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Professor David Hill

David HillProfessor David Hill, AO, is a behavioural scientist whose career at Cancer Council Victoria spanned 44 years. He was the Director of the organisation until his retirement in April 2011 and prior to that was a founding Director of our Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer. Professor Hill is a Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne.

In 2001, Professor Hill was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for ‘services to the promotion of community health, particularly in the development of cancer awareness and prevention programs'. In 2009 he was awarded Officer in the Order of Australia (AO) for his work fighting cancer in Victoria, nationally and internationally over many decades.

In 2010, Professor Hill was conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine by the University of Newcastle, in recognition of his work in health-related behavioural research.

Professor Hill, who received his PhD in psychology from the University of Melbourne, has authored or co-authored over 200 scientific articles and reports in the medical, public health and psychological literature.

His published work includes research on the prevalence of adolescent and adult smoking, strategies for smoking cessation, reduction of smoking uptake, smoking regulation, behavioural aspects of screening mammography, management of primary operable breast cancer, efficacy of breast self-examination, monitoring trends in skin cancer prevention, and exploring determinants of behaviours related to skin cancer prevention.

In 1986 he was appointed as the founding Director of the Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer (CBRC), the first such centre in the world. Professor Hill has served on a number of national and international committees and taskforces in cancer prevention, including the Chair of the National Expert Advisory Committee on Tobacco.

He also served a term as President of the International Union Against Cancer (UICC) from 2008 to 2010. The UICC is a non-government, independent association of more than 300 member organisations in over 90 countries. Its objectives are to advance scientific and medical knowledge in research, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of cancer, and to promote all other aspects of the campaign against cancer throughout the world. With a small secretariat based in Geneva, the conduct of the UICC's programs depends largely on the voluntary involvement of experts worldwide.

The UICC has an important role in reducing the global burden of cancer, and Professor Hill's appointment reflected the achievements of Australia's cancer control program, and the ways that these could inform cancer control in the developing world.