Prof. Mark Cooper, Head, Department of Diabetes, Monash University; Dr Susan Alberti AC; Prof. Stephen Jane, Director of Research, The Alfred. Photo credit: Ahmed Hamad
Dr Susan Alberti AC had her audience transfixed when she delivered the Research Day Keynote Address for this year’s Alfred Health Week, Respect, Responsibility and Making a Difference.
In her address, Susan told a powerful story spanning her personal, professional and philanthropic experiences, and underlining the importance of commitment, persistence and a dedication to others.
Passionate, driven and ambitious, Susan well understands the personal impact of medical research, having lost her only daughter, Danielle, to the ravages of Type 1 Diabetes. Her keynote address was a very personal account of how she has triumphed over personal tragedy to build a successful business career and donate millions of dollars to medical research and other charitable causes. Guests also gained an insight into some of Susan’s other true loves, with a particularly animated account of her joy in the recent success of Western Bulldogs in the AFL.
Medical research, she said, depends largely on the same qualities on which both she, and her beloved Bulldogs, have drawn over the years – the ability to deal with failure, to try again, to maintain determination and commitment, and to tenaciously work towards a goal.