Professor David Studdert awarded an ARC Laureate Fellowship

Professor David Studdert has been awarded a prestigious five-year ARC Laureate Fellowship.  Professor Studdert is currently an Australian Research Council Federation Fellow, holding a joint appointment at Melbourne Law School and Melbourne School of Population Health, where he is the Deputy Head of School. His research focuses on public policy issues that cross the legal and health care systems.

Professor Studdert's project aims to transform the role medico-legal institutions, such as health complaints commissions and coroners, play in advancing population health. Through a series of research partnerships with these institutions, the project will strive to design reforms that improve the quality of health services, reduce costs, and enhance the ability of medico-legal institutions to meet the needs of families who turn to them for help.

Working at the intersection of the health and legal systems, Professor Studdert said his research would test the potential of legal institutions as a new type of surveillance system.

"Legal scholars and practitioners tend to focus on one case at a time. We will study large collections of cases to try to identify ways of reducing risks of injury in hospitals, on the road and in workplaces," he said.

Australian Laureate Fellowships 2011