David de Kretser

Professor David Morritz de Kretser AC (born April 27, 1939) is an Australian medical researcher, and the Governor of Victoria. He succeeded John Landy as the 27th Governor of Victoria on April 7 2006. The Victorian Premier at the time, Steve Bracks announced the appointment on January 19 2006.

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Of Burgher ancestry, De Kretser was born in Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon), and immigrated to Australia with his family when aged nine. He was educated at Camberwell Grammar School (where he is currently a member of the school board), received his MBBS from the University of Melbourne in 1962, and his Doctor of Medicine degrees from Monash University in 1969.

De Kretser is an infertility and andrology expert, and a long-serving academic. He began working at Monash University in 1965 in the university's department of anatomy, and currently works as both foundation director of the Monash Institute of Reproduction and Development (recently renamed the Monash Institute of Medical Research) and Associate Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences (Biotechnology Department). He was also a senior Fellow of endocrinology at the University of Washington in Seattle from 1969 to 1971.

He founded a medical research group, Andrology Australia. Among memberships of other professional groups, he is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science

De Kretser has been married to his wife, Jan, for over 40 years, and has four sons. In 2001, he was named as Victoria's Father of the Year. On June 12, 2006, in the Queen's Birthday Honours list, he was awarded Australia's highest civilian honour, Companion of the Order of Australia.

In an interview shortly after his appointment to the office of Governor was announced, Professor de Kretser commented on the prospect of Australia changing its constitutional system. The Herald Sun reported in June 2006 that, in response to questions regarding Australia's monarchy, de Kretser said, "I would think probably it is in the longer term. When that would be is a very hard question to answer...I think if you asked a lot of people whether Australians wanted a republic you would probably get an answer yes." Professor David Flint from Australians for Constitutional Monarchy, said "speaking in favour of a republic seems inappropriate for one who has represented the Crown, but to do so in office is at the very least, a most inappropriate entry into politics, apart from being an act of gross disloyalty to the Sovereign to whom the viceroy has sworn allegiance."

References

• Lucas, Clay. "Victoria's new governor named", The Age, 19 January 2006. 
• BioMelbourne (2003). BioMelbourne: Professor David de Kretser AO. Retrieved January 19 2006.