Roger Short

Roger Short is a graduate of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Bristol, England (1954).  As a Fulbright Scholar, he completed his Masters degree in Genetics (1955) at the University of Wisconsin and then undertook PhD studies in reproductive endocrinology at Cambridge University (awarded 1958).  Continuing at Cambridge as a lecturer and reader until 1972, he undertook research on the reproductive biology of red deer and the elephant.  Following this, he was appointed Foundation Director of a new Medical Research Council Unit of Reproductive Biology in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he focused his research on human reproductive biology and the development of contraceptives and contributed to writing a series of textbooks entitled Reproduction in Mammals.  In 1982, he migrated to Australia and took up a position of Chair in the Departments of Anatomy and Physiology at Monash University, where he became deeply involved in teaching medical students in addition to exploring marsupial sex differentiation and determination.  Roger's interest in the growing global impact of HIV/AIDS, saw him seconded to the World Health Organization (Geneva) in 1989.  In 1995, he left Monash University and joined the Department of Obstetrics at the University of Melbourne, where he he wrote a book in collaboration with Prof Malcolm Potts (University of California, Berkeley) exploring a Darwinian view of human reproduction, entitled "Ever since Adam and Eve - The evolution of human sexuality" (Cambridge University Press, 1999).   Since 2006, Roger has been an Honorary Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at Melbourne University, where he continues to teach and do research. Professor Short is a highly honoured scientist, having been awarded scientific medals from the Zoological Society of London (1969) and the Society for Endocrinology (1970), fellowship from the Royal Society (1974), Royal Society of Edinburgh (1974) and Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (1976), honorary fellowship of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (1991), foreign membership of the Royal Society of Sciences Uppsala (1993), centenary medal (2001) and member of the Order of Australia (2004).  Short was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 1984, in which he served as council member (1988-91) and Vice President (1990-91).