Vicki Anderson

Professor Anderson is a paediatric neuropsychologist, working across clinical, research and academic sectors. She is the Director of Psychology Services at The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, Australia. she holds executive roles at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, including Director, Clinical Sciences Research and Clinical Lead of the Digital Health program. She is an Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne (Psychology & Pediatrics).

Her primary research and clinical interest focuses on improving outcomes from early childhood brain disorders. Her research team, Brain and Mind Research, has contributed to this field over 25 years, establishing the vulnerability of the young brain to injury and working to better understanding factors contributing to resilience and vulnerability in young children. Her recent work has built upon evidence for the importance of the family in maximising recovery from childhood injury and illness, and her team is exploring parent-focused e-health interventions as a means of maximising child outcomes and improving family function. Major translational achievements include: i) publication of the Test of Everyday Attention for Children, used by psychologists across the world; ii) development of easily accessed, low burden, e-health approaches to parent-focused psychosocial treatments as a means of maximising child outcomes and improving family function; iii) development of a novel, comprehensive iPad delivered assessment tool for social competence (PEERs: patent pending); iv) digital health tools for monitoring child post concussion symptoms (endorsed in a partnership with the Australian Football league); and v) authorship of the first-ever international paediatric sports concussion guidelines of the International Consensus on Sports Concussion.

Professor Anderson has 547 peer reviewed publications, 6 books, and $44 million in competitive research funds to her credit. She is Associate Editor of the APA journal ‘Neuropsychology’ and the British Psychological Society ‘Journal of Neuropsychology’. She has received a number of honours for her accomplishments: First Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology in Australia (2002), Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences of Australia, fellow of the Australian Psychological Society, and founding fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Scientists. She is a founding board member of the International Paediatric Brain Injury Society, president of the Australasian Society for the Study of Brain Impairment and past president of the International Neuropsychological Society. She is a member of Research Advisory Committees of the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute and the Queensland Children’s Hospital Foundation, Member of Expert Reference Group, National Collaboration Network for Children’s Health Information, Australian Digital Health Agency. She has held Australian National Health and Medical Research (NHMRC) Senior Practitioner Fellowships (2009-2019) and Investigator Fellowship (2022-2026).