About Professor Stephen Leeder
Steve's work aims to find policy and health systems solutions for people with serious and continuing illness and those who care for them.
Professor Steven Leeder is an internationally recognized research leader, and high-profile media commentator, on the global burden of chronic illness such as cancer, mental illness, heart disease and stroke on developing economies.
Stephen Leeder is a professor of Public Health and Community Medicine at the University of Sydney. He graduated in medical science from that university in 1962, in medicine in 1966 and as a Doctor of Philosophy in 1974. He is a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and of its Faculty of Public Health Medicine. He was dean of the medical faculty at the University of Sydney between 1996 and 2002 during which time he oversaw the implementation of a new graduate educational program and the formation of an extensive rural education network for medical students. His other goals as dean included the strengthening of decentralised, cross-disciplinary schools within the Faculty, and the development of a strategic approach to research development. He served on the senate of the University of Sydney for several terms, had two double terms as president of the Public Health Association, and one triennium as chair of the Health Advisory Committee of NHMRC. Prior to his move to the Faculty of Medicine at The University of Sydney, he was strongly associated with the formation of the new medical school at Newcastle, NSW. His research interests as a clinical epidemiologist have been around asthma and cardiovascular disease. He served on both state and federal committees that oversaw the adoption of health goals and targets for Australia. In 2003-04, Professor Leeder worked at Columbia University to assess the impending effects of diseases such as cancer, mental illness, heart disease and stroke on developing economies. The Center for Global Health and Economic Development at Columbia published the report on April 26, 2004. It aroused great international interest. Professor Leeder is currently director of the Australian Health Policy Institute at the University of Sydney and co-director of the Menzies Centre for Health Policy.