Ronald L Somers, PhD

Ron has made a career investigating hazards and promoting community safety in Scandinavia and Australia. Since 1986 Ron has formally monitored the occurrence of trauma in South Australia, as the initiator and manager of Australia’s oldest hospital-based injury surveillance system. After graduating from the University of California in 1979 with a doctorate in public health, Ron joined an injury-research team in Denmark, where he worked for three-and-a-half years, partially in collaboration with the World Health Organisation. He subsequently was appointed NH&MRC Research Fellow at the University of Adelaide’s Road Accident Research Unit. Ron maintains a formal academic appointment in the University’s Discipline of Public Health. He works closely with various peak industry, consumer and safety bodies, including Standards Australia. Ron has been responsible for a number of significant regulatory changes affecting consumer-product safety, road safety and other issues. He has appeared as an expert witness in coronial, civil and criminal cases, domestically and overseas. Ron is employed by the South Australian Department for Health and Ageing, where his present position is Director, Epidemiology.