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NHMRC Newsmakers
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February 2008
Council Chair appointed to 2020 Summit
Chair of the NHMRC Council, Professor Michael Good, is one of 11 hand picked Australians to lend their expertise to the 2020 Steering Committee.
Newly appointed steering committee members will help to select summit participants, and lead sessions in their specialties.
Announced by the Prime Minister this week, Kevin Rudd said of Professor Good,
‘This is a person who has an extraordinary background when it comes to medical research, knows the field well. But Professor Good's challenge, again, will be in bringing together 100 of our best and brightest minds when it comes to the overall future direction of Australia's health policy.’
Of the appointment, Professor Good said he was very surprised, but thrilled to receive the call from the Health Minister, with whom he will be co-chairing a session.
“It is a great honour to be selected for this challenge. I am immensely looking forward to harnessing good ideas, and putting forth those with particular merit. With smarter, more efficient policies, better health begins today’.
More information on the 2020 ideas summit can be found at:
Date: February 29, 2008
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January 2008
Short on shut-eye a cause for alarm
Almost one in five Australians don’t get enough sleep and older people are faring worst, a new survey shows.
A study by sleep specialists from the Woolcock Institute for Medical Research has found that 18 per cent of adults sleep less than 6.5 hours a night, significantly less than the eight-hour ideal.
NHMRC funded Dr Delwyn Bartlett, sleep psychologist and lead author of the paper, said short sleep, either self-imposed or forced, was being increasingly recognised as a contributor to poor health and death.
The full story can be found at:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23035686-23289,00.html
Date: January 11, 2008
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