Researchers elected to Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences fellowships

Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) Professor Julie Bines, Professor Harriet Hiscock and Professor George Patton have been elected as new fellows to the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.

The researchers were among 29 health leaders elected to the academy's fellowship, which recognises the brightest minds in health and medical sciences.

Professor Julie Bines is leading the development of the RV3-BB vaccine that can prevent dehydrating diarrhoea from birth. Diarrhoea is one of the leading causes of child illness and death, and rotavirus is the most common cause of severe diarrhoea.

The success of the RV3-BB vaccine represents a significant scientific and global health achievement. The vaccine has been found to be safe and protective against severe rotavirus gastroenteritis in the critical first 18 months of life. It has the potential to save children's lives around the world, particularly in low-income countries, where rotavirus disease continues to be a major cause of death and suffering.

Professor Bines is also the Victor and Loti Smorgon Professor in the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Melbourne and a paediatric gastroenterologist and Clinical Nutrition Consultant at The Royal Children's Hospital. 

Professor Harriet Hiscock, Group Leader of Health Services at MCRI, has a research focus on developing, testing and implementing new approaches to keeping children out of hospital, reducing low-value care and integrating health, social and education services to improve health and wellbeing for children.

Professor Hiscock is leading the Centre of Research Excellence in Childhood Adversity and Mental Health that aims to bring together people with lived experience and their families, practitioners, educators, researchers and policymakers from education, health and human services in a concerted effort to prevent the significant mental health problems experienced by children living in adversity.

Professor Hiscock has also created a successful infant sleep app designed to help parents manage common child behaviour problems. Her sleep interventions have been implemented in the UK, Netherlands, USA, and New Zealand. 

She is also Associate Director, Research at the Centre for Community Child Health and Director of The Royal Children's Hospital Health Services Research Unit.  

Professor George Patton, a Group Leader of Adolescent Health at MCRI, has been extensively involved in child and adolescent mental health research in Australia and global adolescent health work.

Professor Patton has been a research consultant to the World Health Organization, UN Population Division, UNICEF, UNFPA and the World Bank. He has previously co-ordinated two special series on adolescent health for the Lancet, chaired the 2016 Lancet Commission on Adolescent Health and Well-being and is chairing a new commission report to be published in 2023. The Commission brings together some of the world's leading universities including the University of Melbourne, Columbia University, University College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.   

Academy President Professor Ingrid Scheffer said academy fellows were elected by their peers for their outstanding and ongoing contributions to health and medical sciences.

"Our Fellowship encompasses the nation's research and science leaders, many of whom have been at the forefront of Australia's response to the COVID-19 pandemic," she said.

"The pandemic has demonstrated the critical role that our expertise in health and medical sciences has played. I look forward to seeing how our new fellows contribute to the academy's goal of addressing the most pressing health challenges facing society."