Rate My Professor Simon Bell

Professor Simon Bell is Professor and Director of the Centre for Medicine Use and Safety in the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at Monash University. He holds adjunct appointments as Professor of Geriatric Pharmacotherapy in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Eastern Finland, Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University, and Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences at the University of South Australia. Prior to his current role, Bell served as Associate Professor at the Sansom Institute, University of South Australia, and Research Director at the Kuopio Research Centre of Geriatric Care, University of Eastern Finland. He is an NHMRC Dementia Leadership Fellow from 2017 to 2022 and has received the American Medical Director’s Association JAMDA Morley Award in 2022, Monash University Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Award for Research Engagement and Impact in 2022, Victorian Pharmacist of the Year in 2023, Elsevier Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy Impact Award in 2015, ASCEPT Denis Wade Johnson & Johnson New Investigator Award in 2014, and Alzheimer’s Australia Resthaven Dementia Research Award in 2013.

Bell’s research specializations centre on medicines use among older people, particularly psychotropic and analgesic medicines, with interests in quality use of medicines, geriatric pharmacotherapy, and pharmacoepidemiology. He has authored more than 340 articles in scientific journals and acted as investigator on over $45 million in research grants. Key publications include “Closing the evidence-practice gap in dementia: two new national guidelines” published in Age and Ageing in 2025, “Current and Future Cost Burden of Myocardial Infarction in Australia: Dynamic Multistate Markov Model” in the Journal of General Internal Medicine in 2026, and “Comparative risk of major health events among individuals prescribed different antiseizure medications following ischemic stroke” in Epilepsia in 2025. Bell has supervised or co-supervised 16 completed PhD theses across Australia, Finland, and Estonia and given presentations on pharmacy-related topics in more than 30 countries. He is Clinical Chair of Australia’s Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Appropriate Use of Psychotropic Medications in People Living with Dementia and in Residential Aged Care, one of two Monash University appointees to the Committee for Melbourne’s Future Focus Group from 2017 to 2018, former Chair of the New South Wales Young Pharmacists Group, and former National Councillor (Alternate) of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia. Bell serves as Associate Editor of the Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Research and Editorial Board Member for Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety.