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2018 Emerging Public Health Professional Award
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Lucas de Toca, MD, MPH ’13
Principal Adviser, Office of Health Protection, Australian Government Department of Health
An inspiration to those who know him—and to those who have heard him speak from the heart in a wide variety of forums—Lucas de Toca is a deeply principled public health professional whose work is informed by his strongly held beliefs in human rights and social justice. One of his primary areas of focus is helping promote self-determination for Indigenous Australian communities.
For the past five years, Dr. de Toca served as chief health officer for the Miwatj Health Aboriginal Corporation in East Arnhem Land, a primarily Aboriginal region located in Australia’s Northern Territory. This remote health service, controlled and predominantly staffed by the local Aboriginal community, provides comprehensive primary and public health services across six locations to more than 10,000 indigenous residents. As the top public health official in the region, he had strategic oversight of health service delivery and planning of primary and public health services. In April 2018, he became a principal adviser and assistant secretary in the Australian Department of Health, where he is leading a federal taskforce addressing an outbreak of syphilis in northern and central Australia, as well as other Indigenous health initiatives.
Far from his native Spain and even his adopted Sydney, Dr. de Toca has chosen to live and learn alongside people who, although facing profound health inequities, are working to improve their communities every day. He has transcended cultures and used his voice to raise awareness of injustices, seek solutions, and make an impact. He holds an MD degree from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain, part of which he completed at the University of Sydney, Australia. At the Harvard Chan School, he focused on health systems policy and leadership in health and human rights. Dr. de Toca has been a member of the Northern Territory Clinical Senate and a board member of the Northern Territory AIDS and Hepatitis Council and has held several academic positions, currently serving as an honorary senior fellow at the University of Melbourne.
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