Professor Alex Brown is a medical doctor and researcher and has led the Aboriginal Research Unit at SAHMRI since July 2012.
Prior to joining SAHMRI, Professor Brown managed the local Centre for Disease Control in Alice Springs, controlling outbreaks of disease, immunisation programs and the surveillance of disease, before starting in research for the Menzies School of Health Research. In 2007 he was appointed to set up a research program in Central Australia with Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, with a focus on heart disease and diabetes in Aboriginal people. During this time, Professor Brown commenced and completed his PhD on depression and heart disease in Aboriginal men.
Professor Brown trained in medicine at the University of Newcastle, before working in hospitals on the central coast on NSW. He subsequently travelled overseas to complete a Master of Public Health before returning to Australia to begin work in Alice Springs.
Professor Brown has been involved in policy throughout his career. He has been heavily involved in engaging government and lead agencies in setting the agenda in Aboriginal cardiovascular disease management and control and chronic disease policy more broadly. He sits on a range of national committees, including the Heart Foundation, chairs the Cardiac Society Indigenous Cardiovascular Council and was a member of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Equality Council.
In November 2012, Professor Brown was awarded the prestigious Viertel Senior Medical Research Fellowship to further his research into the impacts of psychosocial determinants on cardiovascular disease in Aboriginal communities. He was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences in 2015.
[September 2019]