Biography
Professor Lorraine Dennerstein AO MBBS PhD DPM FRANZCP
Professor Dennerstein holds a Personal Chair at The University of Melbourne, Australia, where she is Foundation Director of the Office for Gender and Health and Professor in the Department of Psychiatry. She established and directed the first academic centre for teaching and research in women’s health and also the first inpatient mother-baby psychiatric unit in an obstetrics hospital. Her contribution to women's health was recognised by the award of the Order of Australia in 1994. She has been a consultant to the Commonwealth Secretariat (London), the World Health Organisation, the Global Commission on Women's Health (WHO) and the International Bioethics Committee of UNESCO. For over 30 years she has researched the relationship of ovarian steroids to women’s sexual functioning. Studies included effects on women’s sexual functioning of: changes in endogenous hormones with menstrual cycle and menopause; hysterectomy and bilateral oophorectomy; oral contraceptive pill and hormone therapy. Her population based study of women through the menopausal transition has been able to document prospectively the relative importance of hormonal to psychosocial factors in women’s sexual functioning.
Research experience includes surveys, bioavailability studies, double blind randomized clinical trials, evaluation of therapies, the development and validation of questionnaires for assessing female sexual functioning and epidemiological studies. Publications include 24 books authored/edited and over 300 journal articles/chapters (over 210 in peer reviewed journals). She has been president of national and international medical societies and organised national and international scientific conferences. She is a Past President of the International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health and is currently Review Editor of the Journal of Sexual Medicine. In July 2005 she was awarded a Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Sexuality Research by the World Association of Sexology.
Research Expertise and International Linkages
Research Expertise
| Research Interest |
Country of Expertise |
| menopause, women's sexual health, women's mental health |
Australia |
Qualifications, Honours, Fellowships and Other
Awards
Qualifications
| Title |
Institution |
Date Awarded |
Abbreviation |
| DPM |
University of Melbourne |
31-Dec-1981 |
|
| Bachelor of Medicine |
University of Melbourne |
31-Dec-1970 |
|
| Doctor of Philosophy |
Monash University |
31-Dec-1979 |
|
Memberships
| Membership Type |
Membership Body |
Description |
Start Date |
End Date |
| Member |
Royal Australian & New Zealand College of Psychiatrists |
MRANZCP |
31-Dec-1981 |
|
Honours
| Honour |
Date Awarded |
| Officer of the Order of Australia |
1994 |
Fellowships
| Fellowship |
Date Awarded |
| Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (FRANZCP) |
31-Dec-1983 |
Other Awards
| Award Type |
Awarding Body |
Comments |
Date Awarded |
| Medal |
World Association for Sexology |
|
10-Jul-2005 |
| Other (Award) |
Commonwealth Award of Excellence for Good Practice in Women's Health: the Melbourne Women's Midlife Health Project |
|
31-Dec-1997 |
| Other (Award) |
North American Menopause Society (NAMS)/Pfizer Perimenopause Research Award |
|
31-Dec-2002 |
| Scholarship |
Fulton Scholarship |
|
31-Dec-1970 |
| Prize |
Robert Gartley Healey Prize in Obstetrics |
|
31-Dec-1970 |
| Prize |
Hubert Sydney Jacobs Prize in Clinical Gynaecology |
|
31-Dec-1970 |
| Prize |
Sir A E Rowden White Prize in Clinical Obstetrics |
|
31-Dec-1970 |
| Prize |
Exhibition in Obstetrics and Gynaecology |
|
31-Dec-1970 |
| Prize |
Robert Marshall Allan Memorial Prize |
|
31-Dec-1970 |
| Other (Award) |
Book of the Year Award "Arthur Shapiro Hypnosis Book Award", American Society of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis |
|
31-Dec-1981 |
Government Research Classifications
Research Fields, Courses and Discipline Classifications
Socio-Economic Objective Classifications
Grants and Contracts
Research Grants, Contracts and Consultancies awarded to the University of Melbourne as the administering institution (since 2003) as recorded in Themis Agreements.
Grants
| Title |
Role |
Funding Source |
Scheme |
Award Date |
| STAGING REPRODUCTIVE AGING ACROSS FIVE COHORT STUDIES - AG021543 |
Chief Investigator |
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN |
Research Project Grants (NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HEALTH) |
10/02/2004 |
| Staging Reproductive Aging in Four Cohorts:Issues of Hormone Use, Spotting, Bias |
Chief Investigator |
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN |
Research Project Grants (NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HEALTH) |
17/01/2008 |
Publications
Publications produced at the University of Melbourne and reported in the Annual Publications Collection and 'Research Report' since 2001. The Themis Publications module, released in November 2006, allows additional publications from previous institutions and publications from past years to be entered.
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