Associate Professor Ted Wilkes is a Nyungar man from Western Australia. He is Associate Professor of Aboriginal Research Programs at the National Drug Research Institute, Faculty of Health Sciences at Curtin University. Previously Professor Wilkes worked as the CEO of the Derbarl Yerrigan Health Service (DYHS), and as Associate Professor, Centre for Developmental Health, at the Telethon Institute of Child Health (TICHR). Professor Wilkes has dedicated his life to fighting for better quality of life for Indigenous Australians and joined the Aboriginal team at NDRI to enhance the use of Aboriginal Research and information. Professor Wilkes has engaged at many forums and committees at the state, national, and international level, and is involved in many research initiatives dealing with alcohol and drugs in Indigenous Australia. He is a member of the Australian National Advisory Council on Alcohol and Drugs ANACAD.
In 2014 Professor Wilkes was made an Officer of the Order of Australia ‘for distinguished service to the Indigenous community as a leading researcher in the area of public health and welfare, to youth in Western Australia, and to the provision of legal support services’.