Image: Medal
CEPAR Chief Investigators Professor Robert Cumming and Scientia Professor John Piggott have been recognised in this year's Australia Day honours. Both have been appointed Officers of the Order of Australia (AO).
Honours for Robert Cumming
Professor Robert Cumming was recognised for distinguished service to medical education and research, particularly to ageing and age-related diseases. The CEPAR Chief Investigator and Professor of Epidemiology and Geriatric Medicine at the University of Sydney has an international reputation for his research on osteoporosis, falls and fractures. Much of his research brings together biological, psychosocial and medical aspects of ageing.
He has published over 300 peer-reviewed publications and has been recognised among the world's most influential scientists in his field as determined by the Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researchers list for 2016.
His research on falls prevention in older people has had major impact on policy and practice in this field, with his research informing guidelines in Australia, the UK and the US. In recent years he has extended his work to the study of ageing and health in developing countries in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
Since 2008 Cumming has become increasingly involved in international health and has helped establish longitudinal studies of ageing in Iran (Amirkola Health and Ageing Project) and Malaysia (Malaysian Elderly Longitudinal Research Study). His most important publications in the field of health and ageing in developing countries concern HIV infection among older people in Africa, a hitherto neglected area. In collaboration with Professor Joel Negin, he showed that there were more than three million people aged 50 years and over living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, representing 14% of all people with HIV in that region. This paper was part of the stimulus for UNAIDS, the world’s leading HIV organisation, to recognise the problem of HIV infection in older people, including the UNAIDS report “HIV and Ageing” in 2013 and the addition of a chapter on “People aged 50 years and older” to the 2014 “UNAIDS Gap Report”.
He is a member of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s National Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Conditions Monitoring Advisory Group and serves on the editorial board of the International Journal of Epidemiology. Robert Cumming is a Life Member of the Australasian Epidemiological Association. In 2011 he was awarded a distinguished professorial achievement award from the Sydney Medical School for research, teaching and learning as well as service to Sydney Medical School, the University of Sydney and the profession.
CEPAR Deputy Director Scientia Professor Kaarin Anstey said: “Congratulations to Bob for his outstanding achievements across a broad range of fields, and for his invaluable contribution to our society.
“His expertise in the health of older people is recognised by government and other agencies. The strength of his research program is demonstrated by his consistent record in attracting significant funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and Australian Research Council (ARC).
“His extraordinary work and efforts have had major impact on policy and practice in medical education and research, and ultimately helps improve the lives of people in Australia and around the world.”
Honours for John Piggott
John Piggott has been appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service to education, to population ageing research, and to public finance policy development.
The UNSW Scientia Professor of Economics and Director of CEPAR was recognised for his contributions to the nation, being at the forefront of the economics of pensions and retirement for the last two decades.
John Piggott has made significant contributions in raising awareness of the importance of the issue of population ageing and its implications for government, industry and the community.
Recognising the need for a multidisciplinary response to the important issue of population ageing, Piggott established the Australian Institute for Population Ageing Research (AIPAR) in 2007 and subsequently led a successful bid for Australian Research Council funding for the establishment of CEPAR in 2011. It was the first time a Centre of Excellence was awarded in the Social Sciences and since then he has been instrumental in developing a model of two-way engagement between academe and stakeholders.
His vision was to develop a critical mass of researchers, drawn from multiple disciplines, but united in their commitment to advancing global knowledge about population ageing, its causes and consequences. In developing the CEPAR engagement model, he has emphasised the importance of translating research for policymakers and practitioners in order to stimulate discussion about the challenges raised by global population ageing, and maximise impact for new products and policy formulation.
In 2011, he was awarded a UNSW Scientia Professorship in recognition of his international research stature. He has more than 120 publications, with placements in the major economics and actuarial science journals. A selected list includes the American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economics and Statistics, the North American Actuarial Journal, Insurance Mathematics and Economics, and the Journal of Risk and Insurance.
Piggott’s Australian policy experience includes membership of both the Henry Tax Review Panel and the Ministerial Superannuation Advisory Committee. Internationally, he worked for nearly a decade with the Japanese Government on pension and ageing issues and has been a consultant to several foreign governments on pension issues, including Russia and Indonesia.
In 2018/2019, he was appointed as a co-chair of the Think20 (T20) Task Force on Aging Population during Japan’s G20 Presidency, helping G20 nations decide how they will cope with ageing populations. In 2019, he was appointed as a member of the US National Academy of Medicine’s (NAM) International Commission on Creating a Global Roadmap for Healthy Longevity.
“John’s recognition is well deserved and acknowledges his critical role in leading CEPAR to achieve extraordinary outcomes in relation to an extremely significant global issue,” said Marc de Cure, Chair of the CEPAR Advisory Board and Adjunct Professor at the UNSW Business School.
“This has been achieved through his outstanding research, networks and mentoring in population ageing and public sector economics research over many decades. He has shown strong support for initiatives and activities that promote impact including two-way engagement between researchers and end users.
“His contribution both in his own right and through CEPAR as a whole has had a significant impact on public policy, and business and social awareness of the issue associated with population ageing and public policy more broadly.”
The full lists of recipients are available at the website of the Governor-General.