Vice-Chancellor's Biography

Professor Nicholas Saunders, MD, FRACP

Nicholas Saunders MD, FRACP, is Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Newcastle, Australia, commencing his five year term in 2004.

Professor Saunders was previously Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at Monash University (1998-2003) and before that Head of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Dean of the School of Medicine at Flinders University of South Australia (1993-1998).

Professor Saunders graduated in medicine with first-class honours from the University of Sydney (1970). He is a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and a member of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand. He has held academic positions at McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario), Harvard University (Boston, Massachusetts) and the University of Newcastle (Australia) where he was Professor of Medicine (1983-1993).

Over the years he has served on many national committees and councils relevant to higher education, research and health care. He was Chair of the National Health and Medical Research Council (2000 - 2003) and served on the Higher Education Council, the Prime Minister's Science Engineering and Innovation Council, the Australian Research Council, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Council, and the Committee of Deans of Australian Medical Schools (Chair 2000 - 2002).

He has also served on many State Government bodies including the Premier's Council for Knowledge, Innovation, Science and Engineering, Victoria, and the Postgraduate Medical Council of NSW. He is currently Chair of Graduate Careers Australia and a Board member of Neurosciences Australia and the Hunter Medical Research Institute.

Professor Saunders was awarded the Centenary Medal from the Commonwealth Government for his contribution to academic medicine in 2002.