Professor Michael Kidd has been appointed Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Flinders University for a five-year term.

Professor Kidd, who is presently the University of Sydney’s Associate Dean of Professional, Government and Community Relations, Faculty of Medicine, and Professor and Head of the Discipline of General Practice, has a strong record in teaching, administration and research.

Professor Kidd will take up his appointment on 29 January 2009. The Faculty of Health Sciences comprises the School of Medicine and the School of Nursing & Midwifery.

Flinders University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Michael Barber, said he was delighted by the appointment.

“With his strong background in senior academic and administrative positions as well as key advisory roles in health-related policy, Professor Kidd brings well-tested leadership qualities to this crucial role at Flinders,” Professor Barber said.

Professor Kidd, a graduate of medicine at the University of Melbourne with a postgraduate degree in medical education from Monash University, has research and education interests in primary health care and general practice, medical informatics, health policy, medical education, safety and quality in primary care, and the primary care management of HIV and hepatitis C.

An invited participant of the Prime Minister’s 2020 Summit, he was named one of the ‘100 most influential people’ in Sydney by the Sydney Morning Herald in 2008.
Before moving to Sydney, he held positions as Lecturer and Senior Lecturer at Monash University and was also Director of Undergraduate Education in the Department of Community Medicine and General Practice there.

From 2002 to 2006 Professor Kidd was the President of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners; he has also served as a member and chair of several national committees on medical training and aspects of public health.