Fiona Stanley facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Fiona Stanley AC FAA FASSA
Stanley at the March for Science in Melbourne 2017
Born	Fiona Juliet Stanley Little Bay, New South Wales, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Education	St Hilda's Anglican School for Girls
Alma mater	University of Western Australia University of London London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Known for	Confirmed the benefit of folate in preventing spina bifida
Spouse(s)	Geoffrey Shellam
Awards	Companion of the Order of Australia (1996) Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (2002) Centenary Medal (2001) Australian of the Year (2003) Australian Living Treasure (2004)
Scientific career
Fields	Epidemiology
Institutions	Telethon Kids Institute (1990–2011); University of Western Australia

Fiona Juliet Stanley is an Australian scientist who studies how diseases spread and affect people. She is famous for her work in public health, especially for helping children and mothers. She also researched birth problems like cerebral palsy.

Fiona Stanley is the main supporter of the Telethon Kids Institute. She is also a special professor at the School of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Western Australia. From 1990 to 2011, she was the first director of the Telethon Kids Institute.

Early Life and Education

Fiona Juliet Stanley was born in Little Bay, New South Wales, Australia. As a child, she loved reading about famous people like Marie Curie. Her father was a researcher who studied polio. Through him, she even met Jonas Salk, who developed the polio vaccine.

Fiona dreamed of sailing to new islands to help people. She wanted to give them medicine to stop diseases. In 1956, her family moved to Western Australia. Her father became a professor at the University of Western Australia. Fiona went to St Hilda's Anglican School for Girls. Later, she studied medicine at the University of Western Australia and finished her degree in 1970.

A Career in Public Health

Helping Children in Need

In the early 1970s, Fiona Stanley started her first job. She worked at a children's hospital in Perth. Many of her patients were sick Aboriginal children from faraway places. She noticed that these children would get better in the hospital. But then they would go back to the same difficult living conditions that made them sick.

This made her want to understand why children were getting sick. She traveled with her colleagues to many Aboriginal communities in Western Australia. They talked to older people to learn about health and living issues. This helped her see how a child's living conditions affect their health. She also worked at a clinic for Aboriginal people in East Perth.

Focus on Prevention

These experiences made Fiona interested in epidemiology and public health. Epidemiology is the study of how diseases spread and how to control them. Public health focuses on improving the health of whole communities. She spent six years studying these topics in the United Kingdom and the United States.

When she returned to Perth, she started new research programs. Her goal was to move medicine from just treating diseases to preventing them. She wanted to find out what causes health problems in communities.

Using Data to Improve Health

Fiona Stanley believes it's important to use information about large groups of people. This data can help improve health for everyone. In 1977, her team created the WA Maternal and Child Health Research Database. This database collects information about all births in Western Australia. It helps scientists understand health trends for mothers and children. It also shows how well prevention programs are working.

Her research also looks at how to make people healthier. She studies the causes of birth defects and brain disorders like cerebral palsy. She also researches why some babies are born with low birth weight. Her work helped show the link between a lack of folic acid and spina bifida. This discovery has greatly reduced spina bifida cases in Western Australia.

Leading the Telethon Kids Institute

In 1990, Fiona Stanley became the first director of the Telethon Kids Institute. This institute is in Nedlands, Western Australia. It brings together many different experts to study childhood diseases and disabilities. Since 1995, the institute has received a lot of money from an annual telethon. It also gets funding from the government and other research groups.

In 2002, Fiona Stanley helped create the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY). She became its chairperson. This group works to improve the well-being of young Australians. She believes that working together across different fields can help solve health problems earlier.

Fiona Stanley is also a professor at the University of Western Australia. She is a UNICEF ambassador for Early Childhood Development in Australia. In 2003, she was named Australian of the Year. A hospital in Perth, the Fiona Stanley Hospital, was named in her honor. It officially opened in 2014.

Awards and Recognition

Part of the Fiona Stanley Hospital, named after Fiona Stanley

Fiona Stanley has received many awards for her important work:

• 1996: She was made a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC). This is a very high honor for her work in child and maternal health.
• 2001: She received the Centenary Medal.
• 2002: She became a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. She was also featured on an Australian postage stamp.
• 2003: She was named Australian of the Year.
• 2004: She was recognized as an Australian Living Treasure by the National Trust.
• 2008: She was a runner in the 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay in Canberra.

Special University Degrees

Fiona Stanley has also received many special degrees from universities:

• 1998: Honorary Doctor of Science from Murdoch University.
• 2001: Honorary Doctor of the University from Queensland University of Technology.
• 2004: Honorary Fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.
• 2005: Honorary Doctor of Medicine from the University of Sydney.
• 2006: Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (UK).
• 2008: Honorary Doctor of Medicine from the University of Melbourne.
• 2009: Honorary Bragg Member, Royal Institution of Australia.
• 2010: Honorary Doctor of Science from Edith Cowan University.
• 2014: Honorary Doctor from KU Leuven for her work on poverty.
• 2015: Honorary Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.
• 2019: International Honorary Member - American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Personal Life

Fiona Stanley is married to Geoffrey Shellam. He later became a professor of microbiology, just like her father.

In 2023, Fiona Stanley joined 24 other Australians of the Year. They signed an open letter to support the 'Yes' vote in the 2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum. This referendum was about giving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people a voice in Parliament.