![]() To be “useful to the world” you need to “master knowledge and skills in focused areas at a sufficient depth”, she says. Professor Bennett admits she still squeezes multiple careers into her life, but she learnt early on not to spread herself too thin. She revelled in her “broad science degree” at the University of Melbourne before settling on physical anthropology, microbiology and epidemiology. “For me, the science behind the medicine seemed more alluring from the start.” When medicine beckoned for the high achiever, she already “instinctively” knew research was her passion. ![]() But as a kid, she’d also loved reading detective novels. Of course, effective communication is also central to her current role relaying vital public health messages via the media.Īs a teenager, Professor Bennett devoured pure knowledge. Professor Bennett says this ability to connect with others eventually helped her communicate with the students she taught, the researchers she collaborated with and the members of the public who took part in her research. I was into sport and socialising so that probably helped keep me from being too much of a nerd, and no doubt helped me grow up a little more rounded.” “I liked school and was ribbed for being a bit of a smarty pants at times, but I wasn’t a bookworm either. “My sisters weren’t into science, but I had two brothers who were, so it was normalised at home,” she says. ![]() She also fed my hungry appetite for knowledge.”Īt home, Professor Bennett’s penchant for science was encouraged. “Her good friend, Val Stewart, was the science teacher at my secondary school, Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak, and another inspiration to me. “My aunt, Joan Pietzsch, was a science teacher and a leader in encouraging females into the sciences,” she says. Professor Bennett’s formative educational mentors also included another family member. “Human biology was the most intriguing to me, understanding how our bodies work, how varied we are and what we can learn from our past to help map our future.” “There was something amazing about studying life, evolution, diversity, from the amazing detail of plants and animals through to the phylogenetic trees that connect species,” Professor Bennett says. At school, she enjoyed the “challenge and wonder” of science subjects, but biology was her first love. This environment nurtured the formidable curiosity of a young Professor Bennett, who became a “vacuum cleaner of facts and knowledge”. “While I had mentors and other positive influences, ultimately I think it was the academic expectations of my parents that motivated me most, and the inspiration I found in their valuing of education and how, through education and professional growth, you could give back to the community,” Professor Bennett says. In real life, her most important educational impetus was much closer to home. “Professor Julius Sumner Miller also fascinated me with his TV science when I was a kid, but I don’t think I realised girls could grow up to be professors either,” she says. Ground-breaking paleo-anthropologist Mary Leakey starred in these documentaries, but Professor Bennett says she didn’t think of becoming an archaeologist as a child because she’d never met an archaeologist “in real life”. Professor Bennett’s first scientific interest, archaeology, was fostered by documentaries she watched on that humble TV featuring the famous Leakey family discovering ancient human skeletal remains in Africa. “We watched a rented black and white TV at home when my friends all owned a colour set, but it was the best lesson in life – education first, a solid foundation for our futures – one that would open up options throughout life.” “We were all put to work in a licensed grocery business my parents ran so that we could collectively afford a good education for all five of us. ![]() “They worked so hard to provide me and my four siblings the best education opportunities,” Professor Bennett says. She has a Master of Applied Epidemiology from Australian National University (ANU) and was Head of Deakin’s School of Health and Social Development from 2010 to 2019.Īll that achievement began with parents who valued education and invested in it “above all else” – and insisted their children help pay for it. Professor Bennett made time for IE because she’s passionate about education, in particular promoting science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects to girls.īennett is the inaugural Chair in Epidemiology at the Institute for Health Transformation at Deakin University in Victoria, and she was the founding Chair and President of the Council of Academic Public Health Institutions Australia. Name a media outlet and she’s there – in print, online, on radio and TV – answering questions from anxious Australians about lockdowns, COVID outbreaks and vaccinations. Professor Catherine Bennett is in great demand.
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