Professor Melanie Wakefield

I’m inspired by the potential to make a real difference in preventing cancer in the population as a whole. I love fresh new data and smart, committed researchers!

Professor Melanie Wakefield is Director of the Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer at the Cancer Council Victoria in Melbourne Australia. She is also an NHMRC Principal Research Fellow with honorary professorial appointments at three Australian universities. She is internationally known for her rigorous population-based and experimental research on the effects of mass media campaigns and tobacco control policies on smoking behaviour, supported by grants from Australian, US and international funding sources. She has published over 230 peer-reviewed journal papers, many of which have investigated the impact of tobacco control communications and policies on youth and adult smoking. Melanie is a past recipient of the Nigel Gray Award for career contribution to tobacco control, and in 2012 was voted to receive the American Cancer Society’s Luther Terry Award for Outstanding Research Contribution in Tobacco Control.