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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

Professor Helen Christensen

AO FASSA FAHMS
Director
Black Dog Institute
2015
NSW

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Professor Helen Christensen
AO FASSA FAHMS

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.

Professor Anne Chang

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

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Professor Anne Chang
AM FAHMS

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.

Professor John Chalmers

AC FAHA FAA FAHMS
Emeritus Professor of Medicine and Senior Director
The George Institute for Global Health
2015
NSW

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Professor John Chalmers
AC FAHA FAA FAHMS

Professor John Chalmers was admitted to the Australian Academy of Science (1987) for his studies elucidating the neurotransmitters and brain pathways involved in baroreflex control of blood pressure and contributing to experimental hypertension. He chaired the guidelines committee of the WHO and the International Society of Hypertension(1988-2000). He helped found the George Institute for Global Health and has initiated and chaired four major international clinical trials of blood pressure lowering in patients with stroke or diabetes-the PROGRESS, ADVANCE, INTERACT and ENCHANTED trials, the first three of which have had a major impact on clinical practice, while the 4th is ongoing.

Professor Donald Chalmers

AO FAHMS
Distinguished Emeritus Professor, Department of Law
The University of Tasmania
2015
TAS

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Professor Donald Chalmers
AO FAHMS

Professor Chalmers has made sustained, independent and constructive contributions, nationally and internationally to promote education, research and professional interactions in health and medical research ethics through my publications, reports and appointments. He has made valuable public contributions by submissions to enquiries and committee work, principally for the NHMRC, particularly as a past Chair of AHEC. He also makes international contributions, by joint submissions to UNESCO Declarations and OECD guidelines and work in the International Cancer Genome Consortium and, most recently the Global Alliance for Genomic Health.

Professor Alan Cass

AO FAHMS
Director
Menzies School of Health Research
2015
NT

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Professor Alan Cass
AO FAHMS

Professor Cass, Director of the Menzies School of Health Research, is a clinician-researcher who has achieved international recognition in both nephrology and Indigenous health. He has a strong track record of leadership across clinical trials, public health, health services and policy-related research. He has a very strong track record of research translation into policy and practise, having successfully completed multiple commissioned policy and service development projects, for governments and NGOs, relating to the prevention and management of kidney disease and improving Indigenous health.

Professor Jonathan Carapetis

AM FAA FAHMS
Director
Telethon Kids Institute
2014
WA

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Professor Jonathan Carapetis
AM FAA FAHMS

Professor Jonathan Carapetis is a paediatrician and Infectious Diseases specialist and is Director of the Telethon Kids Institute in Perth, Australia, having previously been Director of the Menzies School of Health Research in Darwin from 2006-2012.

He has particular expertise in rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease; other group A streptococcal diseases; vaccine preventable disease; Indigenous child health; child development and education; youth health and education; and skin sores and scabies.

Professor Carapetis has made an international contribution and commitment to the reduction of rheumatic heart disease in Australia and globally. While rare in most developed countries, Australia has one of the highest rates of the disease in the world due to its prevalence within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, particularly in Northern Australia.

Professor Carapetis was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science from Charles Darwin University in 2013 and named as Northern Territory Australian of the Year for 2008. He has been named as one of Australia’s top 100 brains in Cosmos magazine, and selected in the top ten in Medicine and Health in the Bulletin Magazine’s “Smart 100” list.

Professor Carapetis undertook his medical training at the Royal Melbourne and Royal Children’s Hospitals. Previous positions include terms as Director of the Centre for International Child Health at the University of Melbourne, and Theme Director at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne.

Professor Carapetis holds a clinical position as consultant in paediatric infectious diseases with the Princess Margaret Hospital for Children and is a Winthrop Professor at the University of Western Australia.

Professor Ashley Bush

FTSE FAHMS
Director, Oxidation Biology Unit
The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health
2015
VIC

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Professor Ashley Bush
FTSE FAHMS

Professor Bush is a translational physician-scientist with an outstanding international profile in neurodegenerative disease research, pioneering the importance of metals and oxidation especially as drug targets in Alzheimer’s (AD) and Parkinson’s disease. He is the most highly cited neuroscientist in Australia, is listed in The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds (Thompson Reuters), is a NHMRC Australia Fellow, and has won numerous awards, most recently the Victoria Prize. He leads a large laboratory at the Florey Institute, is Chief Scientist of the CRC for Mental Health, and has founded 4 biotechnology companies.

Professor Graham Brown

AM FAHMS
Professor Emeritus
Nossal Institute for Global Health, The University of Melbourne
2015
VIC

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Professor Graham Brown
AM FAHMS

Professor Brown is a clinical academic with a distinguished research record in malaria and clinical infectious diseases. His substantial contribution to understanding immunity to malaria in humans includes specific discoveries related to the cellular and genetic mechanisms by which malariainfected red cells cause illness by sticking in blood vessels, or escape immunity by changing molecules at the cell surface. He is recognised for local and international leadership in clinical medicine, research, and global health, and as an exemplary mentor. As a recognised world authority on malaria, he currently chairs the Executive Committee of the global Roll Back Malaria Partnership Board.

Professor Alex Brown

FAHMS
Professor of Indigenous Genomics
Telethon Kids Institute and The Australian National University
2015
SA

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Professor Alex Brown
FAHMS

Professor Brown is the Theme Leader Aboriginal Health at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (previously Executive Director of BakerIDI Central Australia, having also established the Central Australian unit of Menzies School of Health Research). He has driven the establishment of CVD as a priority area for Aboriginal health, and his primary research, policy work, consultancies and thought leadership has shaped a national translational agenda, extending to chronic disease more broadly (including chronic kidney disease, diabetes, their interrelationships and the critical role of psychosocial factors in driving and explaining health disparities). He has made significant contributions to national policy and research in Aboriginal health including ministerial councils, committees for peak NGOs, the NHMRC, and NACCHO.

Professor Warwick Britton

AO FAHMS
Bosch Professor of Medicine, and Professor of Immunology
The University of Sydney
2015
NSW

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Professor Warwick Britton
AO FAHMS

Professor Warwick Britton is internationally recognised for his contributions to the immunology and control of tuberculosis and leprosy. His studies have examined how the immune system responds to mycobacteria, the development of novel vaccines against TB and leprosy, genetic susceptibility to infection and identification of TB drug targets. He leads the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Tuberculosis Control that includes studies in Vietnam and China. He is strongly commitment to medical and scientific education, and has led research innovations at the University of Sydney and RPAH. In 2014 he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to medical research as an academic and immunologist, to humanitarian and public health improvements for the people of Nepal and to the community.

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 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.

Find out more

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