Professor Paul Komesaroff (Director)

Paul Komesaroff is a practising physician and Professor within the Faculty of Medicine at Monash University. He has a PhD in mathematics from The University of Stony Brook, New York. He has an international reputation in health care ethics, and has a major impact on the field of clinical ethics in Australia. He has developed expertise in both qualitative and quantitative investigations of the social and cultural dimensions of health and health care, which has lead to numerous peer reviewed articles, and extensive national and international collaboration.

Paul Komesaroff’s work is interdisciplinary: spanning clinical medicine, biomedical research, social research, philosophy and ethical theory, clinical ethics and policy development with respect to ethics and clinical practice. As a physician, his field of specialty is endocrinology. He is Director of the Monash Centre for Ethics in Medicine and Society, the Clinical Ethics Service at the Alfred Hospital, and the Health Ethics Archive. He is also responsible for the clinical Obesity Service at the Alfred Hospital.

He is a member and convener of numerous scientific and research committees. He is a member of the Ethics committees of the International Diabetes Institute, the US Endocrine Society, the Alfred Hospital, Chair of the Scientific and Research Committee of the Australasian Menopause Society, and convener of the Global Reconciliation Network. Paul is also Ethics Convener of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, and is a member of the board of Australians Donate. In these practical settings he has been extensively involved in the education of medical students, medical practitioners, nurses and other health professionals and have contributed to the development of policy and practice guidelines in a wide range of areas.

Professor Komesaroff has authored over 300 peer reviewed articles and 10 books. He is the Chair of the editorial board of the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, is honorary ethics editor for the Internal Medicine Journal, and Editorial associate of ethics for the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. He has received 38 peer reviewed grants, and at present supervises 15 Ph.D and Masters students. He is extensively involved in the teaching of ethics and the philosophy of medicine at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. He is actively involved in a number of research projects in clinical ethics, including investigations of complementary medicine, HIV, Haemophilia, menopause, genetic testing, relationships with pharmaceutical industry, migrants from the Horn of Africa, obesity, cosmetic surgery and palliative care.

Professor Komesaroff believes that one of the objects of medical research is to contribute to the improvement of clinical practice and the development of new, more effective social policies. In order to achieve these goals most effectively it is important to draw on a wide range of forms of knowledge and expertise and to undertake rigorous and precise data collection, using the methodological strategies that are most appropriate to the task at hand.