Professor to lead Health and Sport Sciences school
Professor of Population Health Sciences John Lowe says he feels “like a kid in a candy store” after becoming the University of the Sunshine Coast’s first Head of School of Health and Sport Sciences.
Professor Lowe, who recently returned to Australia after seven years at the University of Iowa, is referring to the wealth of experience among his academic staff and the opportunities available to him to expand USC’s range of degree programs.
With a commitment to applied research and meeting the workforce demands of the region, he has many reasons to be excited about USC’s moves to introduce degrees in Occupational Therapy and Paramedic Science next year.
“This position has the attraction of starting a brand new school at USC and the opportunity to work with a lot of talented young academics in a variety of disciplines,” Professor Lowe said.
“At USC, we’ve got different pieces of the puzzle that we can put together to address problems in a way that other universities can’t.
“We already have Nursing, Biomedical Science, Nutrition and Dietetics, Sports Science and Public Health. Next year we’re adding Occupational Therapy and Paramedic Science, and soon we’ll be adding Physiotherapy.
“We’ve got individuals who can work together to make unique teams in addressing issues directly related to improving the quality of life for people on a local, state and national level, and in some cases international.”
Professor Lowe knows all about building schools within universities and about delivering applied research, having done both at the University of Iowa from 2000-2007 and at the University of Queensland from 1990-2000.
At the University of Iowa, Professor Lowe established a new Department of Community and Behavioural Health in the College of Public Health. He has over 200 publications and has attracted more than $50 million in research funding in the US and Australia.
He also ran a Disease Control and Prevention Centre focusing on physical activity and nutrition in the community, a quit line for smokers, and led a large-scale foetal alcohol syndrome study that assessed whether media campaigns helped change the drinking behaviours of pregnant women.
At the University of Queensland, Professor Lowe was the inaugural director in establishing the Cancer Prevention Research Centre in the Faculty of Medicine.
He said the centre was one of the nation’s top cancer control and prevention research centres, particularly for its work in encouraging sun safety in Queensland and for promoting the need for women to have regular screenings for breast cancer.
Professor Lowe said he believed USC would become well known for research in certain areas of national and international significance.
– Terry Walsh