Professor Adrian Walker

Honorary Fellow

Ritchie Centre for Baby Health Research

For over 35 years Adrian Walker devoted himself to the study of fetal and neonatal development, a field in which he came to be recognised as a world leader. His major goal has been to improve the outcome for infants after premature delivery through discovering how the major pathologies of prematurity arise, with a particular focus on the brain and heart.

His approach has been to foster collaborative research between clinicians and scientists. He was instrumental in securing the Ritchie Bequest and the University’s approval to establish the Ritchie Centre for Baby Health Research. He recruited a talented team of prominent members of the community to initiate the Foundation for Mothers and Babies, a body that raised substantial funding for the building now occupied by the Monash Institute of Medical Research. He was Director of the Ritchie Centre from 1998 until his retirement in January 2008.

Adrian has held many prestigious appointments, most recently as Senior Principal Research Fellow of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia and Professorial Fellow of Monash University. He served as Deputy Director of the Monash Institute of Reproduction and Development and later as the Institute’s Executive Director.

Upon retiring in January 2008 Adrian became an Honorary Research Fellow at the Monash Institute of Medical Research.