Professor Roger Hughes has been appointed Head of the School of Health Sciences within Bond University’s Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine.
As a Professor of Health Professional Education, with a strong interest in health workforce development, he plans to help grow the health profession programs offered by the Faculty.
Professor Hughes joins Bond following more than a decade as academic discipline lead in nutrition and dietetics at Griffith University and the University of the Sunshine Coast, where he was Australia’s first Chair in Public Health Nutrition. Prior to academia, he helped pioneer the development of public health nutrition as a practice area in the Australian health system.
“This was an attractive opportunity to join an institution that is committed to quality teaching and learning practices, offers a small staff-to-student ratio and values staff innovation,” said Professor Hughes.
Professor Hughes will continue to pursue his research interest in health workforce development, which is consistent with his plans to lead a process of curriculum renewal and program development in the health professions.
“I am focussed on ensuring health professionals have the necessary preparation to be effective in the health system, locally and internationally. This requires our curriculum and learning and teaching strategies to be aligned, and mindful of the work required in the health system,” Professor Hughes said.
He said the dynamic nature of the health sector requires an adaptive and flexible approach to workforce development.
“We need to stay ahead of the game and know what our students’ knowledge and skill requirements will be five years into the future. Quality teaching and learning requires us to be aspirational, constantly looking to the future, asking ourselves how we can do things better.
“Our aim will be to train effective and competent health professionals who have the research skills and professional drive to continue to learn and adapt long after they have left university,” he said.
A trained dietitian/ nutritionist, Professor Hughes is internationally recognised for his research and scholarship on public health nutrition workforce development, previously working as external advisor to workforce development projects in the European Union and more recently in Indonesia for the World Bank.
Between 2004-2010, Roger served as Deputy Editor of Public Health Nutrition, the foremost journal in this field internationally. He is currently Secretary (Professional Affairs) of the World Public Health Nutrition Association and Associate Editor of the journal World Nutrition. In 2010, his work in health professional education was recognised by an ALTC Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning in the professional disciplines of dietetics and public health nutrition.
His disciplinary research interests and activity spans intervention research relating to nutrition and physical activity – particularly obesity prevention and maternal and infant health – and health professional education.