THREE eminent physicians have been awarded the country’s top accolades.
South Australia’s Dr James Muecke AM was named Australian of the Year 2020 and Professor John Newnham AM was named Senior Australian of the Year; while Professor Bruce Robinson AM was one of five distinguished Australians named as a Companion (AC) in the General Division of the Order of Australia, as part of the Australia Day Honours.
Dr Muecke has spent his medical career fighting blindness in Australia and internationally, and is a strong campaigner to raise awareness of type 2 diabetes, a leading cause of blindness in adults.
Professor Newnham is a world-renowned obstetrics specialist who has spent his medical career as a leader in the prevention of pre-term birth, and has made Western Australia a global centre for research and clinical excellence in pregnancy and life before birth.
Professor Robinson, the Chair of the National Health and Medical Research Council, was cited “for eminent service to medical research, and to national healthcare, through policy development and reform, and to tertiary education”.
He is also Chair of the Medicare Benefits Schedule Review Taskforce, co-Head of the Kolling Institute of Medical Research’s Cancer Genetics Group, and a board member of the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research.
Professor Robinson, an endocrinologist, graduated from the University of Sydney in 1980 and has done stints at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Harvard Medical School in the US. He is currently a staff specialist at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney. He was awarded the AM in the 2012 Queen’s Birthday Honours.
The other AC recipients are Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AO QC, the current Governor of New South Wales; Professor Margaret Gardener AO, the President and Vice-Chancellor of Monash University; the Honourable Chief Justice Catherine Holmes, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland; and Professor Anthony Thomas, physicist and Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow.
Other members of the health and medical community receiving honours are:
Member (AM) in Military Division of the Order of Australia
Lieutenant Colonel Alyson Auliff is Commanding Officer of the Australian Defence Force Malaria and Infectious Disease Institute. She was awarded the AM “for exceptional service to the Australian Defence Force in malaria research”. She completed her research doctorate in molecular parasitology at the University of Queensland before joining the Australian Defence Force in 2012.
Member (AM) of the Order of Australia
Dr John Batten: For significant service to orthopaedic medicine, and to professional bodies. Dr Batten was president of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons from 2017 to 2019, and President of the Australian Orthopaedic Association from 2008-2009.
Emeritus Professor Thomas Boulton: For significant service to medical education, and to paediatric medicine. Professor Boulton taught at the University of Newcastle – where he was Professor of Paediatrics from 1980 to 1992 – Nepean Teaching Hospital (University of Sydney), University of Notre Dame, and the University of WA. He has also practiced in the Kimberley in WA and on the Darling Downs in Queensland. He is currently Ambassador for the National Organisation for the Prevention of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.
Dr Frank Brennan: For significant service to palliative medicine, and to medical education. Dr Brennan is former President of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine (2011-2013) and is a palliative care physician at Calvary Hospital, and St George Hospital, in Sydney. He teaches at the University of NSW. He is a member of the Little Company of Mary East Timor Palliative Care Project.
Dr David Briggs: For significant service to community health management, and to education. Dr Briggs is Deputy Chair of the Hunter and New England Central Coast Primary Health Network, former Federal President (2000-2002) of the Australasian College of Health Service Management, and Adjunct Professor at the University of New England’s School of Rural Medicine.
Professor Pierre Chapuis: For significant service to medical education, and to colorectal surgery. Professor Chapuis is Professor of Surgery and Director of Postgraduate Surgical Education in the Discipline of Surgery at Sydney Medical School; Head of Academic Surgery at the Concord Clinical School; and Conjoint Professor of Surgery at the Western Sydney University School of Medicine.
Dr Christopher Clements: For significant service to international public health through immunisation programs. Dr Clements was Medical Officer with the World Health Organization’s Expanded Program on Immunisation from 1985 to 2016. He is Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne’s School of Population Health, and is a volunteer chaplain at Frankston Hospital, among others.
Dr John Collins: For significant service to medicine, particularly to breast cancer treatment. Dr Collins is former head of the Breast Unit at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Royal Women’s Hospital (1996-2006) and is still a surgeon there. He is Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne, and a former member of committees at the National Breast Cancer Centre, COSA, and Cancer Council Victoria.
Ms Marita Cowie: For significant service to community health in rural and remote areas. Ms Cowie has been CEO of ACRRM since 1998 and Deputy Chair of Asthma Australia since 2014. She has an Honorary Doctorate of Medicine from James Cook University and is an Honorary Member of the Rural Doctors Association of Australia.
Emeritus Professor Brendan Crotty: For significant service to health education, and to the community. Professor Crotty was Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health at Deakin University (2011-2019) and Foundation Head of Deakin Medical School (2006-2011). He is a Director of Barwon Health and former Board Chair of the Postgraduate Medical Council of Victoria (2013-2017).
Dr Geoffrey Currie: For significant service to nuclear medicine and medical radiation science. Dr Currie is Associate Professor in Nuclear Medicine at Charles Sturt University, is President-Elect of the Rural Alliance in Nuclear Scintigraphy, and is Honorary Associate Professor in Nuclear Medicine at Regis University in Boston.
Professor Karen Day: For significant service to science education, and to global public health. Professor Day has had appointments at the University of Melbourne, New York University, the University of Oxford, and Harvard School of Public Health. She was Founding Partner and Manager of the Wellcome Trust Centre for the Epidemiology of Infectious Disease (1994-2000).
Dr Gillian Duchesne: For significant service to radiation oncology medicine, and to professional medical organisations. Dr Duchesne is Adjunct Professor of Biochemistry and Medical Radiations at Monash University. She is Honorary Professor of Radiation Oncology at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, a Chief Investigator at the NHMRC, and a member of the Global Task Force on Radiotherapy for Cancer.
Dr Paul Eliadis: For significant service to medicine as a clinical haematologist, and to charitable initiatives. Dr Eliadis is Founding Director of ICON Cancer Centre, a member of the Medical Advisory Committee and Quality Assurance Committee at Wesley Hospital, and benefactor of the Paul Eliadis Chair of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Queensland.
Dr Sanghamitra Guha: For significant service to medicine, and to medical education. Dr Guha is Director of Post-Graduate Education, and Director of Diabetes Services at Royal Adelaide Hospital, National Examiner for the RACP, and Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Adelaide.
Dr Vedella Hinckley: For significant service to medicine as a plastic and reconstructive surgeon. Dr Hinckley was involved in the development of the Buccinator Flap. She is the former Director of Plastic Surgery at St Andrew’s Hospital, former President of the Australian and New Zealand Head and Neck Cancer Society, and an Emeritus Member of the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons.
Dr Michael Leung: For significant service to medicine, and to the international community. Dr Leung has been the country coordinator for Myanmar of Interplast Australia and New Zealand since 2013. He has volunteered as a plastic surgeon in Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, the Pacific Islands and Vietnam. He is Director of Monash Health’s Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Unit.
Professor Lenore Manderson: For significant service to education, particularly medical anthropology, and to public health. Professor Manderson is the current Chair of WHO’s Social Innovation in Health Initiative. She has had appointments at Monash University, University of Melbourne, University of the Witwatersrand, Brown University, the WHO, and the World Academy of Art and Science.
Professor Marjory Moodie: For significant service to education, particularly to health economics. Professor Moodie is the Alfred Deakin Professor at Deakin University, Deputy Head (Research) of Deakin Health Economics, and Executive Director of the Pacific Research Centre for the Prevention of Obesity and Non-Communicable Diseases.
Dr Anthony Mylius: For significant service to community health, and to cardiology. Dr Mylius is Clinical Co-Lead, of the Department of Health WA’s Cardiovascular Health Network. He is Senior Lecturer, Rural Clinical School, University Western Australia, since 2014; and a cardiologist and consultant physician with Wheatbelt Medical Specialists.
Dr John Orchard: For significant service to sports medicine, particularly to cricket. Dr Orchard is the Chief Medical Officer of Cricket Australia and Cricket NSW, and has been the team doctor for the NSW State of Origin rugby league team, and the Sydney Swans AFL team. He is Adjunct Professor at the University of Sydney’s School of Public Health.
Dr Walter Russell: For significant service to medicine in the field of anaesthesia, and to medical health standards. Dr Russell is a former chairman of Standards Australia’s Health Technology Executive and Board. He is former President of the Society for Medical and Biological Engineering, and former Director of Research and Development at Royal Adelaide’s Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care.
Dr Sabar Rustomjee: For significant service to psychotherapy, and to community health. Dr Rustomjee is President of the International Organisation of Group Analytic Psychotherapy; former President of the Australian Association of Group Psychotherapists; former psychiatrist at Monash Health.
Dr John Santamaria: For significant service to intensive care medicine. Dr Santamaria is a current member of the Safer Care Victoria Governance Committee, Chair of the INSIGHT Committee, a former President of the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society, and the current Director of the Department of Critical Care Medicine at St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne.
Ms Marion Saville: For significant service to women's health through cervical screening initiatives. Ms Saville is Executive Director and Public Officer of the Victorian Cytology Service; a Director of Cancer Council Australia; Past President of the New Zealand Society of Cytology; and former Chair of the Australia Society of Cytology’s Board of Examiners.
Emeritus Professor Cindy Shannon: For significant service to Indigenous health, and to medical education. Professor Shannon is former Pro Vice-Chancellor, Indigenous Engagement at UQ; former Director of the Poche Centre for Indigenous Health; former Chair of the NHMRC’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Committee; Chair of the Queensland Ministerial Advisory Committee on Sexual Health.
Professor Robert Shepherd: For significant service to biomedical research, and to education. Professor Shepherd is Principal Scientist at the Bionics Institute; Principal Investigator (Bioengineering), Neuromodulation for the Treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease; Chairman, Advisory Board, MedTech CoRE Centre of Research Excellence, New Zealand.
Dr Ann Westmore: For significant service to medical history, and to science communication. Dr Westmore is an Honorary Fellow of the University of Melbourne’s Health Humanities and Social Science Unit, School of Population and Global Health. She has co-authored 10 books including Finding sanity: John Cade, lithium and the taming of bipolar disorder.
Dr Desiree Swei-Lien Yap: For significant service to women's health, and to medicine. Dr Yap is former Chair of Women’s Health Victoria; Past President of the Australian Federation of Medical Women; current Vice-President, Western Pacific Region, Medical Women's International Association; and consultant gynaecologist at Royal Women’s Hospital and Monash Health.
Officer (AO) in the General Division of the Order of Australia
Professor Shaun Brennecke: For distinguished service to medical education and research in the fields of obstetrics and gynaecology, and to professional societies.
Professor Rachelle Buchbinder: For distinguished service to medical education in the fields of epidemiology and rheumatology, and to professional associations.
Professor Robert Cumming: For distinguished service to medical education and research, particularly to ageing and age-related diseases.
Professor Peter McCluskey: For distinguished service to ophthalmology, and to medical education, to eye health organisations, and to the community.
Professor Peter McIntyre: For distinguished service to medicine, and to medical education, to child and adolescent health, and to professional bodies.
Professor John Permezel: For distinguished service to medicine, and to medical education, in the fields of obstetrics and gynaecology, and to professional colleges.
Professor Roy Robins-Browne: For distinguished service to medical education and research in the field of microbiology and immunology, and to professional groups.
Professor Robert Simes: For distinguished service to education, and to medicine, in the field of cancer research and clinical trials.
Mrs Gwen Wetzig: For distinguished service to the international community of the Democratic Republic of Congo through medical support, teaching and training programs.
Dr Neil Wetzig: For distinguished service to the international community of the Democratic Republic of Congo through medical support, teaching and training programs.
Professor Jeffrey Zajac: For distinguished service to medical research and education, particularly in the field of endocrinology, and to professional societies.
Public Service Medal
Professor Edward Tuckseng Mah: For outstanding public service to public health in South Australia.
Medal (OAM) of the Order of Australia in the General Division
Dr Phillip Antippa: For service to thoracic surgery, and to music.
Dr Donald Campbell: For service to trauma medicine.
Dr Ian Chung: For service to the law, to medicine, and to the community.
Dr Phillip Cocks: For service to medicine, and to medical associations.
Dr Michael Connor: For service to medicine, and to the community.
Dr Lynne Coulson Barr: For service to community mental health.
Professor Diana Egerton-Warburton: For service to emergency medicine.
Clinical Associate Professor Nicholas Evans: For service to neonatal medicine.
Associate Professor Cecily Freemantle: For service to medical research, particularly to population health.
Dr Vincent Gallichio: For service to medicine.
Dr Hazel Goldberg: For service to respiratory medicine.
Dr Antony Graham: For service to medicine as a vascular surgeon.
Dr Wesley Jame: For service to community health.
Dr Liang Joo Leow: For service to medicine, and to the community.
Dr Anthony Lian-Lloyd: For service to medicine, and to the community.
Dr Sadanand Limaye: For service to medicine, and to the multicultural community.
Dr David Marshall: For service to orthopaedic medicine.
Dr Gunvantrai Premji Naker: For service to the international community, and to medicine.
Dr Meng Chong Ngu: For service to medicine in the fields of gastroenterology and hepatology.
Dr Andrew Rollond: For service to medicine, and to local government.
Dr Kim Rooney: For service to medicine.
Mr Inderjit Singh: For service to the international community through eye care programs.
Dr Samiul Sorrenti: For service to orthopaedic and sports medicine.
Dr John Wettenhall: For service to the international community through water, sanitation and medical programs.
Dr David Workman: For service to ophthalmology, and to international relations.
- Cate Swannell