Australia Day Honours 2025

MHSOBA warmly congratulates Professor Allen Cheuk-Seng AC, who has received the highest honour, the Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in the General Division in the Australia Day 2025 Honours awards.

Companion of the Order of Australia
Professor Allen Cheuk-Seng Cheng AC, M.B., B.S., M.Bio.Stats., M.P.H., Ph.D.

MHS 1984-1987

For eminent service to medicine as an epidemiologist, to infectious and communicable disease research and education, and to national and international public health policy.

Allen moved to MHS from Carey Grammar; where he quickly became a member of the Junior String Orchestra and the School’s Intermediate Hockey team in his first year at the School. Focusing on music, he played in the Orchestra and Intermediate Strings in 1985, Senior Strings and was awarded Half Colours in Music in 1986 and the Senior String Orchestra in his final year.  He was also awarded the Speech Night Prize for economics.  Completing his medical degrees, he has specialised in infectious diseases, undertaken placements in rural and regional Australia (Royal Darwin Hospital 2008-2009, Community Physician, Groote Eylandt 2002-2009, Consultant Physician, Geelong Hospital 2005-2008).

As well as overseas, he was a Fellow in Infectious Diseases, Duke University Medicine Center (USA) 2000-2001, Consultant, Port Moresby General Hospital Medical Officer, Nursing and Allied Health Training Project, Papua New Guinea, 2002, Deputy Director, Ubon Melioidosis Research Unit, Welcome Trust-Oxford University-Mahidol University Tropical Medicine Research Programme, Thailand, 2004, Academic Visitor, Department of Vaccines, Finnish National Public Health Institute, 2007-2008, Clinical Network, Global Alert and Response, World Health Organisation, 2009-2010 and Visiting Professor, Infectious Diseases Department, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark, 2012.

At Alfred Health, he was Deputy Head, Infection Prevention and Healthcare Epidemiology Unit, Infectious Diseases Unit, 2009-2014 and Director, Infection Prevention and Healthcare Epidemiology Unit, Department of Infectious Diseases, 2014-2023.  Appointed to Monash University as Associate Professor in Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, 2009-2014 and Professor of Infectious Diseases Epidemiology, Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, since 2015.  Director of Infectious Diseases, Monash Health, since 2023.

With the Victorian Department of Health, Allen has been a Member of the Victorian Ebola Virus Disease Working Group, 2014, Member, Steering Committee, Victorian Influenza Pandemic Planning, 2014, Foundation member, Victorian Carbapenem Resistant Enterobacteriaceae Incident Management Team, 2015 – 2017, foundation member, Victorian Healthcare Associated Infection Committee, 2014-2017.  In 2020 he was appointed Deputy Chief Health Officer, State Government Victoria, 2020-2021, deputy to Brett Sutton MHS 1984 – 1986, who was a year above him at MHS.

Allen has been a committee member on the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation since 2016, the same year he became Chair of the Influenza Working Group, where he also served as Co-Chair, 2018-2022.  With the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases, he was a Co-Chair and Foundation member, Guidelines Committee, 2008-2014, Foundation member, Clinical Research Network, 2012-2022, Council Member since 2013, Honorary Treasurer 2014-2018, Vice-President 2018-2019 and President 2019-2022.  With the Communicable Diseases Network of Australia, Allen has been on several disease-specific working groups and committees. Please read more here.

A full list of recipients can be found here, and MSHOBA congratulates all who have been recognised this year.

Our special thanks to Luke Savage, Honorary School Archivist, for his advice regarding these Honours.