Straight talk with...Warwick Anderson

Abstract

This year, Australia captured another Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. As the nation's long-standing source of public funding for medical research, the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) aims to foster similar future achievements. In June 2006, Warwick Anderson became chief executive of the NHMRC as the institution gained new status as a fully independent agency. Anderson has overseen an almost 50% increase in staff as he steers the organization into a wider role as a source of advice for policymakers, health professionals and consumers. He talked to Simon Grose about his first three years in the job and the NHMRC's accelerated evolution.