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

Executive Director, Centre for Virus Research
The Westmead Institute for Medical Research
2015
NSW

Professor Tony Cunningham’s research focus is the immunology and pathogenesis of virus infections in humans, and the development of new vaccine candidates and therapeutic strategies. His work on herpes simplex immunology led directly to the only (partly) successful vaccine candidate for genital and neonatal herpes. He remains at the forefront of this field. He then developed the first system to study the mechanism of transport of HSV in human nerves, defining a potential new therapeutic strategy. He also defined the mechanisms of HIV transport through the first cells infected by HIV, to target T cells, and how the virus subverts their function.

Associate Director, Clinical Research and Head of International Clinical Research Laboratory
The Macfarlane Burnet Institute for Medical Research and Public Health
2015
VIC

Professor Suzanne Crowe is a physician-scientist who co-founded the first HIV clinic in Melbourne (Fairfield Hospital, 1984). Her internationally-recognized research focusses on two areas of global importance: HIV pathogenesis and HIV care in resource-limited countries. Her findings inform clinical practice and current “cure” research. Her co-developed point-of-care CD4 test, licensed to Omega, UK, will provide access to treatment for millions of HIV-infected individuals in the developing world. She is active in global policy-making. She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia, recognised for her service to medical research in HIV/AIDS medicine as an academic, clinician and researcher.

Director and CEO
Burnet Institute
2015
VIC

Professor Brendan Crabb has made a number of discoveries of major significance relating to our understanding of human malaria, a field in which he is a major internationally recognised figure. He was primarily responsible for the discovery of the malaria translocon, a protein machine that constitutes perhaps the leading new drug target in malaria. He also pioneered genetic technologies in human malaria, describing the first gene knockout in this organism. He has made a significant broader contribution to health and medical research, most notably through his leadership of the Burnet Institute and the Association of Australia Medical Research Institutes.

Senior Deputy Dean and Director of Research, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
Monash University
2015
VIC

Professor Coppel has made original and important contributions in the study of malaria, primary biliary cirrhosis, tuberculosis and bioinformatics. His areas of molecular study include antigen discovery for malaria vaccines, identification of autoantigens to study the autoimmune response and disease etiology, key proteins involved in cell wall synthesis of mycobacteria and development of advanced genomic databases. This has resulted in marketed diagnostics and the preclinical development of malaria vaccines and novel antibiotics for eventual human trial. He has a senior leadership role in building research excellence and provides high-level strategic advice to major institutions nationally and internationally.

Head of Diabetes, Central Clinical School
Monash University
2015
VIC

Professor Cooper is a previous Australia Fellow funded by NHMRC as well as Chief Scientific Officer at Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute. He has a strong track record in biomedical research with my main area of research being in the field of diabetes and its complications, in particular renal disease and atherosclerosis. He has over 500 peer reviewed publications which are highly cited (>25,000 citations, “h” factor >80, over last 4 years >2500 citations/year, Web of Science). He has also made original scientific contributions in the fields of progressive renal disease, the renin-angiotensin system, metabolic memory and the biochemical process of advanced glycation as well as being involved in a senior capacity in landmark clinical trials in diabetic complications.

Deputy Director, Head of Intensive Care Research, Senior Specialist in Intensive Care
The Alfred Hospital
2015
VIC

Professor Jamie Cooper has demonstrated outstanding leadership while managing an expansive portfolio of research in intensive care medicine and mentoring the next generation of clinician-scientists. In his multi-faceted career at Monash University and The Alfred, Professor Cooper has played significant leadership roles as clinician, researcher, educator and mentor. Under his leadership, the ANZIC Research Centre at Monash University has earned an international reputation for training critical care specialists in the methodology and execution of world-class research and multi-centre trials. His research has challenged prevailing dogmas and led to improved patient outcomes and major financial savings to the Australian healthcare system.

Scientia Professor of Medicine and Director
The Kirby Institute
2015

Since HIV first emerged in the early 1980s, Professor David Cooper has been at the forefront, scientifically and clinically, of the fight against HIV/AIDS in Australia and around the world, through both clinical and laboratory research. He has been involved with antiretroviral therapy for 30 years and has publications arising from the development and use of every approved antiretroviral drug. He has been a global advocate of solutions for many years, particularly advocating clinical trials to achieve best practice. He is co-director of HIV-NAT, the HIV Netherlands/ Australia/Thailand Research Collaboration, established in Bangkok by Cooper and colleagues from Thailand and the Netherlands.

 

Vale David Cooper, March 2018.

Director
Black Dog Institute
2015
NSW

Professor Helen Christensen is highly regarded nationally and internationally as a leader in the development of “automated” e health applications to deliver therapeutic interventions for anxiety, depression and suicide risk, an approach that overturned the conventional wisdom that face to face clinician contact was needed to treat mental illness. Her websites are used by millions of individuals in 200 countries worldwide. She led policy in ehealth in Australia, which resulted in the ‘tele web’ measure to fund ehealth, and she successfully advocated for increased mental health research as President of Australasian Society for Mental Health Research.

Head, Child Health Division
Menzies School of Health Research
2015
NT

Professor Chang has substantially advanced clinical medicine through her research in improving the management of chronic cough in children, bronchiectasis and asthma. She is a leading clinicalresearcher with international recognition in the areas of cough, bronchiectasis and evidence-based medicine related to respiratory conditions in children. She has achieved many ‘world’s first’ including a description of a new entity that is a common cause of cough in children, new guidelines and development of clinical tools. She leads 2 research groups (Menzies, Darwin and Royal Children’s Hospital, Brisbane). She has received international and national awards for her research contributions and for mentoring.

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

18 September – 24 November

Existing Fellows are invited to submit a request to start a new nomination until 24 November 2024.

30 November
Deadline for submitting the full nomination and supporting material.

December
Nominations allocated to Selection Committees.

January – April
Referees’ reports sought.

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

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

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

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

October
Newly elected Fellows are inducted at the Annual Meeting.

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