The college’s former president Professor Michael Kidd takes up Australia’s top health job in June.
The RACGP has welcomed the appointment of its former president and “inspiration” Professor Michael Kidd AO, as Australia’s chief medical officer.
He will take up the reins from 1 June, replacing Professor Tony Lawlor who has been in the role since October 2024 following the resignation of Professor Paul Kelly.
Professor Kidd, a GP, researcher and educator is a former president of the RACGP and the World Organization of Family Doctors.
He is credited with helping rebuild the college which was facing its biggest ever financial crisis when he took over as president in 2002.
“Michael Kidd is a true medical leader and exemplar of the value of generalism in medicine, combining breadth of understanding of medical challenges, depth of knowledge, and sound judgement to identify problems and develop long-term solutions,” said RACGP president Dr Michael Wright.
“When Professor Kidd commenced as RACGP president, the college faced many challenges. It’s not an overstatement to say he restored the viability of the college and is an inspiration to many of our members.
“He didn’t just help to rebuild the RACGP as a medical college, he expanded its role in Australia’s health system and helped thousands of us see the potential for what the RACGP could be.”
Professor Kidd is currently professor of global primary care and future health systems at the University of Oxford, and director of the Centre for Future Health Systems at the University of NSW.
He is also a board member of Telstra Health and the George Institute for Global Health and was World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA) President from 2013-16.
Professor Kidd is no stranger to the halls of DoHAC, having served as deputy CMO and principal medical advisor with the department during the covid pandemic.
“I am looking forward to rejoining the Department of Health and Aged Care and supporting national reforms in public health and healthcare services,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Under his RACGP presidency term, the college rebuilt its membership and established Australia’s first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health faculty in a medical college, and the RACGP’s Research Foundation. The Foundation was relaunched in March 2025 as the Australian General Practice Research Foundation, with Professor Kidd as its patron.
Professor Kidd received the Rose Hunt Medal, the RACGP’s the highest award, in 2014.
He has held academic and research leadership roles in Australian and overseas universities and currently has a dual appointment between Oxford University and the University of New South Wales in the International Centre for Future Health Systems.
In this role, Professor Kidd is leading a new national multidisciplinary consortium for primary care research, which will design, test and innovate models of care to better meet the needs of patients across Australia.
Dr Wright said Professor Kidd had also led the primary care response to the covid pandemic, the biggest public health challenge in generations.
“His leadership included the rapid establishment of telehealth, which has been called a decade’s worth of reform in 10 days,” said Dr Wright.
“This delivered both continuity of, and access to care for our patients and brought forward enormous change which GPs and patients continue to benefit from.
“I am excited to see the potential impact of having a GP appointed to this crucial health system role for the first time.”
