Rate My Professor Annette Dobson

Emeritus Professor Annette Dobson holds the title of Emeritus Professor in the College of Engineering, Science and Environment at the University of Newcastle, Australia. She earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of Adelaide, a Master of Statistics and a Doctor of Philosophy from James Cook University, and a Postgraduate Diploma from the University of New England Australia. Her academic career at the University of Newcastle began with her appointment to the Foundation Chair of Biostatistics in 1986. She served as Head of the Department of Statistics and Head of the Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Professor Dobson is also Professor of Biostatistics in the School of Public Health at the University of Queensland, where she continues active research.

Professor Dobson's research specializations encompass biostatistics, including generalised linear modelling, clinical biostatistics, and statistical methods for longitudinal studies, alongside epidemiology topics such as tobacco control, cardiovascular disease, and women's health. She founded and directed the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health from 1996 to 2013, a landmark project tracking over 55,000 Australian women to analyze health trajectories across life stages. Her seminal contributions include authoring 'An Introduction to Generalized Linear Models' (second edition 2001, third edition 2008, fourth edition 2018 with Adrian G. Barnett) and 'Analysing Seasonal Health Data' (2010 with Adrian G. Barnett). Other notable publications feature 'Report tau or exp(tau) rather than tau-squared in random-effects meta-analyses' (2026), 'Global effect of cardiovascular risk factors on lifetime estimates' (2025, New England Journal of Medicine), and extensive outputs from the ALSWH on multimorbidity, menopause, endometriosis, and chronic conditions. She has produced 648 works, including 19 books and 491 journal articles. Professor Dobson has earned the Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2010 for service to public health and biostatistics, Honorary Life Membership from the Statistical Society of Australia (2020), the Pitman Medal also known as Moyal Medal (2012), Life Membership of the Australasian Epidemiological Association (2013), and the SSA Presidential Award (2019). Leadership roles include inaugural Chair of the SSA Medical Sciences Section (1983-1986), President of the NSW Branch of SSA (1986-1988), and inaugural Chair of the Biostatistics Collaboration of Australia (2000-present), advancing biostatistical education and practice across Australian universities. Her influence extends through media expertise and policy contributions in statistics and epidemiology.