Dimensions
163 x 241 x 32mm
At every stage of his career, David Penington has never shunned public controversy, driven by a passion for education and for universities, both in medicine and society more broadly, for research and development of evidence based policies and seeking to apply new knowledge for the benefit of society.
Born in Melbourne, Penington transferred to Oxford in 1950. He held academic and hospital appointments at The London Hospital, together with active involvement in research, becoming a consultant in 1963.
Part-time practice in Harley Street became too successful, crowding out research and teaching. In 1967, he returned to an academic post in Australia with an English born wife and family.
Appointed in a hospital largely controlled by visiting generalists, he developed new medical specialties supported by research. He was Dean of the Faculty for eight of his seventeen years as Professor of Medicine, reforming its medical education, expanding research and research training in clinical departments.
Work for Red Cross included blood transfusion aid programs in Nepal and China. From 1983, there were four years of national public health leadership in AIDS. He chaired a Committee of Inquiry in 1984 into a dispute between government and the medical profession over public hospitals.
From 1988 to 1995 he was Vice Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, bringing reform of education, research and management to the University as a whole. Later contributions included public inquiries into illicit drug policies and building a major new museum.
