ProfessorDeborah Bateson

MA (Oxon), MSc (LSTM) MBBS

Deborah Bateson AM is Professor of Practice in the Faculty of Medicine and Health, and an Honorary Fellow of the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. She is a clinician researcher whose work is driven by equity in access to evidence-based patient-centered care in cancer control, with a focus on the elimination of cervical cancer in Australia and in the Indo-Pacific region. Additionally, Professor Bateson brings expertise in other areas of sexual and reproductive health, including in contraception, safe abortion care and sexually transmitted infections. She has gained national and international recognition for her expertise and leadership in research and its translation into policy and practice in all these fields.

Professor Bateson leads translational and implementation aspects of cervical cancer control and elimination, in Australia and globally. She plays a core leadership role in the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Cervical Cancer Control (C4), and Deputy Lead of the Australian government-funded EPICC Program of Work (Elimination Partnership in the Indo-Pacific for Cervical Cancer). Professor Bateson's focus on equity is highlighted by her leadership of an NHMRC Targeted Cancer Screening research project to develop the evidence base to support increased participation of people with disability in the National Cervical Screening Program (NCSP). Her role in translating and implementing research into policy and practice is supported by positions as Chair of the NCSP Clinical Advisory Committee, former Chair of the NCSP Self-Collection Implementation Committee and member of the working groups for the National Cervical Screening Guidelines and inaugural Cervical Cancer Treatment Guidelines.

Professor Bateson has extensive experience in community outreach, through her leadership in the development and delivery of sexual and reproductive healthcare clinical guidelines, education and training nationally and internationally. She is widely recognised for her work as an advocate for equity in a range of health issues and is a well-known and trusted media commentator on areas such as sexuality, reproductive health and cancer control stemming from her 20 years of experience as a clinician and medical director in these fields.

Professor Bateson's achievements have been recognised by a number of awards, including being made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2023 for services to medicine through research and education and to reproductive health, and the 2024 Cancer Australia Jeannie Ferris recognition award. In 2019, she received the Australasian Sexual and Reproductive Health Alliance (ASRHA) Distinguished Services to Sexual Health Award, and an Excellence in Women's Health Award from the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG)