ANZSOM joins with AFOEM in welcoming Professor Michael Kidd to deliver the 2026 Ferguson-Glass Oration, delivered in honour of the Founding Fathers of academic occupational medicine in Australia and New Zealand, Professor David Alexander Ferguson AM and Professor William Ivan Glass. They were both pioneers of the discipline of occupational medicine in Australia and New Zealand, first through Australia and New Zealand Society of Occupational Medicine (ANZSOM), then the Australasian College of Occupational Medicine (ACOM) and finally via the Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (AFOEM).
This oration provides an opportunity to reflect on their legacy and the evolving field of occupational medicine.

Professor Michael Kidd
Chief Medical Officer, Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
Professor Michael Kidd AO is Australia’s Chief Medical Officer, based in the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. He is a general practitioner and a primary care and public health researcher, and has served as president of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, and president of the World Organization of Family Doctors. He is an elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, and has held past research appointments at Monash University, the University of Sydney, Flinders University, the Australian National University, and the University of Toronto. He holds a current joint academic appointment as the Foundation Director of the International Centre for Future Health Systems at the University of New South Wales, and as Professor of Global Primary Care with the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford.