UQ's Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences has announced two senior appointments to lead the Faculty’s Healthy Ageing Initiative.
Professor Laurie Buys has been appointed as the Director of the Healthy Ageing Initiative and will commence in the role on July 15. Professor Buys is currently Leader of the Infrastructure for Sustainable Communities theme in QUT’s Institute for Future Environments and was previously Director of the Centre for Social Change Research at the QUT Carseldine campus. She was responsible for bringing together researchers from diverse backgrounds to create transdisciplinary teams to deliver high impact outcomes for industry.
Professor Buys holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from West Virginia University, a MS in Rehabilitation from Southern Illinois University, and a PhD in Rehabilitation and a Graduate Certificate in Gerontology from the University of Northern Colorado. She is a Fellow of the Australian Association of Gerontology as well as a former president of the Association. Professor Buys is the recipient of over $4.7 million in external research funding and the supervisor of more than 20 completed HDR students.
Professor Nancy Pachana from UQ's School of Psychology has been appointed to work on the healthy ageing initiative from mid-year. Nancy will lead the UQ Age Friendly University initiative, as a complement to her existing collaborations and international activities in healthy ageing.
Professor Pachana holds an undergraduate degree in psychology from Princeton, and MA and PhD degrees in psychology from Case Western University, as well as a Graduate Certificate in Executive Leadership from UQ. She is clinical gero-psychologist with an exceptional history of funding from the ARC and NHMRC and is a fellow of both the Australian Psychological Society and the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia.
Professor Pachana is presently co-leader of the Brisbane Diamantina Health Partners’ Ageing theme and is CIB on a currently short-listed ARC Centre of Excellence bid in the area of creative ageing.
Faculty Executive Dean Professor Bruce Abernethy said the appointments demonstrated the Faculty’s commitment to develop an integrated approach to healthy ageing across all Schools and Centres.
“These are both exceptional appointments who are ideally positioned to strengthen the Faculty’s healthy ageing initiatives across UQ and beyond,” Professor Abernethy said.
This initiative, which is supported by strategic funds from UQ Health Care, the Vice-Chancellor and the Faculty, will draw together research, HDR student training, coursework teaching, clinical engagement, and industry partnerships related to healthy ageing.
