Massey welcomes new head of Public Health
massey-university
Thu Oct 29 2015 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)
Massey welcomes new head of Public Health
Thursday, 29 October 2015, 10:30 am
Press Release: Massey University
Massey welcomes new head of Public Health
Pioneering Australian nutritionist and public health champion Professor Roger Hughes begins his new role as the head of Massey University’s School of Public Health on Monday.
The former Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research at Bond University in Queensland plans to enhance the impact of Massey’s School of Public Health.
“I’m genuinely excited to be joining Massey to help continue to build the University’s public health footprint and I look forward to making a useful contribution to help achieve Massey’s aspirational vision as an academic institution with international impact,” he says.
Previously, he held roles as the Head of the School of Health Sciences at Bond University, Chair of Public Health Nutrition at the University of the Sunshine Coast and Deputy Head for the School of Public Health at Griffith University in Queensland.
Pro-Vice Chancellor of the College of Health, Professor Paul McDonald says, “The emerging school and related research centres have several outstanding academics and researchers. Attracting another world class academic and public health practitioner like Professor Hughes adds another critical asset. Roger is well respected and has a strong record of building innovative and exciting programmes and research capacity in every university he’s been part of.”
Professor McDonald says, “While the school won’t be the largest in the world, our goal is to make it one of the best and most distinctive by focusing on how to solve the world’s most significant public health challenges.”
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A new Bachelor of Health Science degree is offering specialisations in areas such as public health, health promotion, occupational health, environmental health, disability and rehabilitation, integrated human health, healthy ageing as well as Māori health and indigenous health. It also offers a new Master of Analytics with a specialisation in health.
Other undergraduate and postgraduate specialisations under consideration include public health nutrition, health system design, health programme and policy evaluation, sleep and circadian science. Students will be able to choose between degrees that will prepare them for careers as public health professionals or public health researchers. Many programmes will be available on-line and are suitable for students with and without backgrounds in high school science.
Bio: Professor Roger Hughes qualified as a dietitian/nutritionist in Australia in 1998 and practiced in clinical and public health positions in numerous health systems for almost a decade before joining academia to establish Griffith University's nutrition and dietetic programs in 1997.
He pioneered the development of public health nutrition as a field of practice in Australia and has made a major contribution to dietetic and public health workforce development and nutrition intervention research for the last decade.
In 2003 he completed his PhD investigating public health nutrition workforce development needs in Australia, and in 2010 he was recognised as an Australian Learning and Teaching Council Citation recipient for outstanding contributions to student outcomes in the field of nutrition and dietetics and public health nutrition.
He has academic and professional leadership experience previously serving terms as Deputy Editor of the international journal Public Health Nutrition (2004-2010) and as Secretary (Professional Affairs), World Public Health Nutrition Association (2006-2012).
He has previously been Deputy Head and Head of School in a number of Australian Universities across the public health and health sciences and more recently leading research strategy and policy in roles such as Deputy Dean of Research and as Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research).
He continues to provide consultancy services internationally in the field of public health workforce development, public health capacity building and intervention management to organisations including the World Bank, UNICEF, health departments and universities.
ENDS
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