Dr Vicky Tsai (PhD) is a Senior Research Scientist at St Vincent’s Centre for Applied Medical Research at St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney. Her research examines how stress-induced proteins regulate metabolism, linking central mechanisms to peripheral metabolic and immune responses. Her work has helped define the role of Growth Differentiation Factor 15 (GDF15) in appetite regulation and cancer cachexia. Building on her team’s discovery of GDF15, their subsequent research established the hindbrain as a key site for its appetite-suppressing effects. These findings have provided the scientific foundation for promising new therapies for patients with cancer cachexia.