One of Australia’s most influential public health thinkers, Emeritus Professor Simon Chapman AO has released a new book that reflects on a career spent reshaping how Australians understand health and responsibility.
Better to be looked over, than overlooked: 50 years of public health research and advocacy, is part memoir, part manifesto, tracing five decades of scholarship and advocacy that helped counter powerful industry interests and bring public health into the national conversation.
For many, public health may feel like something that happens behind the scenes in government departments or academic journals. Professor Chapman’s career demonstrates the opposite. Public health is about applying a critical lens to social norms, changing environments, and equipping communities with the information they need to live healthier lives. Few have done more to advance that mission in Australia than Professor Chapman.
Challenging powerful industries
Professor Chapman’s influence began early, through activism that challenged tobacco advertising and promoted healthier communities. By the late 1970s, he had helped establish the Movement Opposed to the Promotion of Unhealthy Products (MOP UP), which later led to the formation of BUGA UP (Billboard Utilising Graffitists Against Unhealthy Promotions) by others. Through acts of civil disobedience – including graffiti on tobacco billboards – BUGA UP confronted the normalisation of cigarette advertising in public spaces.
With a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of NSW under his belt, Professor Chapman built on this work by completing a PhD in Medicine at the University of Sydney in 1984. He examined cigarette advertising in detail and helped to expose how the tobacco industry was using imagery, symbolism and emotional appeal to sell addiction as glamour and freedom.
These efforts were more than stunts. They helped catalyse a broader shift in public attitudes, laying the groundwork for policy reforms that would eventually remove all tobacco advertising from Australian streets, screens, print media and sponsorships.
A global leader in tobacco control
Over the course of his career, Professor Chapman became one of the world’s most respected authorities on tobacco control. He has authored 21 books and major reports, published more than 330 peer-reviewed papers and editorials, and written hundreds of opinion pieces for major newspapers and public platforms.
His work has been recognised internationally, including:
- The World Health Organisation World No Tobacco Day Medal (1997)
- National Heart Foundation Gold Medal (1999)
- American Cancer Society’s Luther L. Terry Award for Outstanding Leadership (2003)
- NSW Premier’s Cancer Researcher of the Year (2008)
These honours reflect not only academic achievement, but his exceptional ability to translate evidence into policy and public debate.
For the in-depth and insider view, Professor Chapman’s trajectory is essential reading — research with purpose and impact, which sits at the heart of our School of Public Health.
Professor Jaime Miranda
Head of the School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health
Teaching, editing and evidence
At the University of Sydney, Professor Chapman taught generations of Master of Public Health students, embedding the idea that advocacy was not an optional extra but central to public health practice. For many years, he led courses in Public Health Advocacy and Tobacco Control, shaping how future practitioners understood their role in society.
He also played a key role in shaping international research as deputy editor and later editor of Tobacco Control from 1992 to 2008, and subsequently as commissioning editor, where he worked to support and publish tobacco control research from low- and middle-income countries.
His public commentary extended far beyond academic journals. Through platforms such as The Conversation, where his long running column, Smoke Signals, reached a wide national and international audience, Professor Chapman brought public health research into mainstream discussion, often challenging misinformation and complacency with clarity and evidence.
Beyond tobacco
While best known for tobacco control, Professor Chapman’s work has consistently addressed broader questions of public understanding of health.
He has challenged misinformation around windfarms, demonstrating that many reported health effects were best explained by nocebo responses (symptoms driven by fear and expectation rather than physical exposure). His research also examined media representation of health risks, gun control, vaccine hesitancy, and the psychology of quitting smoking, including his influential finding that most smokers quit without formal assistance.
Across these issues, a consistent theme emerges. Evidence matters, but how evidence is communicated matters just as much.
Why his legacy matters now
Professor Chapman’s new book arrives at a moment when public health once again sits at the centre of national and global debate. Today’s challenges of misinformation, youth vaping and climate-related health risks may differ from the billboard battles of the 1970s, but the underlying tensions remain familiar: the pull between evidence and vested interests, population wellbeing and commercial profit, and clear communication in a world of noise and misinformation.
His career offers lessons perfectly tailored to the current moment:
- public health succeeds when evidence meets activism,
- social change often begins with brave, creative and sometimes disruptive advocacy,
- and behind every major shift in health policy lies years of careful research and sustained public conversation.
"Australia is a pioneer and a successful example of population-wide prevention, especially in tobacco and gun control. It’s a standout teaching case globally,” said Professor Jaime Miranda, Head of the School of Public Health. “For the in-depth and insider view, Professor Chapman’s trajectory is essential reading — research with purpose and impact, which sits at the heart of our School of Public Health.
As Better to be looked over, than overlooked is released, it’s clear that Professor Simon Chapman’s legacy is a roadmap for the next generation of public health leaders as they navigate an increasingly complex world.
Emeritus Professor Simon Chapman AO's new book reflects on a career spent reshaping how Australians understand health and responsibility.
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