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

AC FRS FAA FAHMS
Director, Epilepsy Research Centre
Austin Health, The University of Melbourne
2015
VIC

Professor Sam Berkovic’s early work was in neuroimaging where he was a pioneer in applying new brain imaging methods such as MRI to epilepsy. This rapidly entered routine clinical use and remains so today. Later, he turned to genetics and together with Ingrid Scheffer and molecular genetic collaborators, they discovered the first epilepsy gene in 1995. Subsequently his group have been involved in the discovery of many epilepsy genes. This has changed the conceptualisation of the causes of epilepsy, is having a major impact on epilepsy research, and has directly translated to daily clinical diagnosis and counselling, as well as refining treatment.

Immediate Past Chief Executive Officer
BioCurate Pty, Ltd
2015
VIC

Dr Begley’s research contributions include discovery of key factors controlling normal and malignant cells. His demonstration that stem cells, normally resident in bone marrow, can be enriched in blood and hasten patient recovery has revolutionized transplantation approaches. At Amgen over 25 of his research programs entered clinical trials. His work has impacted the lives of millions of cancer patients and has been recognized by election as Fellow, Royal Colleges of Pathologists UK (1997) and Australasia (2002); American Society of Clinical Investigation (2002); Association of American Physicians (2008); and inaugural inductee into the Royal Melbourne Hospital’s Research “Hall of Fame” (2014).

Professor and Head of Child and Adolescent Health, University of Sydney
The Children’s Hospital at Westmead Clinical School, The University of Sydney
2014
NSW

Professor Louise Baur graduated in medicine from The University of Sydney in 1981 and subsequently trained in general paediatrics in Sydney and London. She was awarded a PhD in the area of paediatric nutrition from The University of Sydney in 1993. Louise is Professor of Child & Adolescent Health at The University of Sydney, and Associate Dean of The Children’s Hospital at Westmead Clinical School. She is a consultant paediatrician and Head of Weight Management Services at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead in Sydney, where she runs multidisciplinary clinical services for obese and pre-diabetic children and adolescents. Louise is also a member of the Prevention Research Collaboration based at the University of Sydney. The latter group undertakes a range of policy-relevant research in the areas of obesity, nutrition and physical activity.

Professor Baur’s research interests include the prevention of childhood obesity, the antecedents of obesity and the metabolic syndrome in childhood, the complications of paediatric obesity and the effective management of obesity and related disorders in a variety of clinical settings.

Professor Baur is on the Editorial Board of Pediatric Obesity (and was its Founding Editor-in-Chief from 2005-2010), is Founding Director of the Australasian Child & Adolescent Obesity Research Network and is a member of the NHMRC’s Prevention & Community Health Committee. She has a range of roles with the World Obesity Federation and is currently a member of the World Health Organization’s Working Group on the Science and Evidence for Ending Childhood Obesity. Louise is also a Director of World Vision Australia.

In 2010, Professor Baur was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) “for service to medicine, particularly in the field of paediatric obesity as a researcher and academic, and to the community through support for a range of children’s charities”.

Professor of Public Health
The University of Sydney
2015
NSW

Professor Adrian Bauman is an internationally recognised public health physician, researcher and teacher, with a special interest in physical activity and health research, practice and policy. He has a large research program around prevention, and is ranked among the leading public health researchers in the world. His research has made major contributions to prevention science, especially to understanding the many health benefits of increasing physical activity and reducing sitting time. He has had many leadership positions, and translates research into community-relevant findings that have influenced our understanding of prevention and physical activity, and made a difference to health of all Australians.

NHMRC Practitioner Fellow Head, Global Health Division
Menzies School of Health Research, Royal Darwin Hospital Campus
2015
NT

Professor Anstey undertakes clinical research in malaria and tuberculosis with partners in the Asia-Pacific. He has identified new mechanisms underlying severe malaria, translating these findings to clinical trials of agents to improve blood supply to vital organs. He has also undertaken clinical trials of drugs to treat all three major species causing malaria in our region. He uses results to contribute to policy change nationally, regionally and globally (through WHO). He has over 25 speaking invitations to international conferences and 17 years of NIH funding. He has published 177 articles with over 10,000 citations and has trained 15 PhD students.

Head of Psychology, RCH Mental Health
The Royal Children’s Hospital
2015
VIC

Professor Anderson is a paediatric neuropsychologist with 30 years clinical experience working with children with brain insult and chronic illness and their families. In 2000 she established the Australian Centre for Child Neuropsychology Studies, which has an international standing, attracting high quality local and international researchers wishing to train in child neuropsychology. She has 271 publications, the majority in high ranked journals, 5 books and 2 commercial tests with international uptake. She has delivered 70 invited addresses at local and international conferences. She has a strong commitment to professional training and practice, and a long-standing involvement within her discipline.

Senior Director, Neurological and Mental Health Division
The George Institute for Global Health
2015
NSW

Professor Anderson is an international authority on the causes and management of stroke, and other aspects of cardiovascular disease. He conceives and conducts innovative largescale, collaborative, inter-disciplinary, epidemiological and clinical trials. His research generates reliable evidence to inform health care providers and policy makers in Australia and overseas, in their decisions regarding optimal strategies for the prevention and treatment of stroke and serious cardiac events. As well as promoting clinical and public health policies and capacity-building activities across the globe, particularly in Asia, he has published 300+ original scientific articles, books chapters and technical reports.

Member for Higgins, Victoria
Parliament of Australia
2015
ACT

Professor Allen’s contribution to medical research over the past 20 years has covered the full spectrum of laboratory, clinical and population health. Her PhD culminated in Australia’s first liver cell transplantation, her postdoctoral work resulted in first author publications in New England Journal of Medicine and The Lancet and her seminal work in food allergy is the first to describe the emerging epidemic as well as identify and rigorously test the first modifiable factors for implementing prevention of this new phenomenon.

Senior Staff Specialist and Head, Gene Therapy Research Unit
The Children’s Hospital at Westmead and Children’s Medical Research Institute
2015
NSW

Professor Alexander has made globally significant contributions to the science of gene transfer and translation through to therapeutic applications in genetic and acquired diseases of childhood. He has played a pioneering role in the establishment of the gene therapy field in Australia, providing leadership in the formation of a specialist society, contributions to regulatory oversight, the introduction of gene transfer technologies to the Australian biomedical community, and through undertaking ground-breaking clinical trials. He has also been highly influential in championing the importance of basic science in paediatric medicine and in the development of an integrated approach to rare disease research.

Distinguished Laureate Professor of Biological Sciences
The University of Newcastle
2015
NSW

Professor John Aitken’s research has laid the foundations for our current understanding of oxidative stress in the pathophysiology of male infertility and shaped the techniques that are currently being used to diagnose and address this condition. He has also pioneered the use of mass spectrometry to create the first definitive proteomic inventories of spermatozoa, creating databases that are now being used by gamete biologists all over the world. He has published >500 articles, which have been cited >25,000 times, generating an h-index of 85. In recognition of his services to science John was named as the NSW Scientist-of-the-year in 2012.

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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