Professor Odette Pearson and Professor Caroline Miller have been recognised as leaders and experts in their fields with appointments to national committees that will play critical roles in shaping and advancing health and medical research to create a healthier Australia.

For the next three years, Prof Pearson, the Co-Leader of SAHMRI’s Aboriginal Health Equity theme, will sit on the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Research Committee and the Indigenous Advisory Group, which will inform both the NHMRC and the Medical Research Future Fund.

Prof Miller, the Director of the Health Policy Centre at SAHMRI, has been appointed to the NHMRC-MRFF Public Health and Health Systems Committee.

SAHMRI Executive Director Prof Maria Makrides congratulated both researchers, saying the honours were thoroughly well deserved.

“Odette and Caroline are internationally renowned as authorities in their respective fields and will make enormously valuable contributions to these committees,” she said.

“These appointments are a terrific endorsement of the calibre of research leadership that we are privileged to have within the SAHMRI community.”

The NHMRC Research Committee, Chaired by Prof Anushka Patel, advises on the quality and scope of health and medical research in Australia, including on the use of research funding through NHMRC’s grant program.

“It’s a great honour to be asked to join such an eminent panel of professionals on the Research Committee,” Prof Pearson said.

“I’m especially excited to be a part of the Indigenous Advisory Group, which will continue to strengthen the self-determination of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in research and how it is conducted.”

The new NHMRC-MRFF Indigenous Advisory Group, under Chair Prof Yvette Roe, was established to provide advice on significant issues of relevance to the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities, as well as opportunities for Indigenous-led research practice.

Prof Miller, who is also the President of the Public Health Association of Australia, says the Public Health and Health Systems Committee, Chaired by Prof Darryl O’Donnell, aims to embed research translation into the health system.

“Making discoveries in science is just one part of the puzzle,” Prof Miller said.

“To deliver health benefits for people everywhere, we need to ensure we share new knowledge in such a way that it improves health policy and clinical practice.”

The NHMRC Research Committee appointments were made by the Minister for Health and Aged Care while the shared NHMRC-MRFF committees were jointly established by the NHMRC and Department for Health and Aged Care. They report to the Council of the NHMRC, Chaired by Prof Caroline Homer, and to the Australian Medical Research Advisory Board.