Emeritus Professor Warwick Anderson AO awarded Honorary Doctorate
Professor John Carroll and Emeritus Professor Warwick Anderson AO.
Monash University has conferred an Honorary Doctorate of Laws on Emeritus Professor Warwick Anderson AO, the highest honour the University can bestow on an individual of professional or academic distinction. The honorary degree was conferred on Professor Anderson during a ceremony at the University’s Clayton campus this week.
Professor Anderson has made a profound contribution to health and medical research across his career, serving his profession with distinction. He has been a member of numerous national scientific and advisory bodies including the Prime Minister's Science Engineering and Innovation Council.
Professor Anderson’s research has focussed on cardiovascular and renal physiology, including morphometric, endocrinological, neural and functional aspects of the kidney and its vasculature. He has published over 170 peer review articles and supervised 13 PhD candidates.
From 2015 until July 2021, Professor Anderson was Secretary General of the International Human Frontier Science Program Organisation, which funds international cooperation in frontier research into the complex mechanism of living organisms, supported by 14 leading scientific research countries and the European Union.
He was previously the inaugural Chief Executive Officer of the National Health and Medical Research Council (2006-2015) following its establishment as an independent statutory agency. Professor Anderson renewed NHMRC’s peer review processes, established funding vehicles to support newly developing research fields and reformed NHMRC’s health guidelines processes. He established an Australian ethical framework for responsible conduct in research, developed a number of initiatives essential to Australia’s health reform agenda and committed substantial NHMRC research funding to improving Aboriginal health. He also greatly expanded NHMRC’s international research support.
Professor Anderson also has a long history with the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, with academic appointments as Professor of Physiology from 1996 to 2006 and Head of the School of Biomedical Sciences from 2001 to 2006. He was also involved in building the multidisciplinary School of Biomedical Sciences, now the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, from six previously independent biomedical university departments. He also held leadership, academic and research positions at The Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute from 1979 to 1996. He is currently the chair and co-convenor of Global Biodata Coalition and serves on the Board of Directors of the Hudson Institute of Medical Research.
Professor Anderson was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2005. He is also an International Fellow of the American Heart Foundation and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia and the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences. He has honorary doctorates from the University of Adelaide and the University of Newcastle.
At the conferment ceremony, President and Vice-Chancellor of Monash University, Professor Margaret Gardner AC, said that the university was very proud to have enjoyed a very long association with Professor Anderson, through his academic roles and his appointments of Vice Chancellor’s Professorial Fellow and Professorial representative on the University Council. “It’s been an immense contribution that he’s made and continues to make," she said. "Both to the community at large, but also to Monash University.”
We extend our warmest congratulations to Emeritus Professor Anderson on the honour.
About Monash University
Monash University is Australia’s largest university with more than 80,000 students. In the 60 years since its foundation, it has developed a reputation for world-leading high-impact research, quality teaching, and inspiring innovation.
With four campuses in Australia and a presence in Malaysia, China, India, Indonesia and Italy, it is one of the most internationalised Australian universities.
As a leading international medical research university with the largest medical faculty in Australia and integration with leading Australian teaching hospitals, we consistently rank in the top 50 universities worldwide for clinical, pre-clinical and health sciences.
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