Emeritus Professor
Citation delivered by Senior Professor Eileen Mclaughlin Executive Dean Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health at the University of Wollongong on the occasion of the admission of Wilfred Winston Yeo as an Emeritus Professor of the University on 1 November 2022.
Deputy Chancellor, I present Professor Wilfred Yeo.
Over a period of 15 years Wilfred Winston Yeo has profoundly impacted medical education and clinical practice in our region. A highly respected academic and clinician Wilf emigrated from England in 2007 to become UOW Foundation Professor of Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology. He provided exceptional professional leadership and governance over the ensuing years, balancing high-volume research and on-call clinical duties with direct supervision of UOW medical students.
Wilf has been instrumental in building a strong foundation for clinical education and practice in the Illawarra. Through distinguished parallel service with the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District (ISLHD), he led excellence in care through numerous key leadership roles and worked tirelessly to embed quality medical and nursing training. Under Wilf’s leadership, Wollongong Hospital was recognised at the highest level for teaching hospitals. Wilf also achieved the development of a vast program for specialist and clinical education, at both the undergraduate and post graduate level, and expanded practice opportunities across the region.
In more than three decades as a researcher, Wilf has conducted many clinical trials and published extensively in preventative cardiovascular medicine and pharmacology. He served as Deputy Executive Director of the Illawarra Health & Medical Research Institute (IHMRI), where he was instrumental in IHMRI’s design and in securing a $15-million grant aiding its establishment. As Director of IHMRI’s Clinical Research and Trials Unit for seven years, he built capacity to deliver fully-funded pharma trials and investigator-initiated studies to the highest standard of ethics and practice.
As a mark of the global esteem in which he is held, Wilf is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians London, Royal Australasian College of Physicians and British Pharmacological Society, and a member of the British Hypertension Society, Australasian Society of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacologists, and Toxicologists and Internal Medicine Society of Australia New Zealand. Retiring in February 2022, Wilf continues to grow his immense legacy to our organisation by teaching UOW medical students, advising UOW and ISLHD, and as a Consultant Emeritus at ISLHD.
Deputy Chancellor, Professor Wilfred Yeo has provided outstanding intellectual, collegial and professional leadership across the University and delivered clear and lasting impact on our region’s healthcare sector and community.
It is a privilege to present Professor Wilfred Winston Yeo to be admitted as an Emeritus Professor of the University of Wollongong.