Professor Shane Houston is a Gangulu man from Central Queensland. He has worked in Aboriginal Affairs for more than 35 years holding many roles at local, state, national levels. Shane has worked intensely in the community sector over a number of decades including as a CEO of an Aboriginal Medical Service and National Coordinator of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Organisation. He has also held senior executive positions in the public sector for more than 17 years.

Professor Shane Houston took up his current position at the University of Sydney as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Strategy and Services) and is the first Aboriginal person to be appointed to such a senior role at any Australian university.

The former health administrator brought this unfailingly positive attitude with him when he arrived at Sydney in April 2011, tasked with making the University a central national player in bridging the social divide that confronts Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Professor Houston completed his PhD at Curtin University in 2003 graduating with a Chancellor’s Commendation. Shane was appointed Adjunct Professor of Health Sciences at Curtin University in 2006 and Professor in the School of Medicine University of Note Dame, Sydney in 2008. In 2009 Shane was awarded the Chief Minister’s Public Service Medal for meritorious and outstanding public service for his contributions aimed at improving the cultural security of services in the health sector.