Healthway Board member Professor Mike Daube has received a prestigious award from the American Cancer Society for his leadership on tobacco control worldwide.
In awarding him its Luther L. Terry Medal for “Exemplary Leadership in Tobacco Control” in Singapore on 21 March 2012, the American Cancer Society noted that Professor Daube has been “a national and international leader in tobacco control and public health for four decades.”
In his role as the first full time director of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) in the United Kingdom in 1973, Professor Daube pioneered many tobacco advocacy strategies which established ASH as a powerful anti-smoking organisation which became a model for tobacco control groups around the world.
Since then, Professor Daube has been at the forefront of international action against tobacco and an unrelenting and articulate opponent of tobacco industry propaganda.
He has made prominent and groundbreaking contributions to programs and reports of the Union for International Cancer Control, the World Health Organisation and the Royal College of Physicians.
Over the past 25 years, Professor Daube has led innovative mass media campaigns in Australia that have led to advertising bans, stronger health warnings and protection for non-smokers.
Most recently, he was a key member of the Australian Government’s Expert Committee on Tobacco which recommended further national strategies to reduce smoking including the plain packaging legislation.
In Perth, Professor Daube has held a number of key government and non-government leadership positions in the health sector including Director General of Health in WA, Chief Executive Officer of Princess Margaret Hospital, President of the National Heart Foundation WA Division and Chief Executive of the Cancer Council WA.
He is currently Professor of Health Policy at Curtin University, Director of the Public Health Advocacy Institute and President of the Australian Council on Smoking and Health (ACOSH).
Professor Daube has been the nominee of ACOSH on the Healthway Board since February 2011. In his former role of Assistant Commissioner Public Health at the WA Department of Health, he was a key figure in the campaign that led to the establishment of Healthway under the Tobacco Control Act 1990 (now the Tobacco Products Control Act 2006) and subsequently became an member of Healthway’s inaugural Board as the nominee of the WA Health Commissioner.
The Chair of Healthway’s Board, Dr Rosanna Capolingua, said Healthway was privileged to have the services of a world renowned public health advocate on its Board.
“The State of WA has been very fortunate to have Mike Daube resident here and, as a result, we have one of the lowest smoking rates in the world,” Dr Capolingua said. “This has undoubtedly saved a lot of lives and increased the wellbeing of thousands of West Australians over the years.”