UNSW Sydney’s next Provost, Professor Vlado Perkovic, has a distinguished and diverse background that blends a depth of experience in leadership roles with world-leading medical research that has improved the lives of countless people around the globe.
“I am delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Perkovic to the role of Provost at UNSW,” said Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Attila Brungs. “Prof. Perkovic holds exceptional credentials as a scholar and researcher and has displayed outstanding skills as an accomplished collaborator, effective leader and a true advocate for the future of health and medical education. I look forward to working alongside him on UNSW strategies and initiatives that will shape the University in the years to come.”
As UNSW Provost, Prof. Perkovic will become the senior deputy to the Vice-Chancellor and a member of the University’s Leadership Team. His duties will include working with the Vice-Chancellor to oversee the development of the next UNSW strategy and driving its implementation. He will also support and lead the University’s seven faculties to deliver exceptional academic performance in research, education and societal impact.
He will begin the role on 18 September. Prof. Perkovic succeeds the University’s inaugural Provost, Professor Anne Simmons AM, who departed the role in March.
One of Australia’s top kidney disease specialists, Prof. Perkovic has served as the Dean of UNSW Medicine & Health for the past four years where he achieved major successes. During his tenure as Dean, faculty research income doubled and the faculty’s research, including partnerships with medical research institutes, expanded considerably. He played a significant role in the University’s response to COVID-19, including the secondment program of UNSW staff to state and national programs.
Student enrolments also grew by 25 per cent under Prof. Perkovic’s leadership. He realigned the faculty around major health precinct partners and drove the development of a suite of new health programs that reflect real-world practice responsive to industry and community needs in dietetics and food innovation, physiotherapy, pharmacy and exercise physiology. The programs exceeded applications and enrolments in their first year.
“As Dean of UNSW Medicine & Health I had the privilege of meeting and working with an incredible range of people in the faculty on a daily basis,” Prof. Perkovic said. “I now look forward to expanding my relationships across the entire UNSW community and helping set in motion the University’s new strategic plan.”
Prof. Perkovic was appointed Dean of Medicine & Health after more than two decades in research and leadership positions at The George Institute for Global Health. He specialised in nephrology at Royal Melbourne Hospital before pursuing medical research and has published more than 400 peer-reviewed papers that have developed several new treatments, identifying better ways to prevent and treat kidney disease and changing global treatment guidelines for kidney disease.
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