Professor Vicki Sara interviewed by Professor Robyn Williams
TitleProfessor Vicki Sara interviewed by Professor Robyn Williams
Reference240000146
Date2022
Scope and ContentDigital audio recording and transcript of interview.
Professor Vicki Sara, an endocrinologist specialising in research into growth hormones and foetal brain development, was born in Sydney. Before attending the University of Sydney, she attended Bondi Public School and Sydney Girls High. Professor Sara recalls starting out studying undergraduate science, being sidetracked by the Sydney University Dramatic Society and completing her first degree as a Bachelor of Arts. She returned to university for a degree in Physiology and completed her PhD in 1974.
Professor Sara began work with the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and, in 1976, left Sydney for Sweden, where she spent 17 years at the Karolinska Institutet. It was here she isolated the growth hormone responsible for foetal brain development that is now used as a therapeutic for growth and metabolic disorders. She returned to Australia in 1993 to head the life sciences faculty at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), where she became Dean of Science in 1996.
Professor Sara was Chair and then Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Research Council, where she was the driving force behind the far-reaching reforms of the council announced in 2000 and the increase of funding included in the Innovation Action Plan Backing Australia’s Ability in 2001. Her work helped establish the ARC’s credibility in delivering policy and programs that advance Australian research and innovation globally. She has been a member of the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council, the CSIRO Board, and the Cooperative Research Centres Committee and served as Chancellor of the University of Technology Sydney until 2016.
Professor Sara’s past appointments and committee memberships are many. Including a stint as Consul General for Sweden in Sydney, time with the Advisory Board of the Rio Tinto Foundation for a Sustainable Minerals Industry, as Director of the Australian Centre for Plant Functional, Chair of the Board of the Australian Stem Cell Centre and Chair of the Advisory Board of the Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology to name just a few. She recalls taking opportunities as they arise, listening before speaking, and finding powerful and compelling messages in the many voices of Australian science.
Professor Vicki Sara, an endocrinologist specialising in research into growth hormones and foetal brain development, was born in Sydney. Before attending the University of Sydney, she attended Bondi Public School and Sydney Girls High. Professor Sara recalls starting out studying undergraduate science, being sidetracked by the Sydney University Dramatic Society and completing her first degree as a Bachelor of Arts. She returned to university for a degree in Physiology and completed her PhD in 1974.
Professor Sara began work with the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and, in 1976, left Sydney for Sweden, where she spent 17 years at the Karolinska Institutet. It was here she isolated the growth hormone responsible for foetal brain development that is now used as a therapeutic for growth and metabolic disorders. She returned to Australia in 1993 to head the life sciences faculty at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), where she became Dean of Science in 1996.
Professor Sara was Chair and then Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Research Council, where she was the driving force behind the far-reaching reforms of the council announced in 2000 and the increase of funding included in the Innovation Action Plan Backing Australia’s Ability in 2001. Her work helped establish the ARC’s credibility in delivering policy and programs that advance Australian research and innovation globally. She has been a member of the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council, the CSIRO Board, and the Cooperative Research Centres Committee and served as Chancellor of the University of Technology Sydney until 2016.
Professor Sara’s past appointments and committee memberships are many. Including a stint as Consul General for Sweden in Sydney, time with the Advisory Board of the Rio Tinto Foundation for a Sustainable Minerals Industry, as Director of the Australian Centre for Plant Functional, Chair of the Board of the Australian Stem Cell Centre and Chair of the Advisory Board of the Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology to name just a few. She recalls taking opportunities as they arise, listening before speaking, and finding powerful and compelling messages in the many voices of Australian science.
LanguageEnglish
External document
Persons keyword Vicki Sara, Robyn Williams
Conditions governing accessThe Australian Academy of Science supports and encourages the use of its archive & library by making a material available to the public under Creative Commons CC BY-NC 4.0 see creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
LevelItem
