Emeritus Professor in Public Health, University of Sydney
Simon Chapman AO PhD FASSA HonFFPH(UK) is Emeritus Professor in Public Health at the University of Sydney. He has published over 500 articles in peer reviewed journals and 19 books and major reports. His H index is 53 and he has over 10,500 citations.
In 1997 he won the World Health Organisation's World No Tobacco Day Medal and in 2003 he was voted by his international peers to be awarded the American Cancer Society’s Luther Terry Award for outstanding individual leadership in tobacco control. In 2008 he won the NSW Premier’s Cancer Researcher of the Year medal; the Public Health Association of Australia’s Sidney Sax medal; and was a NSW finalist in Australian of the Year. He was deputy editor (1992-1997) then editor (1998-2008) of the British Medical Journal's, Tobacco Control and is now its Editor Emeritus. He was made an Officer in the Order of Australia in 2013 and was named Australian Skeptic of the Year
His recent research involves examining policy how health and medical issues are covered in the news media; how people stop smoking unaided; the psychogenic aspects of wind farms and health; and characteristics of public health research (and its dissemination) which impact on public health policy.
Why anecdotes aren't strong evidence when it comes to quitting smoking
Aug 07, 2017 08:36 am UTC| Insights & Views Health
In the early 1990s, I was the guest of the local health service in Broken Hill, New South Wales, during a national week promoting quitting smoking. I went on the local radio and the host invited ex-smokers to call in and...
Wind farms are hardly the bird slayers they're made out to be. Here's why
Jun 17, 2017 16:20 pm UTC| Insights & Views Technology
People who oppose wind farms often claim wind turbine blades kill large numbers of birds, often referring to them as bird choppers. And claims of dangers to iconic or rare birds, especially raptors, have attracted a lot of...
World Trade Organisation gives Australia's plain tobacco packs the (draft) thumbs up
May 05, 2017 14:33 pm UTC| Insights & Views Economy
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has reportedly backed Australias laws on plain tobacco packaging implemented from December 2012. The apparent decision marks the end of the last of three cases brought against...
Apocalypse now: wifi and radiation sickness sweeping the world
Mar 21, 2017 00:06 am UTC| Health
In 2006, two researchers, Hallberg and Oberfeld, published a terrifying forecast in the journal Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine asking Will we all become electrosensitive?. The researchers extrapolated figures from...
Can we trust Big Tobacco to promote public health?
Mar 14, 2017 05:16 am UTC| Health Politics
Theres a new catchcry in public health: people working in tobacco control should join with Big Tobacco to promote safer tobacco products. It runs like this: before starting work each morning, tobacco company employees...
Colonoscopy: nothing to fear from the 'silver stallion'
Mar 06, 2017 02:07 am UTC| Health
I recently had a colonoscopy, an invasive medical procedure to examine the bowel, and was hugely relieved to get the all-clear. I posted a description of my experience to my friends on Facebook and got a range of...
Dec 02, 2016 04:41 am UTC| Health
Repeatedly, studies have found a large majority of smokers regret ever starting to smoke: 85% in this study, 90% in this four nation study. Each year, some 40% of smokers make an attempt to stop, with most relapsing within...