The Australian Women's Register

“Professor Zsuzsoka Kecskes was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1965. She received her medical degree in medicine and higher degree from the University of Hamburg in 1990–91 and spent time studying medicine in the United States and Switzerland before moving to Sydney, Australia in 1994. She completed her training in neonatology in Brisbane and was awarded a PhD in Medicine by the University of Queensland.

From 2001 to 2022 she worked as a neonatologist in Canberra Health Services and was Director of the Department of Neonatology from 2007 to 2015. She contributed to development of quality systems across the health service, chairing the Clinical Ethics Committee, the Policy Committee and the Aged Care Quality Standards Health Care Standard 2 (Partnering for Consumers) committee. Professor Kecskes was a leading figure in the design and development of the neonatal intensive care unit at Canberra’s Centenary Hospital for Women and Children. Professor Kecskes commenced as an honorary lecturer at the Australian National University in 2001. She developed the neonatal curriculum which was taught from the inception of the ANU School of Medicine and held positions of Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning Phase 2) 2015–18, Deputy Dean Medical School 2018–20, and was Interim Director of the ANU Medical School from March 2020 to July 2022. Professor Kecskes developed a quality and safety curriculum and was Chair of the Professionalism and Leadership theme in Phase 2 at the Medical School, for which the team was acknowledged through a Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence. In 2022 Professor Kecskes was appointed Dean of Graduate Medicine at the University of Wollongong. She holds honorary Professor status at ANU. Her research interests are in neonatology, especially the neonatal brain, higher education, and patient-centred care. In 2014, the Australia Day Council awarded her ACT Australian of the Year for her work with families to design a safe, family-centred Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and for the implementation of the NICUcam, a web-based design for parents and families to view their baby when they are not able to visit.”