Rebecca Guy from the Kirby Institute at UNSW has been appointed Scientia Professor, a prestigious title awarded in recognition of her outstanding academic achievements and leadership in public health research.
This recognition underscores her exceptional contributions to the field of public health and her continued commitment to improving health outcomes through innovative, evidence-based research.
As the Head of the Surveillance Evaluation and Research Program (SERP), Rebecca has played a pivotal role in advancing public health initiatives, with a particular focus on infectious diseases, their intersection with sexual health and their impact on at-risk populations.
One of the most notable aspects of her career is her approach to multi-disciplinary collaboration, based on getting the right people involved and ensuring their voices are heard and acted upon through every aspect of the program of work. The success of her approach to leadership is exemplified by the First Nations Molecular Point-of-Care Testing Program.
Under her guidance, this program has delivered significant health improvements in remote First Nations Islander communities. Launched in 2013, the program now operates across more than 100 remote communities, providing equitable access to accurate and rapid testing and treatments for seven infectious diseases, and has already conducted over 100,000 tests.
The program is key to the prevention of long-term health complications such as pelvic inflammatory disease and premature babies, and played a key role in the control of COVID-19 when it was first identified in remote Australia.
All this is done by bringing together large teams, and by deep involvement and partnerships with community organisations, health services, government, stakeholders and industry, as well as the front-line workers and health services who lead and implement the POC testing.
“The Scientia Professorship is one of the highest honours at UNSW, and the promotion process is highly competitive, with far more applicants this year than available positions,” says director of the Kirby Institute, Scientia Professor Anthony Kelleher.
“Rebecca's appointment reflects not only her academic excellence but also her profound impact on both public health policy and practice. On behalf of the Kirby Institute, I congratulate her on this very well-deserved promotion.”