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

Senior Staff Specialist in Intensive Care
Royal Perth Hospital, The University of Western Australia
Fellow
2014
WA

Professor Steve Webb graduated from medicine at the University of Western Australia in 1987 and trained as an adult intensive care physician with the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. His research training comprises a PhD from Imperial College and a Masters of Public Health from the University of Western Australia. He has been an ICU specialist at Royal Perth Hospital since 2001 where he continues to have substantial clinical commitments caring for patients who are critically ill. He holds adjunct professorial appointments at the University of Western Australia, Monash University, and the George Institute for Global Health.

His major research interests relate to the causes and management of various forms of immediately life-threatening illness and include influenza and pneumonia, long-term outcomes after critical illness, resuscitation of patients with septic shock, management of traumatic brain injury, pathogenesis of septic shock, antimicrobial therapy, blood transfusion, sedation practices, rehabilitation and mobilisation, choice of intravenous resuscitation fluids, and the delivery and evaluation of healthcare services. As a trialist he has randomised more than 20,000 patients and the results of those trials have regularly changed clinical practice and healthcare policy. He led time-critical observational studies that were pivotal in establishing the severity of the 2009 influenza A H1N1 pandemic.

Professor Webb has also played a major leadership role in research policy and management, in Australia and globally, having been a rotating chair of the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society Clinical Trials group, by his role in the establishment of the Australian Clinical Trials Alliance, and by his contribution to the establishment of the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium.

Professor and Head of Surgery
Flinders University
Council Member
2015
SA

Professor David Watson is head of Surgery at Flinders University. He leads a multidisciplinary research group which is addressing oesophageal disease, has 317 publications, and received $21,518,189 in research funding. He pioneered the development of laparoscopic surgery and conducted 15 randomized trials, generating the world’s largest contribution to evidence supporting surgery for gastro-oesophageal reflux. He is now addressing oesophageal cancer by leading a multistate consortium. Professor Watson’s has led national and international organisations. He is Secretary of the International Society for Diseases of the Esophagus. He led the establishment of the Australia and New Zealand Gastric & Oesophageal Surgery Association and served as President until 2011. In 2003 he was awarded the John Mitchell Crouch Fellowship, the highest research award from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. In 2006 he received a prestigious James IV Travelling Fellowship. Internationally, he is leading Flinders University’s engagement with China with the establishment of a Cancer Genetics research laboratory in China.

Executive Dean, Faculty of Medicine and Health
The University of Sydney
Council Member
2014
NSW

Professor Robyn Ward was appointed as Executive Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health at The University of Sydney in 2017. Previously she has worked at the University of Queensland as Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research), and at The University of New South Wales as Clinical Associate Dean of the Prince of Wales Medical School and Head of the Adult Cancer Program at the Lowy Cancer Research Centre.

Professor Ward is a medical oncologist, cancer geneticist and laboratory scientist who throughout her career has shown a sustained capacity for innovative research into the range of issues that underlie the problem of human cancer. At UNSW she led an independent research group that has produced over 200 journal articles, letters and monographs, as well as several patents. In her role as Head of the Adult Cancer Program, and prior to that as a clinician researcher at St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney, she has made several important contributions to translational cancer research in the area of bowel cancer, including studies of the precursor lesions of this common disease, the development of novel immunotherapies, and the recognition of the role of epimutations in cancer predisposition syndromes. These contributions have been recognised through a Commonwealth Health Minister’s Award for Excellence in Health and Medical Research (2004) and the NSW Premier’s Award for Outstanding Cancer Researcher of the Year (2007).

Professor Ward is currently Director of the Translational Cancer Research Network, a multi-institutional group based in NSW and the Director of the Prince of Wales Cancer Centre. She chairs the Commonwealth Medical Services Advisory Committee and the Human Genetics Advisory Committee of NHMRC, and has served on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee since 2000.

Carl Wood Professor and Head, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Monash University
Fellow
2015
VIC

Professor Wallace is one of Australia’s leading clinical academics in obstetrics and gynaecology with a sustained research record spanning 20 years. Through his leadership roles at Monash University, MIMR-PHI Medical Research Institute, and Monash Health he has sought to advance discovery and clinical research in perinatal medicine with a vision for better healthcare and better pregnancy outcomes. He has been a champion for research training of young clinicians and for improvements in clinical care through workforce education. He continues to advise government on healthcare provision and delivery for maternity services.

Director, Generation Victoria. Group Leader, Community Health Services Research
Murdoch Children’s Research Institute
Fellow
2015
VIC

Paediatrician Melissa Wake is recognised for her work in ‘population paediatrics’ – what universal and secondary care systems will make a difference to the health of our children, and the adults they will become? She creates and drives large-scale platforms to change the nature of paediatric research and rigorously tests new interventions to change the quality of children’s care. She is currently leading a national intergenerational biorepository to better understand the genesis of noncommunicable disease. Awards include the 2009 Australian Health Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Health & Medical Research and consecutive NHMRC Excellence Awards (2009-12, 2013-16) as top-ranked Australian Fellow.

Director and Professor of Chemical Biology
Institute for Glycomics, Griffith University
Fellow
2015
QLD

Professor Mark von Itzstein is considered a world-leading scientist in anti-viral drug discovery and the elucidation of how viruses utilise host cell surface carbohydrates to initiate and propagate infection. He has made seminal contributions in influenza virus, rotavirus and parainfluenza virus chemical biology. His contributions led to the discovery of the world’s first ‘designer’ anti-influenza drug, Relenza. This drug is considered one of the key first-line-of-defence drugs in the treatment or prevention of influenza infection and has been stockpiled by most governments in preparation for a human influenza pandemic. His significant contributions are driving antiviral drug development.

Executive Director
Centenary Institute
Fellow
2015
NSW

Professor Vadas has distinguished himself in the scientific, organisational and commercial spheres. His research work on the inflammatory response was recognised by his inaugural ISI Citation Laureateship with over 25,000 cites and H factor of 85. He originated and led the Hanson Centre for Cancer Research and now leads Centenary Institute; he originated several series of international scientific symposia and prizes to promote Australian science and was co founder of two ASX listed biotechnology companies. His pro bono activities include Chair of Australia-Harvard Fellowships Program and Life Member of the Australian Cancer Research Foundation and promotion of link between sciences and the arts being a member of the Board of Governors of the Institute of Creative Health.

Director, Centre for Cancer Immunotherapy; Head, Cancer Immunology Program
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Fellow
2015
VIC

Professor Joe Trapani, MBBS, FRACP, PhD, FFSc (RCPA) is currently Executive Director Cancer Research at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and the inaugural Head of the Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology at the University of Melbourne. Joe has made many seminal and original contributions to the field of molecular and cellular immunology, with impact on many spheres of research and medicine including human histocompatibility, cytotoxic T lymphocyte and natural killer cell biology, cell death signaling pathways, cancer immune surveillance, viral immunology, and our understanding and diagnosis of primary human immune deficiency disorders. Joe Trapani heads Peter Mac’s Cancer Immunology Program, is a member of the Executive (Board) of the Cancer Council Victoria and has led three successive NHMRC Program Grants as CIA. He has published more than 260 peer-review papers and is the recipient of multiple prizes and awards for his research.

Executive Director
Melanoma Institute Australia
Fellow
2015
NSW

Professor John Thompson is widely recognised as one of the world’s foremost authorities on melanoma and a leading surgical oncologist. He has published over 650 articles in peer-reviewed journals. He developed the isolated limb infusion regional chemotherapy technique and was one of the pioneers for sentinel lymph node biopsy in melanoma. He has been a member of the AJCC Melanoma Staging Taskforce for the last two international melanoma staging systems, and the Chairman of the Working Party which created the Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Cutaneous Melanoma in Australia and New Zealand.

Professor of Rheumatology
The University of Queensland, Translational Research Institute
Fellow
2015
QLD

Professor Ranjeny Thomas is an NHMRC Research Fellow recognized as an international leader in the field of antigen-specific tolerance in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). During the last 5 years, she reported the first clinical trial of antigen-specific dendritic cell therapy in RA, and attracted investment from the US-based Johnson and Johnson group of companies into Dendright, a start-up company commercialising immunotherapy for RA co-invented and patented by Thomas. If fully realized, this work will be transformative for human health in the next decade. Her research leadership is demonstrable in 2 successful program grant awards as CIA and 2 investigator-driven translational clinical trials.

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 2022
Newly elected Fellows of 2022 are inducted at the Annual Meeting.

Late September 2022-November 2022
Nominations are invited from existing Fellows until the closing date of 30 November.

December 2022
Nominations allocated to Selection Committees.

January – April 2023
Referees’ reports sought.

Early May 2023
Selection Committees meet to consider nominations and provide final recommendations to the Council.

Early-to-mid-July 2023
Council meets to finalise recommendations.

Late July 2023
Full Fellowship invited to comment on recommended new fellows.

August 2023
Election results are shared with proposers and candidates (under embargo).

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

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