Sean Taylor
Professor Sean Taylor
Director of Onemda (Melbourne School of Population and Global Health) and Professor of Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Health (Melbourne School of Health Sciences)
Professor Sean Taylor is a descendant of the Dauareb Tribe of Mer (Murray) Island in the Eastern Torres Strait and a nationally recognised leader in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health. With more than 30 years of experience spanning clinical practice, academic leadership, research, and health system reform, his career has been dedicated to improving health outcomes and embedding culturally safe, community- and consumer-centred models of care across Australia.
Professor Taylor has held senior executive and academic leadership roles including Director of Health Services at the Townsville Aboriginal and Islander Health Service; Deputy Director of Indigenous Leadership and Engagement at the Menzies School of Health Research; Executive Director of Aboriginal Health and Diversity at NT Health; Principal Advisor of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health at Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service; and Executive Director of Aboriginal Health and Diversity and Adjunct Associate Professor at James Cook University.
He currently holds senior academic leadership roles at the University of Melbourne, where he leads strategic initiatives in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, research translation, and workforce development. His work is distinguished by sustained leadership in translating research into policy and practice, particularly through strengthening consumer engagement as a core element of clinical governance and health system performance. These initiatives have contributed to strengthened cultural governance, improved patient experience, and enhanced organisational accountability to communities, particularly in remote and high-risk settings.
Professor Taylor has played a significant role in implementing Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care standards across Northern Territory hospitals and continues to influence national research translation through advisory roles, including previous membership of the NHMRC Principal Committee Indigenous Caucus and the Consumer and Community Advisory Committee. His leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic in the NT demonstrated the effective application of research-informed, community-centred approaches in complex public health emergencies.
He has also provided extensive governance leadership, previously serving as Chair of eight committees including the NT Health Aboriginal Health Partnership Committee. As Chair of Top End Pride, he led the largest and most diverse Darwin Pride Festival to date, including the inaugural Darwin Pride Music Festival. He served as President of the Rotary Club of Darwin Sunrise from 2023 to 2024. Professor Taylor currently serves as a Board Member for Torres Health Indigenous Corporation, the Northern Territory Primary Health Network, The Royal Melbourne Hospital (Melbourne Health) and contributes to numerous internal and external committees associated with the University of Melbourne.
Current Grants
Closing the Gap for Diabetes in Indigenous Communities
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Managing Ourselves Better: Co-Designing Diabetes Prevention, Care and Management through Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ways and Knowing, Being and Doing.
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From Harm to Healing: Strength -Based Approaches to Family Violence for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
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Strengthening the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workforce through Partnership with VACCHO
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Improving Management of Chronic Conditions Through Technology in Primary Health Care Settings
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Living Knowledge: Torres Strait Islander partnerships for climate and health research
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IMPACT -Improving Management of Persistent and Chronic Conditions through Technology in Primary Health Care Settings
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Critical Technologies Challenge Program (CTCP). Feasibility Project Quantum sensing to improve iron diagnosis in First Nations peoples
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Strengths-based approach to cognitive impairment, dementia and frailty in older First Nations people in Canada and Australia.
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Non-Expert Acquisition and Remote Expert Review of Echocardiography in Communities to improve health outcomes (NEARER ECHO)
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Optimising health system integration through innovative models of multidisciplinary primary health care in the remote, Aboriginal context.
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Addressing unmet need through a model of care for people with mild cognitive impairment in Zenadth Kes and Northern Peninsula Area (MCI-MOC)
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National Multidisciplinary Primary Care Research, Policy and Advocacy Consortium
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A co-design approach to reducing the burden of liver diseases in First Nations populations in Northern Australia: Hep B PAST Plus
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Treat-SC: A Randomised, Double-Blinded Placebo-Controlled Trial of Early, Short Course Oral Dexamethasone for the treatment of Sydenham’s Chorea in Children
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Ending the neglect: setting the platform for strongyloidiasis elimination in Australia
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A multi-pronged approach to enhance type 2 diabetes management among First nations youth in remote Northern Australia through improved systems of culturally safe and clinically effective care.
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CRESTRA: CRE for STrengthening Health Systems in Remote Australia
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REACT: Remote Aboriginal Communities Ending TB (REACT)
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Equitable access to full blood evaluation testing at the point-of-care in remote primary health
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StreamlinED: Improving the effectiveness and efficiency of Northern Territory (NT) Emergency Departments
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The Communicate Study: partnership across the Top End to improve Aboriginal patients’ experience and outcomes of healthcare
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Working it Out Together! Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander led co-design for a strong and deadly health workforce
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HEAL: Healthy Environments And Lives (HEAL) - National Research Network on Human Health and Environmental Change
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‘Azithromycin before Birth’- Single dose azithromycin shortly before birth to reduce infection in Aboriginal mothers and babies: a randomised controlled trial
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VOICE – Validating Outcomes by Including Consumer Experience. Developing a Patient Reported Experience Measure for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people accessing primary health care. Associate Investigator
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On TRACK (Teaching, Research, and Community Knowledge) : CRE Promoting brain health with older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
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Antecedents of Renal Disease in Aboriginal Children and young adults’ study (ARDAC)
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