Conference Dinner Guest Speaker - Professor Laurie Geffen
Professor Laurie Geffen is an Emeritus Professor of Human Physiology at Flinders University and of Psychiatry at the University of Queensland. After graduating with degrees in biomedical science and medicine at the University of Witwatersrand, he took first class honours in the School of Animal Physiology at Oxford University and a D. Phil in Neurophysiology while he was a Nuffield Demonstrator at Magdalen College. In 1967, he emigrated to Australia where he became Reader in Pharmacology at Monash University. In 1972, he was appointed to a Foundation Chair of Human Physiology at Flinders University, where he became Dean of Medicine and then Pro – Vice Chancellor.
In 1991, he moved to the University of Queensland as Dean of Medicine, and Professor of Psychiatry. He holds fellowships of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatry and the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. In 1999, he was awarded the honorary degree of M.D. by Flinders University for his contributions to medical education and neuroscience. He is a former president and honorary life member of the Australian Neuroscience Society. Laurie Geffen has published numerous papers on neuroscience and medical education.
His early interests were in noradrenergic synaptic transmission, including immunohistochemical localization of the molecular components. Later, in collaboration with Professor Gina Geffen in the Cognitive Psychophysiology Laboratory, which they jointly directed for 25 years, he studied the role of central catecholamines on human attention, using electrophysiological and behavioural measures. He has abiding interests in the history of neuroscience, human evolution and medical education .He now works as a consultant psychiatrist in private practice.
