The Channel 7 Children’s Research Foundation is pleased to announce the appointment of Professor John Lynch to its Honorary Board, effective January 2021.

Professor Lynch comes to the CRF as representative for Foundation Member, The University of Adelaide, succeeding Professor Sarah Robertson who contributed a highly valued 6½ years of service to the CRF.

John Lynch is Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Adelaide, South Australia. He is a Visiting Professor of Epidemiology in the Bristol Medical School:  Population Health Sciences at the University of Bristol in the UK. He spent 20 years working in North America and before returning to Australia in 2009 he held professorial positions at the University of Michigan in the USA, and at McGill University in Canada.

He is an internationally recognized scholar in epidemiology and public health. In 2005 he was awarded a Canada Research Chair in Population Health. In 2007 his work in epidemiology and public health was recognized with an Honorary Doctoral Degree in Medical Science from the University of Copenhagen. In 2009 he was awarded a prestigious NHMRC Australia Fellowship. In 2015 he was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences. In 2019 he won Research Australia’s Award for Data Innovation.

He has over 350 academic publications that have attracted over 51,000 citations and a Google H index of 103. From 2014 to 2018 he received Clarivate “Highly Cited Researcher” status that places him in the top 1% of cited scientists internationally in his field.

In the last 5 years, he was Chief Investigator A or B on over $10 million in NHMRC competitive research funding. In total over that period, he was a Chief Investigator on successful competitive research grants worth over $22 million. He leads an NHMRC funded Centre for Research Excellence (2015-2020) called “EMPOWER: Health systems, disadvantage and child well-being.”

He currently serves on several international, national and local scientific advisory groups. He was an editor of the highly ranked International Journal of Epidemiology from 2005-16.

His research interests include child health and development, social and health inequality, child maltreatment, pragmatic RCTs and natural experiments of early life interventions, large scale linked data systems to enhance evidence-based public health, and practical research that makes a difference in improving policy, practice and service delivery.

And as we welcome Professor Lynch to the Channel 7 Children’s Research Foundation, the Board also wishes to acknowledge and greatly thank Professor Sarah Robertson for her honorary contributions to helping the Board with its dedication to enriching the lives of children through research and congratulate her in receiving a NHMRC grant.