Professor Stephen Leeder
AO, BSc (Med), MB, PhD, FRACP, FAFPHM, FFPH(UK)

Stephen Leeder is a professor of Public Health and Community Medicine at the University of Sydney. He graduated in medical science from that university in 1962, in medicine in 1966 and as a Doctor of Philosophy in 1974.  He is a fellow and council member of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and of its Faculty of Public Health Medicine.  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.  His other goals as dean included the strengthening of decentralised, cross-disciplinary schools within the Faculty, and the development of a strategic approach to research development. 

He served on the senate of the University of Sydney for several terms, had two double terms as president of the Public Health Association, of which he is a Life Member, and one triennium as chair of the Health Advisory Committee of NHMRC. 

Prior to his move to the Faculty of Medicine at The University of Sydney, he was strongly associated with the formation of the new medical school at Newcastle, NSW.  His research interests as a clinical epidemiologist have been around asthma and cardiovascular disease. He served on both state and federal committees that oversaw the adoption of health goals and targets for Australia.

In 2003-04, Professor Leeder worked at Columbia University to assess the impending effects of diseases such as cancer, mental illness, heart disease and stroke on developing economies. The Center for Global Health and Economic Development at Columbia published the report on April 26, 2004.  It aroused great international interest.

Professor Leeder is currently director of the Australian Health Policy Institute at the University of Sydney. The Institute provides a high-level capability for authoritative, independent, non-partisan analysis of major health policy questions which confront Australian and international health systems. The Institute hosts seminars to promote academic, professional and public debate on policy issues and provides an educational capacity in health policy, policy analysis and policy research in the University's teaching programs. The Institute has four themes: equity; futures; serious continuing illness; and governance.

Professor Leeder is also currently Co-Director of the Menzies Centre for Health Policy, one of three Menzies Research Centres, part of a collaborative agreement between Australian National University and the University of Sydney. The centre provides expert commentary on government health spending priorities for the public and technical media, undertaking research in fields such as the financing of health systems and the effects of spending priorities on the equity and appropriateness in health care.  The Centre is focused on translating this research into policy and the education of future health professionals and policy makers.

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