Vicki Rubian Sara (born 17 September 1946) is an Australian endocrinologist, who specialises in research into growth hormones and foetal brain development.

Biography

Sara was born in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, and attended

Sydney Girls High School Sydney Girls High School (abbreviated as SGHS or Sydney Girls) is a Education in Australia#Government schools, government-funded Single-sex school, single-sex Selective school (New South Wales), academically selective secondary school, secondar ...

. She attended the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours and a PhD in 1974 for her thesis titled "The action of prenatal trophic hormones on brain growth and behaviour". She worked at the

Garvan Institute of Medical Research The Garvan Institute of Medical Research is an Australian biomedical research institute located in , Sydney, New South Wales. Founded in 1963 by the Sisters of Charity as a research department of St Vincent's Hospital, it is now one of Austral ...

from 1973 to 1976, then as a research fellow at the

International Brain Research Organization The International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) is the global federation of neuroscience organizations that aims to promote and support neuroscience around the world. The organization accomplishes this through training, teaching, collaborativ ...

(IBRO). In 1980, she joined the

Karolinska Institute The Karolinska Institute (KI; ; sometimes known as the (Royal) Caroline Institute in English) is a research-led medical university in Solna within the Stockholm urban area of Sweden and one of the foremost medical research institutes globally ...

in Stockholm, Sweden where she worked until 1993, when she returned to Australia to head the life sciences faculty at

Queensland University of Technology The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public university, public research university located in the city of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. It has two major campuses, a modern city campus in Gardens Point, Brisbane, Gardens Point ...

. In 1996, she became dean of science at QUT.''Who's Who in Australian Women 2016'', ConnectWeb, 2016. Professor Sara's previous appointments include chief executive officer of the

Australian Research Council The Australian Research Council (ARC) is the primary non-medical research funding agency of the Australian Government, distributing more than in grants each year. The Council was established by the ''Australian Research Council Act 2001'', ...

(ARC) from 2001 to 2004 and chair of the council and a member of the Prime Minister's Science Engineering and Innovation Council ( PMSEIC), and the

CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency that is responsible for scientific research and its commercial and industrial applications. CSIRO works with leading organisations arou ...

Board from 1997 to 2001. Sara was appointed as the first female chair of ARC from 1997 to 2000. On 15 December 2004, Sara was appointed as Chancellor of

University of Technology Sydney The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public university, public research university located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The university was founded in its current form in 1988, though its origins as a Institute of technology, ...

, serving in the role until 17 February 2016. Following this, Sara vowed to continue her work advancing the cause and accepted the role of Patron of the UTS Creating Futures Bequest Society quoting "Together, we can ensure that UTS continues to educate global citizens for the many years to come and produce research with real impact." Sara's legacy gift to the UTS is providing scholarships to support opportunities for study at UTS. In February 2015, the UTS Vicki Sara Building, also known as the Science Faculty Building, named in her honour was officially opened.

Education

Educated University of Sydney (BA, PhD)

Awards

* Centenary Medal in January 2001. * Officer of the Order of Australia in 2010.
Awarded
the Rolf Luft medal in 1993 for excellence in endocrine research by the Karolinska Institute, Sara also received the Sir John Eccles Award from the NH&MRC in 1994. * Awarded the

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or g ...

in 2003 * Awarded an Honorary Doctor of the University, Queensland University of Technology in 2006. * Awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science by the University of Southern Queensland in 2004, the Victoria University in 2005, the University of Technology Sydney in 2009, and the University of Sydney in 2016

Publications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sara, Vicki 1946 births Living people Australian endocrinologists Women endocrinologists University of Sydney alumni Academic staff of Queensland University of Technology Academic staff of the University of Technology Sydney Officers of the Order of Australia Fellows of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science People educated at Sydney Girls High School