The School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine opens in 1930
From Faculty of Medicine Online Museum and Archive
The School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine opened in 1930, funded by the federal government and controlled jointly by the government and the University. The School was established in Sydney 'for the purpose of convenience and designed to serve Australia and its dependencies in the Pacific.'[1] At opening, the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine incorporated the staff and facilities of the Australian Institute of Tropical Medicine. The following year the School employed staff from the Commonwealth Health Department, The Commonwealth Serum Laboratories and from non-government organisations, enabling a far broader scope of research. In the first decade, the School taught preventative and social medicine and tropical medicine but also responded to the educative needs of those in military service in the tropics providing special courses in bacteriology, entomology, parasitology, tropical health and occupational medicine and hygiene. Its first two directors were Professor Harvey Sutton (1930-1947) and Professor Sir Edward Ford (1947-1967).[1] The School has undergone structural change more than once over the years and is at present named The School of Public Health.
- Next article in timeline: Charles George Lambie becomes the first Bosch Professor of Medicine in 1930