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.

About Fellowship with AAHMS

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

Group Leader, Brain and Mitochondrial Research
Murdoch Childrens Research Institute
2018
VIC

Professor Thorburn is one of Australia’s foremost genetics experts, with a focus on mitochondrial energy generation disorders, and is widely recognised as a world leader in inherited metabolic diseases. For the past 25 years, he has worked with children with disabling and potentially lethal mitochondrial disorders, discovering genes that cause these conditions and developing effective diagnostic tests to guide treatment. He has published over 150 research articles and his work is highly cited by researchers and clinicians (over 7,700 career citations). His standing internationally is also demonstrated by invitations to international conferences and invitations to participate in scientific advisory committees.

Director, Centre for Heart Rhythm Disorders
The University of Adelaide
2018
SA

Professor Sanders is a clinician-scientist leading both clinical and research groups at the Centre for Heart Rhythm Disorders at The University of Adelaide, SAHMRI and Royal Adelaide Hospital. He is a cardiac electrophysiologist who is an international authority of heart rhythm disorders. His multi-disciplinary program has an established translational focus. He has 395 peer-reviewed publications cited 21779 times and over 275 invited national and international scientific presentations.  He has won the Parmley Prize for Mentorship (ACC 2013 & 2016); RT Hall Prize (CSANZ; 2015); Highest ranked NHMRC Practitioner Fellowship (2013); Scopus Young Australian Medical and Medical Sciences Researcher (2010). He is currently supervising 15 PhD students and has had 21 complete since 2005.

Director, Institute of Physical Activity and Nutrition (IPAN)
Deakin University
2018
VIC

Professor Jo Salmon has spent 20 years researching the impact of sitting on health and the effectiveness of interventions to reduce youth sitting time. This applied research has been adopted by government health and education departments for implementation in schools nationally and internationally. Her research has also informed children’s physical activity and sedentary guidelines in Australia, as well as population monitoring of these behaviours. Salmon is a Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researcher, has over 300 publications, an H-Index of 65, and has been an investigator on 31 nationally competitive grants ($16 million) and 14 international studies, including the NIH (US$7.7million).

Professor of Global Health
The George Institute
2018
NSW

Professor Anthony Rodgers has played an internationally recognised role in measuring major risks to health, being appointed by WHO to author their annual report. He co-initiated numerous landmark studies in cardiovascular disease prevention/treatment, including the Asia Pacific Cohort Studies Collaboration, involving more than 50 studies and 600,000 participants.
Rodgers also developed the first m-Health smoking cessation program. Now part of the WHO/ITU initiative ‘Be healthy, be mobile’, most recently in 2016 enrolling over 2 million participants in India. Finally, he led development and testing of affordable cardiovascular combination pills (“polypills”), leading an international trials program and public-private partnerships.

Professor of Medicine
The University of Western Australia
2018
WA

Professor Bruce Robinson is a UWA Professor of Medicine, an experienced lung specialist and a leading research scientist. He is Director of an NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence focussed on getting the body’s immune system to fight cancer, particularly asbestos-induced cancers, and on ‘cracking the code’ of cancer using gene sequencing to provide new targets for therapy. He is an acknowledged world leader in his field and has won numerous prestigious scientific awards, including the international Wagner Medal, awards from the RACP, AMA and TSANZ and the Premier’s Science Award. In 2013 he was named Western Australian of the Year.

Theme Leader, Nutrition and Metabolism
South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute
2018
SA

Professor Chris Proud has made numerous important contributions to understanding the fundamental mechanisms that control the function of animal cells. In particular, he studies how nutrients, hormones and other signals control gene expression. This is integral to understanding diverse diseases including cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and neurological disorders. He collaborates widely and his work has received >24,000 citations. Before joining the South Australian Health & Medical Research Institute as inaugural Theme Leader for Nutrition & Metabolism, he played leading research roles at Universities in the UK (Kent, Southampton and Dundee) and Canada (British Columbia) and mentored many trainees and junior group-leaders.

Consultant Medical Oncologist
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
2018
VIC

Professor Kelly-Anne Phillips is a medical oncologist and researcher at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. As a highly productive clinician-researcher, she treats women affected with breast cancer and runs a prevention clinic for those at high risk, while concurrently leading internationally recognised research related to breast cancer genetics and treatment. Her research, and related health policy advocacy, have led to better and more socially equitable breast cancer treatment and prevention options for Australian women. She is also recognised as an effective mentor of junior clinician-researchers. She has authored 129 peer reviewed publications, resulting in over 10,000 citations and an H-index of 41.

Division Head
The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
2018
VIC

Professor Marc Pellegrini is an infectious diseases physician, Division Head at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Honorary Professor  at The University of Melbourne, Honorary NHMRC Senior Research Fellow, and member of NHMRC Translational Faculty and Assigner Academy. His research bridges the gap between basic science and translation into the clinic. He is internationally recognised for seminal discoveries on host-pathogen interactions that resulted in 16 clinical trials worldwide, including interleukin-7 immunotherapy, which is now an approved treatment for the previously fatal disease caused by JC virus; and his novel approach to clearing hepatitis B infection that are potentially relevant to HIV and tuberculosis.

Executive Director
Westmead Institute for Health Research
2018
NSW

Professor Philip O’Connell is a clinician scientist and an international leader in transplantation medicine. He is director of one the largest transplant centres in Australia and is a Centre Director at the Westmead Institute of Medical Research. As immediate past-president of The Transplantation Society he provided international leadership on science, education and public policy in transplantation. He performed the first trial of pancreatic islet transplantation in Australia and was responsible for its transition into the Australian healthcare system. With colleagues he changed our understanding of the pathogenesis of chronic allograft injury. His research has been funded by the NHMRC since 1996.

Executive Director
Sydney Health Partners, The University of Sydney
2018
NSW

Don Nutbeam is Professor of Public Health at the University of Sydney, and a Senior Advisor at the Sax Institute. His career has included senior leadership positions in universities, government, and health services. He is a public health scientist with research interests in social and behavioural determinants of health, and in the development and evaluation of public health interventions. He has made fundamental contributions to the theory, science and practice, and policy frameworks for public health over 40 years, including a leading role in WHO’s health promotion frameworks such as the Ottawa Charter, and globally in non-communicable disease prevention programs.

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.

Nominations by a Fellow of two new candidates must ensure that at least one nomination is a woman. Nominations by a Fellow of four new candidates must ensure that at least two nominations are women.

How to make a nomination

Fellows wishing to nominate a candidate for Fellowship should contact the secretariat to confirm candidate eligibility and receive and instructions on how to submit the completed nomination documentation online. 

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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