- Aileen Plant
Professor Aileen Joy Plant (died 27 March 2007) was a leading
Australian infectious diseasesepidemiologist . She was professor ofinternational health atCurtin University of Technology ,Perth, Western Australia .Born in the Victorian country town of
Warrigal , the fourth of eight children, her parents had a car dealership andpetrol station . When she was 13, the family moved to a farm near Denmark on the south coast ofWestern Australia . She left school at 14 to work in a bank, and later completed high school. In her early 20s she began a medical degree at theUniversity of Western Australia .She worked at
Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth and then at theRoyal Darwin Hospital before undertaking a diploma oftropical medicine and hygiene inLondon . She returned to Darwin aschief medical officer and deputy secretary of theNorthern Territory Department of Health and Community Services from 1989 to 1992. Her work in the Northern Territory engendered a lifelong commitment toAboriginal health .She always sought a balance between policy and research, describing as a professional highlight her role as founding director of the
master of applied epidemiology programme at theAustralian National University . Its graduates now fill key positions in Australia and internationally.She was also instrumental in establishing the
Australian Biosecurity Cooperative Research Centre , of which she was deputy director.In 2003 the
Vietnam ese government awarded Aileen the "people's medal for health" for her work leading theWorld Health Organisation 'sSARS team inVietnam .Death
She died, aged 58, in
Indonesia .Legacy
The Australian Science Communicators honoured Professor Plant as its 2007 Unsung Hero of Australian Science for her contributions to medical
epidemiology .External links
* [http://www1.abcrc.org.au/pages/News.aspx?NewsArticleID=267&Display=1&NoCache=568472be-9c4b-4bc9-9165-c142f99e3470 Australian Biosecurity CRC for Emerging Infectious Disease]
* [http://depts.washington.edu/einet/?a=printArticle&print=3377 WHO EINet]
* [http://www.sciencewa.net.au/science_news.asp?pg=21&NID=1074 Science Network WA]
* [http://www.abc.net.au/rn/latenightlive/stories/2007/1885123.htm Late Night Live 29 March 2007]
* [http://memorial.curtin.edu.au/aileenplant/ In memoriam Professor Aileen Joy Plant, Curtin University]
* [http://www.publish.csiro.au/view/journals/dsp_journal_fulltext.cfm?nid=226&f=NB07067 Obituary, NSW Public Health Bulletin]
* [http://www.asc.asn.au/ 2007 Winner - Prof Aileen Plant]
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