Professor Fiona Stanley

 Australian of the Year 2003

Professor Fiona Stanley was born in Sydney in 1946 and came to Perth in 1956.  She studied medicine at the University of Western Australia and practised in hospitals for two years before going to the United Kingdom and USA for further training in epidemiology (the science of describing and explaining the occurrence of disease in populations), biostatistics and public health. 

She is the founding Director of the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research that was established in Perth in 1990. The Institute is multi-disciplinary and researches prevention of major childhood illnesses. It currently has more than 300 employees. 

Professor Stanley is also the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth, a national organisation that was formally constituted in June 2002 with an agenda to improve the health and well-being of young Australians. 

She is married to Professor Geoffrey Shellam. They have two daughters.  

CURRENT POSITIONS:

Director, Telethon Institute for Child Health Research CEO, Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth; Professor, School of Paediatrics and Child Health, the University of Western Australia 

RESEARCH INTERESTS:

Professor Stanley's career has focussed on the importance of using population data and research to provide significant health, social and economic benefits to the community. 

Her research work involves conducting and supervising studies in maternal and child health. Main areas include

• strategies to enhance health and well-being in populations

• the causes and prevention of birth defects and major neurological disorders particularly the cerebral palsies

• the causes and lifelong consequences of low birth weight and other pre- and postnatal problems

• patterns of maternal and child health in Aboriginal and caucasian populations.

In 1977 her group of researchers established the WA Maternal and Child Health Research Data Base. It is a unique collection of data on births from the entire state so that the research has a whole of population (and hence an unbiased) approach.  It is an effective resource for describing trends in maternal and child health and the effect of preventive programs. 

PUBLICATIONS:

Member of the Editorial Board of three international journals; More than 200 published papers in refereed journals; 3 books; 25 book chapters; 40 major reports or monographs 

QUALIFICATIONS:

Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBBS), The University of Western Australia (1970); Master of Science (MSc, Epidemiology), The University of London (1976); Membership of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine (MFPHM) of the Royal College of Physicians (UK, 1976), awarded Fellowship status (FFPHM) in 1989; Doctor of Medicine (MD), The University of Western Australia (1986); Foundation Fellow of Australian Faculty of Public Health Medicine (FAFPHM) (1991); Fellow of the Faculty of Community Child Health (FFCCH) (1991); Fellow of the Royal Australian College of Physicians (FRACP) (1994);Fellow-ad-eundem of the Royal Australian College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (FRACOG) (1995); Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia (FASSA) (1996); Honorary Doctor of Science (Hon DSc), Murdoch University (1998); Honorary Doctor of the Queensland University of Technology (2001); Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (FAA) (2002) 

BOARDS AND COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIPS:

Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council; Premier’s Science Council  (WA); Chair, Advisory Council on the Prevention of Deaths of Children and Young People; Australian Statistics Advisory Council; Pharmacia Bioscience Foundation; Telstra Foundation, Board member; Aboriginal Health Information and Ethics Committee (WA); Australians for Reconciliation, WA Advisory Committee of Eminent Persons, Member; Population Health Advisory Council (WA); Public Health Council of WA 

Interview with Professor Fiona Stanley 

When you received the Australian of the Year Award, how did you go about planning what you would do during the year in this honourable position? 

I was swamped by a wonderful bunch of congratulatory letters, cards and emails (about 3 - 4,000!) followed by literally hundreds of invitations to speak, write chapters, prefaces and testimonials and to open conferences, etc.   So we sat down in the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research and the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth and decided on a strategy to manage  (1) the load of correspondence, (2) how to decide what to do, (3) how to use the honour and high profile to achieve the objectives we set for me and both organizations.  The Australia Day Council was clear that I could run with my own agenda. 

This has enabled me to use the profile of the Award to push two major issues – the importance of valuing children and youth and the increasing social (particularly Indigenous) disparity in Australian society. 

Many other issues – health, education, employment, child protection, children in detention, etc.  fall into these two broad issues.  The arguments I have used – over and above valuing children for their own sake – are: 

(1) the cost to Australia (economic, social, opportunity) of having to pay for the (usually ineffective) care/management of these problems and 

(2) the loss of participation from generations of welfare dependent youth in Australia’s future capacity.  

What would you like to have achieved by the end of the year? 

I would like the issues referred to above to have been considered important by Federal, State and local governments, business and the professional and policy communities.  I would like our new Research Alliance for Children and Youth to be much better known than at the beginning of 2003. 

What insights have you gained so far from your experiences as Australian of the Year?

Meeting so many wonderful community spirited people all over the country makes me realize how little of the real world that people “out there” really care and feel strongly about is either acknowledged by politicians or reported in the media. 

There are so many aspects of so many “ordinary” Australians lives – the most valued have little to do with money or the economy! 

What qualities do you think this position of leadership has engaged in you?  Has this role developed your leadership style and vision? 

The role has tested my capacity to relate to people across a much broader range of interests, views, conditions and activities than I would normally.  It has therefore been an enjoyable and broadening experience – I feel more competent now in this role of relating to people across this rich spectrum of Australian life. 

What motivated you to research the impact of parenting on the early years of a child’s life?

This question should not just be about parenting.  So much of our research started to highlight the influence of complex interactions of factors during children’s developments in a wide range of quite different diseases and problems. 

It became increasingly obvious that: 

(1)  early environments (many commencing in pregnancy) impact strongly on disease risk throughout life; 

(2)  many of these are in the broader environments, but impact on family/parental factors (eg:  company downsizing and  unemployment leads to parental ill health, poor family environments and parental discord which then leads on to negative nurturing which in turn leads to child  psychosocial problems.) 

(3)  parenting styles are only one aspect of these complex early pathways to poor (or good) outcomes for children. 

(4)  socio-economic conditions are pervasive and important predictors of almost ALL disease and problems in childhood and adolescence (and in adults too).   Poor families are more likely to have more lifestyle risk factors, live in poor neighbourhoods with inadequate facilities and services and schools for children and less back-up supports when things go wrong.  Violence and crime are higher in poor neighbourhoods – all these things can impact negatively on children’s futures.  

The most extra-ordinary aspect of our research (and that from every country) is the powerful, consistent effect of inequality (social disparity) on health status. 

It is a current and future disaster for Australia that,  in spite of the huge increases in economic prosperity, there have been increases in child and youth problems and in social disparities.  

What three areas of change do you advocate in relation to the present government’s response to childcare and parenting? 

(a)  to acknowledge that these issues are more important than ANY other (except the environment); 

(b)  to implement a major overall strategy for Children’s Futures in Australia which would involve  all government agencies and attempt a better Federal, State and Territory collaboration;