Position	Chair in Health Psychology
Email	john.toumbourou@deakin.edu.au
Area	School of Psychology
Phone	+61 3 522 78278
Campus	Waterfront

In 2011 Professor Toumbourou was appointed to the International Task Force for the Society for Prevention Research, the major professional group responsible for substance abuse and crime prevention in the US. In 2009 he received the Award of Distinction from the College of Health Psychologists within the Australian Psychological Society. His research was cited by the National Health and Medical Research Council in their decision to amend Australian guidelines to recommend that adolescents abstain from alcohol use prior to age 18. In 2007 he was invited by the Lancet (a high impact medical journal) to lead an international expert review of interventions to reduce harmful youth alcohol and drug use. In 2006 he received the award for International Collaborative Research from the Society for Prevention Research. He retains an honorary appointment as a Senior Research Fellow within the Murdoch Children's Research Institute at the Centre for Adolescent Health (Royal Children’s Hospital).


Australian Psychological Society
Society for Prevention Research
Australian Research Alliance for Children and Young People (Co-Leader Prevention Science Network)
Psychology Advisory Group on Youth Road Safety Victorian Ministry for Roads and Ports (2009/10)



Professor Toumbourou participates in a range of Departmental, Faculty and University committees:
• Academic Board
• Faculty Executive Group (Faculty of Health)
• Faculty Board (Faculty of Health)
• Associate Director Strategic Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing Research

He is a founding member and the ex-Chair of the College of Health Psychologists within the Australian Psychological Society.



• In 2011 he presented to state-wide meetings in Western Australia convened by the Drug and Alcohol Office and his presentation to the Western Australia State Parliament Education and Health Standing Committee was influential in shaping their recommendations to introduce extended restrictions on the supply of alcohol use prior to age 21.

• Professor Toumbourou has made prominent national media appearances detailing the research demonstrating the adverse impact of adolescent alcohol use on healthy brain development, featuring on the ABC 'Whatever the Science of Teens' and 'Catalyst' series and in other television, radio and print media. His advocacy has been influential in revising national health policies.