young-adults-aged-18-30-years-adsadeaapeg-consensus) She serves as lead of the Australian Diabetes Clinical Quality Registry and advises government as a member of the National Diabetes Strategy Implementation Reference Group and Chair of the Diabetes Australia Health Professional Advisory Committee.[1](https://www.georgeinstitute.org/about-us/our-people/people-at-the-george-institute/sophia-zoungas) • [4](https://www.alfredhealth.org.au/find-a-doctor/bio/prof-sophia-zoungas)
## Recent developments
In April 2026 she took up the Executive Directorship of The George Institute for Global Health Australia, succeeding the professor who had led the Australian operations since 2019.[2](https://www.georgeinstitute.org/news-and-media/news/professor-sophia-zoungas-appointed-executive-director-of-the-george-institute-for-global-health) In 2024 she served as International President of the World Health Summit.[11](https://www.whsmelbourne2024.com/sophia-zoungas) Her recent trial work has centered on SURPASS-CVOT, a trial of tirzepatide versus dulaglutide on major adverse cardiovascular events in type 2 diabetes recorded on Monash's research portal.[12](https://research.monash.edu/en/projects/the-effect-of-tirzepatide-versus-dulaglutide-on-major-adverse-car/) At the [American Society of Nephrology](https://www.edgepedia.org/american-society-of-nephrology) meeting in Houston in November 2025 she presented a pre-specified analysis showing that tirzepatide, against dulaglutide, reduced major kidney composite outcomes, slowed kidney-function decline, and reduced albuminuria progression in very high-risk participants; on the primary cardiovascular composite tirzepatide met non-inferiority (hazard ratio 0.92, 95.3% CI 0.83 to 1.01) without reaching superiority.[13](https://assets.ctfassets.net/mpejy6umgthp/2RxtZtjZ4iWZiMH6ZFkXNQ/887a9b2d766328af144830ecf3bb6398/VV-TZPPT3_ASN2025_ZOUNGAS_REDUCED_MAJOR_EVENTS_DV-035214_V1.2.pdf)
## Honors, fellowships and funding
In 2022 the Australian Diabetes Society awarded her the Kellion Award, its highest honor, and she was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, whose citation credits her with leading Australia's largest translational research program in diabetes care and benchmarking of diabetes services.[2](https://www.georgeinstitute.org/news-and-media/news/professor-sophia-zoungas-appointed-executive-director-of-the-george-institute-for-global-health) • [6](https://aahms.org/fellowship/professor-sophia-zoungas/) She is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, a member of the Australian Diabetes Society, and a member of the Global Council of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes.[2](https://www.georgeinstitute.org/news-and-media/news/professor-sophia-zoungas-appointed-executive-director-of-the-george-institute-for-global-health) Her group's funding has included Heart Foundation support for a program on primary prevention of stroke in older [Australians](https://www.edgepedia.org/australians), drawing on clinical trials, epidemiology, healthy aging, and health-economics expertise.[14](https://www.heartfoundation.org.au/research-directory/prevention-of-stroke-in-older-australians)
## References
1. Sophia Zoungas | The George Institute for Global Health. https://www.georgeinstitute.org/about-us/our-people/people-at-the-george-institute/sophia-zoungas
2. Professor Sophia Zoungas appointed Executive Director of The George Institute for Global Health Australia. https://www.georgeinstitute.org/news-and-media/news/professor-sophia-zoungas-appointed-executive-director-of-the-george-institute-for-global-health
3. Sophia Zoungas, Diabetologia editors. https://diabetologia-journal.org/editors/sophia-zoungas/
4. Prof Sophia Zoungas | Alfred Health. https://www.alfredhealth.org.au/find-a-doctor/bio/prof-sophia-zoungas
5. Follow-up of Blood-Pressure Lowering and Glucose Control in Type 2 Diabetes (ADVANCE-ON, NEJM 2014). https://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/id/eprint/4652585/1/nejmoa1407963.pdf
6. Professor Sophia Zoungas | Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences. https://aahms.org/fellowship/professor-sophia-zoungas/
7. Cardiovascular risk in chronic renal failure (doctoral thesis record), Monash University. https://doi.org/10.26180/14930823
8. Observational analyses from ADVANCE and ADVANCE-ON, Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism. https://doi.org/10.1111/dom.13894
9. Tirzepatide cardiovascular event risk assessment: a pre-specified meta-analysis, Nature Medicine 2022. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8938269/
10. Management of type 2 diabetes in young adults aged 18–30 years: ADS/ADEA/APEG consensus statement, MJA 2022. https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2022/216/8/management-type-2-diabetes-young-adults-aged-18-30-years-adsadeaapeg-consensus
11. Sophia Zoungas, World Health Summit Melbourne 2024. https://www.whsmelbourne2024.com/sophia-zoungas
12. SURPASS-CVOT project record, Monash University. https://research.monash.edu/en/projects/the-effect-of-tirzepatide-versus-dulaglutide-on-major-adverse-car/
13. Tirzepatide Versus Dulaglutide Reduced Major Kidney Events (ASN 2025, SURPASS-CVOT). https://assets.ctfassets.net/mpejy6umgthp/2RxtZtjZ4iWZiMH6ZFkXNQ/887a9b2d766328af144830ecf3bb6398/VV-TZPPT3_ASN2025_ZOUNGAS_REDUCED_MAJOR_EVENTS_DV-035214_V1.2.pdf
14. Professor Sophia Zoungas, Monash University | Heart Foundation. https://www.heartfoundation.org.au/research-directory/prevention-of-stroke-in-older-australians
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Life and health › Life and health scientists › Medical and health researchers › Researchers in cardiovascular, metabolic, and endocrine research › Diabetes and endocrinology › Clinical diabetes and metabolism › Clinical trials and therapeutics*
*Initially written Sep 21, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 25, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Sep 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license