Health advocate joins University as V-C’s Fellow

Child health researcher and 2003 Australian of the Year Professor Fiona Stanley AC will join the distinguished team of Vice-Chancellor’s Fellows at the University of Melbourne in 2012.

Professor Stanley joins former Victorian Premier John Brumby and former Liberal MP Petro Georgiou as a 2011 recipient of the prestigious fellowship. Starting at the University in February next year, she will also take up the role of Director of the University’s Festival of Ideas for 2013.

While at the University, Professor Stanley will research and publish on a range of topics such as child and youth health, measuring societal progress and Aboriginal health and wellbeing. She will provide mentoring to staff and students, while contributing to the public life of the University by participating in workshops, seminars and public lectures.

University of Melbourne Vice-Chancellor Professor Glyn Davis says Professor Stanley’s appointment continued her long association with the University. “Professor Stanley has been closely involved with the University over the past ten years, including as the founding Chief Executive – and more recently as Chair of the Board – of the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth, based in the University’s Department of Pediatrics.

“During this time, she has worked tirelessly to improve the health and wellbeing of young Australians through large-scale innovative collaborations across disciplines and sectors. I’m excited about her ongoing involvement with the broader University community.”

Professor Davis says Professor’s Stanley’s expertise would be a valuable addition to the University’s highly rated Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences.

“Her research interests extend to topics such as the causes and prevention of birth defects and major neurological disorders, patterns of maternal and child health in Aboriginal and Caucasian populations, and strategies to enhance health and well-being in the population generally,” he says.

“I am sure the insight, experience and breadth of knowledge she brings to the University will be of great benefit to our current and future medical researchers.”

Professor Stanley says she is honoured to be made a VC’s fellow at the University of Melbourne and to be working with such outstanding people.

“The additional role of Director of the Festival of Ideas in 2013 is a really exciting opportunity to challenge existing paradigms in health and science and how they interact in a civil Society,” she says.

“The concept of a University of Melbourne Festival of Ideas to reach out to the community and to encourage debate is a great one and I am delighted to be involved.”

Professor Stanley was the foundation Director of the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Perth and was appointed as a Companion in the Order of Australia in 1996. In 2004 she was honoured as an Australian “Living National Treasure” by the National Trust. She was made Australian of the Year in 2003 and has been a UNICEF Australia Ambassador for Early Childhood Development since 2006.

Professor Stanley is a member of the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council, was an inaugural Board member of the Australian Social Inclusion Board and was appointed to the ABC Board this year.