Teaching a class of year eleven students about nutrition ten years ago is what gave Dr Gina Trapp the idea for her research.
"At one particular school, I was shocked by the number of children who were eating McDonald's on a daily basis - sometimes up to three times a day," said The Kids Research Institute Australia researcher.
"There was a McDonald's outlet located directly opposite the school and the students were using it as a meeting place before school, at lunch time - the school had an open campus policy - and after school."
Gina thought having a 'junk food' outlet so close to the school was putting the students at risk of obesity and was undoing all the work she was doing in the classroom to encourage the students to eat healthily.
So, through her research at The Kids Research Institute Australia, Gina set about proving that link.
"I felt more should be done to ensure the environment around schools is supportive of healthy eating," she said.
Gina is currently leading a team at The Kids Research Institute Australia which is collecting data on the type, density or proximity of healthy and unhealthy food around homes and schools, to determine whether this influences the types of foods children eat and their body weight.
Ultimately, the Mum of two hopes her research will be used to shape the development of guidelines and policies relating to land use regulation and zoning to increase the availability of healthy food and restrict the availability of unhealthy food around homes and schools.
Gina was recently awarded a Western Australian Young Tall Poppy Award for her efforts.
"Personally, it's recognition that I am on the right path; that working hard and being passionate about what I do does lead to success," Gina said.
"Professionally, this award is invaluable in helping to build my career and track record. It's given me an added confidence and being only 5'1" in height, winning an award for being "Tall" symbolises to me that anything is possible!"
The Kids Research Institute Australia researcher Dr Shelley Gorman also received a Tall Poppy Award, read about it here.