Powerful in health service

A leading medical researcher has been appointed dean of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne. Professor Stephen Smith is currently vice-president (research) at Nanyang Technological University and is the founding dean of the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, a joint initiative of Nanyang and Imperial College London. Smith was a pioneer of the first Academic Health Science Centre in the UK while principal of the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London, and served simultaneously for four years as chief executive of the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. Developing integrated health and research strategies was his work at leading British medical institutions, including Cambridge University, where he was professor and head of the department of obstetrics and gynaecology. He will start in September.