On the occasion of 25th-anniversary celebrations on 03 December 2024, the Menzies Centre for Health Policy and Economics was renamed the Leeder Centre for Health Policy, Economics, and Data to honour the remarkable career of Emeritus Professor Stephen Leeder AO FRSN FAHMS and his contributions to health systems worldwide. 

Stephen was also honoured on 12 December 2024 when he received an Honorary Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Newcastle at which he served as the Foundation Professor of Community Medicine from 1976–1985.

He served as the Dean of Medicine at the University of Sydney from 1996–2002 and as director of the Menzies Centre for Health Policy from 2006–2012. In both roles, at the University of Newcastle and the University of Sydney, he pioneered substantial developments in the curriculum and delivery of medical education. He has served in an executive capacity on numerous state and federal health advisory committees and was integral to the implementation and adoption of health goals and targets for Australia. His epidemiological research around asthma and cardiovascular disease has contributed to our understanding of the importance of parental smoking as a risk for children, and to strategies towards the prevention of asthma.

He is currently an Emeritus Professor of Public Health and Community Medicine at the University of Sydney and serves as Co-Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Epidemiology. He held the position of chair of the Western Sydney Local District Health Board from 2011 until December 2016. Stephen Leeder also held the position of Editor-in-Chief of the Medical Journal of Australia from January 2013 until April 2015.

To read more about the remarkable career of Professor Stephen Leeder, please see the entry in the online museum of the University of Sydney School of Medicine.