David de Kretser Medal and Lifetime Achievement Medal awarded for 2025
Professor Christina Mitchell AO, Professor Rachelle Buchbinder AO, Professor Robert Parton. FAA Credit: Hynesite Photography
A renowned rheumatologist and clinical epidemiologist and an Australian Laureate Fellow and cell biologist have been awarded the faculty's highest honours for 2025. Professor Rachelle Buchbinder AO was awarded the David de Kretser Medal and Professor Robert Parton FAA was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Medal at a ceremony held at the Chancellery at Monash University's Clayton campus yesterday evening. The ceremony was hosted by Executive Dean Professor Christina Mitchell AO and attended by special guests.
The David de Kretser Medal celebrates the exceptional contribution of a staff member to any area of the faculty's operation over a significant period of their working life. The Lifetime Achievement Medal recognises a person who has made an outstanding contribution to human health and wellbeing, nationally and internationally. The faculty established the awards in 2006 and bestows them annually.
Professor Rachelle Buchbinder AO - Winner of the 2025 David de Kretser Medal
Professor Rachelle Buchbinder AO is a rheumatologist and clinical epidemiologist, an NHMRC Investigator Fellow and Head, Musculoskeletal Health Unit and Wiser Health Care Group in the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University. She is known internationally as a vocal proponent of evidence-based medicine and for her landmark studies, particularly those examining treatments accepted into practice before their proper evaluation.
She is the Coordinating Editor of Cochrane Musculoskeletal, Back and Neck, co-founded and leads the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence for the Australia and New Zealand Musculoskeletal (ANZMUSC) Clinical Trials Network, and she co-founded Wiser Healthcare, a national collaboration that aims to reduce overdiagnosis and overtreatment. Her best-selling 2021 book Hippocrasy: How Doctors Are Betraying Their Oath, written with orthopaedic surgeon Ian Harris, aimed to highlight society’s overreliance on medicine for a general audience.
She is a Fellow of both the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (AAHMS)(2015-) and the Australian Academy of Science (2024-) and was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for contributions to rheumatology and epidemiology in 2020. Her numerous awards include AAHMS Outstanding Female Researcher 2023, Royal Society of Victoria 2022 Medal for Excellence in Scientific Research, the Australian Rheumatology Association Inaugural Senior Researcher Award 2023 and Cochrane’s Anne Anderson Award 2024.
Professor Robert Parton FAA - Winner of the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Medal
Professor Robert Parton FAA studied at the University of Edinburgh and University of Leicester before moving to the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany. He received Royal Society and EMBO postdoctoral fellowships before becoming a junior group leader studying plasma membrane domains and cell surface dynamics. In 1996, he moved to the University of Queensland where he is currently a group leader in the Institute for Molecular Bioscience Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis . His work has focused on understanding the workings of the human cell, the fundamental unit of life, in health and in disease. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science , an Associate Member of EMBO, and an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow
Executive Dean of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences Professor Christina Mitchell AO warmly congratulated both recipients. “I’m delighted and privileged to award Professor Buchbinder and Professor Parton our faculty’s highest honours,” she said. “Professor Buchbinder’s research has had a profound and lasting impact on musculoskeletal health globally. Throughout her distinguished career, she has been a powerful advocate for evidence-based medicine and patient-centred care. Her leadership and mentorship have inspired a generation of researchers and clinicians to pursue work that truly makes a difference to people’s lives.
“Professor Parton's discoveries have illuminated the molecular mechanisms underlying a range of human diseases, including muscular dystrophies, cardiovascular disease, and cancer,” she continued. ”His work continues to shape the field of cell biology, opening new avenues for therapeutic intervention and inspiring the next generation of scientists. It’s my honour to recognise and celebrate these two outstanding members of our community.”
About Professor David de Kretser AC
Professor David de Kretser AC, with his many accolades and significant contribution to the field of male fertility, is an inspiration to many health and medical researchers. It is fitting that Monash Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences premier award to a staff member bears the name of such a distinguished academic. Professor de Kretser is a reproductive endocrinologist whose appointments at Monash University included Professor of Anatomy, the founding director of the Monash Institute of Medical Research and the Associate Dean for Biotechnology Development. In 1991, he established the Monash Institute of Reproduction and Development, which is now known as the Hudson Institute of Medical Research. For many years, he participated in the World Health Organization Special Program in Human Reproduction, which utilised his teaching skills in many countries. Following a term as the 28th Governor of Victoria from 2006 to 2011, he returned to Monash to pursue research as a Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor.
Find out more about the David De Kretser Medal and Lifetime Achievement Medals.
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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