Welcome to the Faculty of Health Sciences

Australian Universities are on the brink of significant change. In our community, at Sydney University’s Faculty of Health Sciences, in many ways we are entering a new era. This will be both challenging and rewarding.

Looking back at our achievements on this campus, I am overwhelmingly impressed and I have great confidence in our capacity to meet our challenges.

I strongly support the Vice Chancellor’s Strategic Plan for the University, emphasising our commitment to intellectual discovery and development, while engaging actively with our communities.

This summarises well what we are about at the Faculty of Health Sciences. Put simply, our vision is to be the best research and education institution for allied health professionals in the Asia Pacific region and among the top forty in the world.

A snapshot of our recent record in research is impressive:

• Our academic staff and research students have been awarded more than $15 million in research grants over the last few years.
• This figure has doubled in recent times and represents a record in the history of the Faculty.
• Our research is cutting edge and recognised internationally. For example, the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) was developed at our Faculty and remains the world’s only database of physiotherapy clinical practice guidelines, systematic reviews and clinical trials.
• Just one example of our ground breaking work, is a $4 million NHMRC grant to our Stuttering Clinic which has already contributed to the world’s understanding of this debilitating condition.

Our Faculty consistently engages with our communities and our research is professionally linked. We closely follow the needs and trends in the health professions. Our staff review our programs and implement educational innovations that are driven by developments in research and industry.

I conclude with discussion of our most important people – our students. We teach - and learn from – more than 5,000 people every year. As our courses become increasingly popular, this figure is growing dramatically. The reason is clear: our graduates are themselves highly sought after in various professions, not just health.

Professor Gwynnyth Llewellyn
Dean