Fellowship ​

The Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences elects the best and brightest minds in the field of medical and health sciences as Fellows.

Fellows are elected in recognition of their outstanding achievements and exceptional contributions to the sector. The Fellowship are acknowledged for their clinical, non-clinical, leadership, industry and research contributions.

Find Fellows of the AAHMS

To find Fellows of our Academy either use the search form below or download the full list of current Fellows here.

Name

Position

Level

Elected

State

Professorial Research Fellow
The University of Queensland
2020
QLD

Professor Naomi Wray is a leading complex trait geneticist. She has developed quantitative genetic methods based upon DNA marker data to understand complex genetic diseases in human populations and to predict genetic risk. In applied research, her primary focus is disorders of the brain.

Professor Wray is recognised internationally for her leadership in the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium and particularly for analyses that unequivocally demonstrate the polygenic and shared genetic architecture of psychiatric disorders. She is recognised nationally for her leadership in establishing the sporadic systems Australia genomics consortium (SALSA).

 

 

 

 

FAA FTSE FAHMS
Executive Chairman at SYNthesis med chem, CEO at SYNthesis Research, CEO at Catalyst Tx
SYNthesis Research
2020
VIC

Professor Andrew Wilks is an accomplished academic scientist who worked at the LICR (Melbourne) between 1983 and 1997 and made transformative discoveries in the signal transduction field, as well as in neurogenesis and angiogenesis. He has completed a rare ‘trifecta’ – discovering and patenting a number of important drug discovery targets (e.g. JAK1 and JAK2); founding one of Australia’s most successful biotech companies, Cytopia; and co‐inventing and leading the team that delivered the JAK inhibitor, Momelotinib.

Co‐founder and CEO of the SYNthesis Group, Professor Wilks is a serial entrepreneur and founder or co‐founder of ten companies in the drug discovery arena

Professor in Neurophysiology
University of Wollongong
2020
NSW

Distinguished Professor David Adams is internationally recognised as a leader in membrane physiology and neuroscience research, specifically the study of membrane receptor and ion channel function using molecular biological and electrophysiological recording techniques. His research over the last twenty years has characterised novel peptides isolated from the venom of cone snails as probes for ion channel function, and as potential drugs for the treatment of chronic neuropathic and visceral pain.

Distinguished Professor Adams’ discovery of analgesic conotoxins targeting G protein-coupled receptors that modulate voltage-gated calcium channels provides a lead for the development of non-opioid drugs for pain treatment.

 

Methods Scientist
World Health Organisation – WHO
2020
International

Professor Lisa Askie is a neonatal nurse and midwife trained in epidemiology, who has led some of the most important practice-changing research projects in perinatology over the past 20 years. Her work has elucidated the optimal oxygen targets and cord management strategies at birth for preterm infants, the best prevention therapies for women at risk of pre-eclampsia, and whether new ventilation technologies are any more effective than conventional ones. Professor Askie’s experience has led to significant international collaborations of clinical trial investigators, who share their data to undertake individual participant data meta-analyses.

Professor Askie has recently taken a new position at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, where she will oversee and improve the quality of the medical science underpinning the advice and regulations WHO produces globally.

Head of Division of Research Methodology and Biostatistics Unit
Monash University
2020
VIC

Professor Andrew Forbes has an international reputation for leadership in biostatistics, stemming from his development and innovation in statistical methods to solve practical issues in health and medical research studies, as well as collaboration on major practice-changing research in substantive clinical areas. He chairs the pre-eminent multi-university national training program in biostatistics and has major roles with the Australian Clinical Trials Alliance (ACTA) in promulgating innovative clinical trial design methodologies.

Professor Forbes heads the nation’s largest biostatistics group and for over a decade has been an Editorial Board member of one of the leading international journals, Statistical Methods in Medical Research.

Theme Leader and Laboratory Head
The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
2020
VIC

Professor Melanie Bahlo is a cross-disciplinary researcher at the intersection of statistics and genetics. She has developed innovative methods and software for genetic analysis, working closely with clinicians and geneticists to gain insights into complex genetics data. Her work has helped to understand the genetic architecture of several complex diseases, in particular the causes of neurogenic disorders, where her identification of ~20 novel genes has enabled genetic diagnosis of patients worldwide.

Professor Bahlo is the ‘Healthy Development and Ageing’ Theme Leader at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, and winner of the AAS Moran Medal and the Genetics Society of Australia’s Ross Crozier medal.

Head of Systems Biology and Genomics
The University of Western Australia
2020
WA

Professor Alistair Forrest is an award-winning systems biologist whose leadership and ability to form and manage large international collaborations has led to enormous progress in our understanding of human disease. Professor Forrest applies systems-wide analyses and broad genomic surveys to deliver new, unbiased, data-driven insights into disease. His research is revealing the cellular makeup of tumours and predicting how interactions between tumour and stromal cells influence cancer outcomes.

Professor Forrest is identifying and incorporating novel genes and regulatory regions into diagnostic screening for genetic disease and identifying long non-coding RNAs with likely roles in human disease.

Deputy Director
The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health
2020
VIC

Professor Julie Bernhardt is a Co-Head of the Stroke Theme at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, a clinical scientist and highest ranked researcher in the field of stroke rehabilitation. She has established new standards and global collaborative partnerships for stroke rehabilitation trials, including completing the first landmark international trial in acute stroke rehabilitation in 56 sites in five countries.

In addition to her clinical research excellence, Professor Bernhardt has driven numerous initiatives to improve the retention and career advancement of women in health and medical sciences.

 

 

John Curtin Distinguished Professor of Epidemiology
Curtin University
2020
WA

Professor Lin Fritschi is a cancer epidemiologist and public health physician with specific expertise in occupational causes of cancer. Her research revolves around two themes: identifying occupational causes of cancer and improving methods for assessing occupational exposure in epidemiological studies. She has a substantial track record of publications, grants and impact on policy, has successfully mentored and trained junior researchers and has developed key collaborations nationally and internationally.

Professor Fritschi has developed a new online resource for assessing occupational exposure (OccIDEAS), which has been used to assess exposure in studies in Australia, Bhutan, Malaysia, China, the UK and in current studies in NZ and across the EU.

Professor of Clinical Pharmacology
The University of Sydney
2020
NSW

Professor Nicholas Buckley’s research focusses on toxicology and adverse effects of drugs, pesticides and snakebite using a range of methods including systematic reviews, clinical trials, drug development, public health interventions, pharmaco-epidemiology and policy analysis, leading to over 300 articles in refereed journals.

Many of Professor Buckley’s research findings have translated into changed practice and improved outcomes, aided by key leadership roles: Chair of the Australian Medicines Handbook Editorial Advisory board, Chair of Toxicology and Toxinology Australian Therapeutic Guidelines panel, Membership of the Advisory Committee on Safety of Medicines (2009-2016) and by being a consultant Clinical Toxicologist to several Poisons Information Centres.

 

 

 

About Fellowship with AAHMS

Our Fellows sit at the heart of everything we do. They represent Australia’s leading minds in health and medical sciences, having been recognised for their clinical, non-clinical, leadership, industry and research contributions.

To be considered for election to the Academy’s Fellowship, a candidate must show exceptional professional achievement in a field related to health and/or medicine.

Fellows contribute to the projects and activities of the Academy and must be willing to be active participants.

Successful Fellowship candidates will have shown:

  • Outstanding leadership in their field.
  • Significant and ongoing involvement with issues of health care, prevention of disease, education, research, and health services policy and delivery.

Candidates for Fellowship should meet the following criteria:

  • National and International recognition for excellence in health and medical science
  • Significant, sustained and ongoing contributions to advance health and medical science in Australia (relative to opportunity)
  • Contribution to the profession through leadership and mentorship
  • Raised public understanding and promoting health and medical science in the broader community

Download criteria for Fellowship

Each year, current Fellows of the Academy are invited to nominate up to four new candidates who meet the criteria and fulfil the required expectations.

To ensure the Academy has a representative and diverse membership, Fellows nominating two new candidates are asked to include only a maximum of one man, and Fellows nominating four new candidates are asked to include only a maximum of two men.

How to make a nomination

Fellows wishing to nominate a candidate for Fellowship should contact the secretariat by 24 November each year to confirm candidate eligibility and receive and instructions on how to submit the completed nomination documentation online. Nomination requests received past this deadline will not be considered in the current election round.

Fellows wishing to nominate a candidate for a Corresponding Fellowship should contact the secretariat for more information.

Secretariat contact details
Email: [email protected]

Phone: 07 3102 7220

Nomination guidelines for ordinary Fellowship

October 2023
Newly elected Fellows of 2023 are inducted at the Annual Meeting.

18 September 2023- 30 November 2023
Nominations are invited from existing Fellows until the closing date of 30 November.

December 2023
Nominations allocated to Selection Committees.

January – April 2024
Referees’ reports sought.

Early May 2024
Selection Committees meet to consider nominations and provide final recommendations to the Council.

Early-to-mid-July 2024
Council meets to finalise recommendations.

Late July 2024
Full Fellowship invited to comment on recommended new fellows.

August 2024
Election results are shared with proposers and candidates (under embargo).

October 2024
Newly elected Fellows of 2024 inducted at the Annual Meeting.

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