Professor Elif Ekinci appointed Head of the Department of Medicine

Professor Elif Ekinci appointed as Head of the Department of Medicine, commencing Monday 15 July 2024.

Prof Elif Ekinci

Dear Colleagues

I am delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Elif Ekinci as Head of the Department of Medicine, commencing Monday 15 July.

Many of you in the School and wider community will be familiar with Elif’s outstanding work as a clinician scientist and academic endocrinologist, dedicated to translating research into improved outcomes for people living with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

Elif holds the titles of Weary Dunlop Medical Research Foundation Professorial Fellow in Metabolic Medicine and Dame Kate Campbell Fellow at the University of Melbourne’s Department of Medicine.

Elif serves as the Head of Diabetes at Austin Health, where she coordinates clinical care for inpatients and outpatients with diabetes, and oversees diabetes and obesity clinical trials at the Centre for Research and Education in Diabetes and Obesity (CREDO).

Elif is also the inaugural director of Australian Centre for Accelerating Diabetes Innovations (ACADI), which was established in 2022 through MRFF funding from the Australian Government’s Targeted Translation Research Accelerator (TTRA) program, delivered by MTPConnect.

Elif will continue to build successful partnerships within the Department, School and externally, fostering effective collaborations and promoting excellence in research and academic medicine.

I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Professor Jo Douglass for her valued service and dedicated leadership to the Department. I look forward to seeing Jo continue her exceptional work as James Stewart Chair of Medicine, as well as serving as Executive Director of Research at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

I would also like to thank Professor Kumar Visvanathan for serving as acting Head of the Department of Medicine prior to Elif's commencement.

Please join me in congratulating Elif on her new position.

Best regards

Professor Sarath Ranganathan
Head, Melbourne Medical School