Professor Philip Weinstein is an understated scientist;
it was well into the interview before he mentioned in
passing that there is a cockroach named after him—a
blind, hairless, cave-dwelling cockroach at that! And
he doesn’t mention his string of strongly cited research
papers or his work on six prestigious projects for the
Australian Research Council. Or his major study on
air quality and respiratory health, for the Cooperative
Research Centre for Asthma and Airways.
But he talks with passion about leading the University’s
School of Biological Sciences. “The School’s objective
is to support excellent researchers and it is a privilege to
help the next generation,” he says.
And he enthusiastically explains his research focus,
improving human health by protecting the environment.
It’s a neat combination of his two scholarly specialities,
medicine and biology, reflected in his 100-plus papers
on water-borne and mosquito-transmitted disease.
However, there is more to the model than Aussie
mozzies. It applies to all sorts of environmental impacts.
“My research involves building a methodology that
translates to other diseases in other environments,” he
says, pointing to his work on rat-borne Leptospirosis in
Samoa. The model can also apply to other infectious
diseases of the developing world including Ebola, HIV
and Bird Flu, for alarming example.
He warns that human demands for natural resources
come at a cost and that well-intentioned but ill-applied
health measures can do great harm. Thus Professor
Weinstein has long warned that draining a swamp to
eradicate malarial mosquitos also removes a source
of biodiversity for future generations. “Ecosystem
dynamics are rarely linear and changes to address one
problem can often create another. One reason Ross
River virus is becoming more common in Australia is
that irrigation and the impact of dryland salinity means
there is year-round water for the mosquitos that carry
the disease,” he says.
The challenge is to get policy makers to see the
connections across portfolios. “While keeping more
trees may mean less land for farming or housing, it also
means cleaner water and thus less diarrhoea down the
track,” he says.
It’s a challenge for Australia, as much as the developing
world. “The key thing is how far out of town you have to
go to get a truly bio-diverse environment.
“Adelaide needs more awareness of the importance of
trees. The Parklands are a nice greenbelt but beyond
that there is not a lot of green until outside the city.
Our ‘green lung’ is too small, there are too few green
patches,” he says.
“The worst part is that new homes being built now
have no room for gardens and this also involves a
psychological risk. People are healthier when there is
greenery,” he says.
BEATING THE
BAD AUSSIE
MOZZIE
PHOTO
Professor Philip Weinstein
A research focus on diseases of hot and wet climates
is a long way from Professor Weinstein’s early life in
Sweden, which ended when the family moved to
South Australia for his father’s work; young Philip’s first
exclusively English language experience was doing
Year 12. But he quickly adapted to life in Adelaide, first
studying medicine at the University and then moving
on to a PhD.
His developing academic career took him to all points of
the Australasian compass, with appointments at Otago
University in New Zealand and James Cook as well as
the universities of Western Australia and Queensland.
But he was very happy to come home to run Adelaide’s
School of Biological Sciences in January.
“Irrigation and
the impact of
dryland salinity
means there
is year-round
water for
mosquitos that
carry disease.”
“Being head of a large school is a big challenge. I thrive
on challenges and this is much more fun than writing
policy,” he says.
There are, he admits, big issues to address. Like
inadequate funding for all the research that needs
to be done. This is why, he argues, it is essential to
support research strengths and invest in early career
fellowships. “We have to support young people coming
through the ranks or there will be a brain drain.
“If you look at any successful business, it invests in
research and development. But Australia is falling
behind in research and development, right across the
economy,” says Professor Weinstein.
Which, he says, we cannot afford, not least in the
biological sciences. There is certainly a great of deal of
work for the School’s 150 postgraduates to do. South
Australia has hundreds of plant and insect species that
are not understood and which could hold the answers
to new drugs and therapies.
“The school is doing very impressive work on cancer
treatment and antibiotics,” he says, adding that there
are currently team members modelling the impact of
human intervention on different environments and the
impact of variables on health outcomes.
“I found the joy of discovery in research,” he says. And
it’s clearly a sense of delight he wants to pass on.
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