Academic honoured for promotion of women

Professor Lisa Bero has been recognised for her mentorship and promotion of women with the Cochrane Collaboration’s prestigious Anne Anderson Award.

The award is given to a member of Cochrane – a global organisation that gathers and summarises the best evidence from research to help consumers, clinicians and policy makers to make informed choices about treatment – who has contributed meaningfully to the promotion of women as leaders and contributors.

As Chair of Medicines Use and Health Outcomes at the Charles Perkins Centre and Faculty of Pharmacy, Professor Bero leads two research nodes on bias in research and evidence synthesis.

“Women such as Anne Anderson have made valuable contributions to the Cochrane Collaboration from its earliest days, although often these contributions have gone unrecognised,” Professor Bero said.

“I am delighted to receive the Anne Anderson Award for raising the profile and participation of women in medical research.  Mentoring women for leadership positions has been one of my prominent academic activities and I am thrilled to contribute in this way.”

Professor Bero has also been appointed for another two years as Co-chair of Cochrane, a position she has held since 2013.

Vice-Principal (Operations) Sara Watts congratulated Professor Bero on her award:

“Mentoring and supporting other women is often done quietly and behind the scenes, and equally often goes unnoticed. Professor Bero’s award recognises the significant contribution she has made to supporting women and the benefits that mentoring has delivered to those women.

“Mentoring and coaching is an important way to help women build confidence and equip them with the skills they need to be successful. Having access to someone who can help you navigate concerns, opportunities or roadblocks is invaluable whether you are an early career researcher, senior lecturer or a professional staff member,” Ms Watts said.

As part of the award, Professor Bero will designate a US$3000 prize to assist a woman from a disadvantaged area with her Cochrane activities.

“I will be working with the South African Cochrane Centre to identify an individual who can work on a joint project related to public health guidelines in nutrition,” she said.

Professor Bero is internationally renowned for her research on the integrity of clinical and basic research evidence, and travelled from the University of California San Francisco to join the Charles Perkins Centre in 2014.

Professor Bero is recognised for her methodological studies on bias (including publication/reporting, design and funding biases) in the fields of clinical medicine, tobacco control and environmental research, and on the use and implications of the evidence for prescribing decisions and policy. Her expertise lies in investigating hidden biases in the design, conduct and publication of research.

Along with her work at Cochrane, Professor Bero’s interest in medicines use in low-resource settings has seen her work extensively with the World Health Organization as Chair of its Essential Medicines Committee, helping assess research submissions for categorisation of essential medicines.