Professor David de Kretser AC, Governor of Victoria.

Professor David de Kretser AC, is the Governor of Victoria and was the Foundation Chairman of the BioMelbourne Network from 2001 until he became Governor of Victoria in 2006. Professor de Kretser was also the immediate past Executive Chair of the Monash Institutes of Health, and the Foundation Director of the Monash Institute of Reproduction and Development (MIRD) at Monash University. In addition to being Director, he was the Associate Dean of the university’s Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences (Biotechnology Department).

Professor de Kretser received his MBB in 1962 from the University of Melbourne and completed his MD in 1969 at Monash University, where he studied the structure and function of the human testis.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering. In 2000, Professor de Kretser was admitted as an Officer in the Order of Australia.

For the past decade, Professor de Kretser has served on the Executive Council of the International Society of Andrology, including a term as President. He has also served on the Bioethics Committee of the Uniting Church of Australia, Victorian Synod.

His research into reproductive biology infertility and endocrinology has seen over 600 papers featured in national and international peer reviewed journals, and over 65 of these papers being presented at international meetings. He is also the Editor of a number of books and has served on a number of editorial boards of international journals.

Professor de Kretser has made important contributions to electronmicroscopy of the testis and to the field of male infertility and co-directed a program of research that resulted in the first isolation of inhibin which has led to numerous studies on its role in reproductive biology. Together with his graduate students and fellows, of whom he has supervised over 30 PhD and 25 international postdoctoral fellows, his laboratory has established the presence of paracrine regulatory mechanisms in the testis and is currently exploring the molecules involved. His research is continuously supported by grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, World Health Organisation and the Ford Foundation. Recently, he was awarded a grant from the Federal Government to establish and direct Andrology Australia which will enhance public and professional education and research in the area of Men’s Health.

Professor de Kretser's work has also been recognised by the Senior Organon Award of the Australian Endocrine Society in 1977 and the Serono Lecturer of the American Society for Andrology.