Great Scot April 2019 Great Scot_156_April_2019_Online | Page 75

FULBRIGHT FUTURE
SCHOLARSHIP AWARDED TO A
PASSIONATE YOUNG DOCTOR
EDWARD CLIFF (’10) WITH HIS PARENTS, PROFESSOR INGRID SCHEFFER AO AND GRAEME CLIFF (’76)
Studies in public health and policy at Harvard University are in
prospect in the near future for Dr Edward Cliff (‘10), a medical resident at
the Royal Melbourne Hospital, who has been awarded a Fulbright Future
Scholarship. Edward, who graduated from Monash University with a
Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, with Honours, undertook
his Bachelor of Medical Science honours year as a visiting student at the
University of Oxford, where he studied pancreatic electrophysiology.
He now hopes to further his studies in public health and policy, with a
focus on nutrition and its impact on health.
The Fulbright Program, the largest educational exchange scholarship
program in the world, aims to ‘increase binational research collaboration,
cultural understanding, and the exchange of ideas’. It was founded by
US Senator J William Fulbright in the aftermath of World War II. Senator
Fulbright convinced the US government to use proceeds from the sales
of armaments to fund a scholarship to support bilateral exchanges
between young people from other countries and the USA. This is the
70th year of the Fulbright scholarships.
In 2019 the Fulbright Program has launched a new scholarship, called
the Fulbright Future Scholarship, with a specific focus on projects that
seek to have a positive impact on the health, livelihoods and prosperity
of Australians and the world — and this is the scholarship Edward has
been awarded.
Edward told Great Scot that he will use the scholarship to undertake
a Master of Public Health at the Harvard Chan School of Public
Health, focusing on health policy, particularly nutrition, obesity and
non-communicable diseases. ‘I hope to spend 18-24 months at Harvard,
working with some world leaders in both nutrition and public health
policy,’ he said. ‘I also hope to take units from the Kennedy School of
Government, as I think that an understanding of politics and government
is key to negotiating and implementing high quality health policy.’
What comes next? ‘On returning to Australia, I plan to complete
physician training through the Royal Australasian College of Physicians,
of which I am currently in my second year. I still have a few years to go
and also a few more exams to pass ,’ Edward said.
‘After this, I hope to combine a career in clinical medicine as a
physician (perhaps as an endocrinologist) with working in health policy,
hopefully both at an academic and practical level.’
And even further ahead? ‘My long-term aims are threefold,’ Edward
said. ‘First, I want to destigmatise obesity and other preventable so-called
“lifestyle” or “non-communicable” diseases — such as diabetes, stroke,
and cardiovascular diseases — so that we as a broader society realise
and acknowledge that these are diseases of society and societal
systems, especially the food system, rather than the “fault” of individuals.
‘Second, I want to drive the implementation of evidence-based policy
to better prevent these diseases, in broad areas ranging from labelling
and marketing, through to regulation and reformulation of processed
foods. Third, I want to use observations from the bedside to ask
questions and drive change in health and healthcare policy.’
But all study and no play is not for Edward. ‘I have continued to play
the oboe and percussion, in Corpus Medicorum and the Australian
Doctors’ Orchestra,’ he said, ‘as well as co-founding the Australian
Medical Students’ Orchestra.’
‘I help organise a food festival called festival21, celebrating food
as a medium for social change in health, sustainability and social
connectedness. I am also a passionate cook and foodie.’
This able, passionate young doctor will strive fervently to make a
difference in his field of health policy and beyond, personifying Scotch’s
fundamental belief, as expressed by the Principal, Tom Batty, ‘in the
inherent dignity of each person, and the determination that Scotchies
do their bit in building something better, and do it well’.
www.scotch.vic.edu.au Great Scot
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