Renowned cancer researcher Professor Robyn Ward today takes up her role as The University of Queensland’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research).
Professor Ward joins UQ’s senior leadership team from the University of New South Wales, where most recently she was Professor of Medicine and Clinical Associate Dean at the Prince of Wales Clinical School and director of the Nelune Comprehensive Cancer Centre at Sydney’s Prince of Wales Hospital.
The Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Peter Høj, said that in these roles, Professor Ward had been responsible for strategic and operational oversight of teaching, research and clinical staff, and provision of clinical cancer services.
“Robyn has demonstrated sustained translational and clinical research performance at the highest level,” Professor Høj said.
“Her research performance is supported through a consistently strong grant track record, including National Health and Medical Research Council and Australian Research Council funding, as well as grants from cancer authorities.
“She has obtained more than $38 million in competitive funding to support her research activities and has published more than 200 articles, books and chapters including in high-impact journals such as British Medical Journal, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Nature Genetics and The New England Journal of Medicine.
“Her work has received 8070 citations since 1996. As Director of the Translational Cancer Research Network, Robyn has worked with a network of universities and hospitals to pursue the translational cancer research objectives of the Cancer Institute NSW.
“Robyn’s contributions to medical research have been acknowledged through a Commonwealth Health Minister’s Award for Excellence in Health and Medical Research in 2004, the NSW Premier’s Award for Outstanding Cancer Researcher of the Year in 2007, and membership of the Order of Australia, awarded in 2013.”
Professor Høj said that in addition to her clinical and research leadership experience, Professor Ward had contributed to the development of Commonwealth and NSW health policy, including through her current roles as Chair of the Commonwealth Medical Services Advisory Committee and member of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee.
“She was recently appointed as Co-Chair for Global Genomics Medicine Collaborative (G2MC), which is hosted by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies in Washington, and seeks to foster global collaboration in demonstrating the real-world value of medical genomics to government and industry. Robyn is also on the council of the NHMRC.
“I am convinced Robyn’s research leadership will help further build UQ’s research performance, strengthening our global reputation in key areas of national and international significance.”
Professor Høj thanked Professor Anton Middelberg, Professor Al McEwan and Professor Stephan Riek, for their excellent leadership and contributions while acting in the roles of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and International), and Dean of the Graduate School, respectively in the past year.
Contact: Fiona Cameron, UQ Communications, ph +61 7 3346 7086, communications@uq.edu.au.
