UniSA Health Board of Directors

Professor May is the Dean of Clinical Education and Equity. The role has a strategic focus on the student experience and quality of the future healthcare workforce, clinical education, equity and excellence and partnerships.

Originally trained as an occupational therapist, Esther obtained a PhD in medical sciences from the University of Gothenburg (Sweden) in 1992 and has been an active educator and researcher with achievements that include 18 PhD and Master by Research student completions.  Esther has been the Australian delegate to the World Federation of Occupational Therapists and is an honorary and founding member of the Australian Hand Therapy Association.

Esther has a keen interest in health workforce matters and the role of education in producing the health workforce of the future.  Esther currently oversees government funded grants targeting better rural clinical training, simulated learning and clinical supervision.  Esther’s experience in management and leadership is extensive, including 7 years as Head of the School of Health Sciences and before that 7 years as Head of the School of Occupational Therapy. Esther is currently on the Executive of the Australian Council of Deans of Health Sciences (ACDHS).

Esther is highly passionate around Aboriginal health workforce matters, particularly in trying to encourage increased participation of Aboriginal people in health careers. This has translated into improving the Aboriginal study support for health students, better engagement with the indigenous community, and active participation in the UniSA Reconciliation Action Plan process.

Allan graduated in 1982 with a Bachelor of Pharmacy at the South Australian Institute of Technology, UniSA’s antecedent institution. In 1989, he obtained his PhD in clinical pharmacology from the University of Adelaide. He followed this with post-doctoral experience at the University of Manchester, UK.

Allan has been an academic at UniSA for over 25 years, taking on various leadership positions including Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor. He was promoted to Professor in Pharmaceutics in 2003. The following year, he became Head of the School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, where he was instrumental in establishing the Sansom Institute (now the Division-based Sansom Institute for Health Research) and in supporting tremendous growth in the School’s research activity and teaching profile. In 2009, he became Pro Vice Chancellor and Vice President: Division of Health Sciences. Through his leadership, the Division registered significant growth in student numbers and experienced sustained improvement in research activity. From 2013 – 2021, Allan was UniSA’s inaugural Provost & Chief Academic Officer. As Provost, he was responsible for enhancing UniSA’s educational offerings, providing an outstanding student experience, and planning and development of the University’s academic programs. Allan has launched a whole-of-University review of the curriculum to examine the overall disciplinary profile of each School focusing on teaching quality, student engagement and satisfaction, and the uptake of the University’s blended and external delivery.

Allan has a significant research career. He has more than 100 peer-reviewed publications with over 1,400 literature citations and has held NHMRC and/or ARC grants on an ongoing basis since 1994. His research interests are broad, and include basic, clinical and commercial research into the better use of medicines as well as the development of new ways of using medicines to treat skin cancer and kidney disease. Allan’s group has attracted over $15 million in Category 1-4 research income to UniSA. Allan is former President of the Australasian Pharmaceutical Science Association (APSA) and winner of the APSA medal for outstanding contributions to pharmaceutical science.

Allan previously served as non-executive Director of CPR Pharma Services Ltd, a spin-off company that he helped to form in 2009. He has a keen interest in supporting innovation in the health and medical sector and encouraging entrepreneurial activity within UniSA.