Professor Stephen Leeder, Director

AO, MD, PhD, BSc (Med), FRACP, FAFPHM, FFPH(UK), FRACGP(Hon)

Stephen Leeder is a professor of public health and community medicine at the University of Sydney and Director of the Menzies Centre for Health Policy. He has a long history of involvement in public health research, educational development and policy. His research interests as a clinical epidemiologist have been mainly asthma and cardiovascular disease. His interest in public health was stimulated by spending 1968 in the highlands of Papua New Guinea.

Professor Leeder graduated in medical science from the University of Sydney in 1962, in medicine in 1966 and as a Doctor of Philosophy in 1974. He was Dean of the Medical Faculty at the University of Sydney between 1996 and 2002 during which time he oversaw the implementation of a new graduate educational program and the formation of an extensive rural education network for medical students. He has also served on the Senate of the University of Sydney for several terms, had two double terms as national president of the Public Health Association, and one triennium as chair of the Health Advisory Committee of NHMRC.

Professor Leeder was the Foundation Professor of Community Medicine at the University of Newcastle (1977-1985) and played a major role in the development of the innovative medical curriculum. He was also the Foundation Director of the Asian and Pacific Centre for Clinical Epidemiology. The Rockefeller Foundation awarded a grant to the University of Newcastle for the establishment of the Centre as part of the International Clinical Epidemiology Network (INCLEN) to develop clinical epidemiologists in the Asian and Pacific Region.

In 2003-04, Professor Leeder worked at Columbia University, New York, in the Earth Institute and Mailman School of Public Health, developing a substantial report, based on research data and scientific interpretation, of the economic consequences of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in developing economies. The report, A Race against Time: the challenge of cardiovascular disease in developing economies, concentrated upon the macroeconomic consequences of CVD, and especially on the fact that one-third of CVD deaths in many developing countries were occurring among people of working age.

The report emphasized the need for a clear understanding of the size of the problem of CVD in developing nations and ways of taking action, by mobilizing business, non-government organizations and other components of civil society, to create preventive environments (better food, better urban design, primary care, tobacco control) that would reduce the toll of CVD. This work has received international recognition and Professor Leeder has been invited to speak about it in many places, including Geneva (WHO), Washington DC (World Bank and IMF), Barbados, UCLA, Mexico, and Brazil. With research funding from the Initiative for Cardiovascular Health Research in the Developing Countries (IC-Health), Professor Leeder has continued to work on the economic consequences of cardiovascular disease and the translation of these economic insights into effective preventive and control strategies through the recruitment of industry, labour and treasury and finance ministers from developing countries.

In recent years, Professor Leeder has directed the development of the Menzies Centre for Health Policy, a collaborative centre between The Australian National University and the University of Sydney. The Menzies Centre aims to provide the Australian people with a better understanding of their health system and what it provides for them. He is also academic coordinator of the Master of Health Policy degree, a new program of study offered at the University of Sydney. The only program of its kind in Australia, the health policy courses extend the professional skills of students.

Professor Leeder has 35 years of experience in epidemiological research, medical education reform and in mentoring young investigators. Most of his research has been collaborative and he has always sought ways of ensuring the career development of members of his teams.