Professor Alan Bensoussan, Director, Centre for Complementary Medicine Research, University of Western Sydney

An active researcher with a clinical practice background of over 25 years in Chinese medicine, Alan is also Director of the National Institute of Complementary Medicine, and has been involved with numerous professional bodies, committees and expert panels, including his current role as Chair of the Advisory Committee for Complementary Medicines of the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration. His major government report on the practice of traditional Chinese medicine published in 1996, has led to the statutory regulation of all Chinese medicine practitioners within Australia, which commences in July this year.

A transcript of the Occasional Address, delivered by Professor Alan Bensoussan:

"Thank you Chancellor, Professor Peter Shergold, for your generous welcome, Academic colleagues, special guests, ladies and gentlemen - and most importantly, UWS graduands.

Congratulations to you all on completing your degrees. I have no doubt that for each of you this is a great personal achievement. You and your family should indeed be extremely proud. You leave today with undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in your special fields of interest. As we have heard, you have mastered a body of knowledge in a wide range of science related disciplines – biotechnology, nutrition and food science, chemistry, biology, animal science, environmental science, forensic science, mathematics, nanotechnology and others. These studies represent an important foundation, or maybe even a next step, in your careers. Pause, recognise and celebrate your own achievements and those of your fellow graduands here today, as we all do.

For many of you it is just the beginning and the first few years of work in the field often represent even steeper learning curves.  These steep learning curves are partly because of the need to contextualise to your new workplace, all the skills you have learnt in your degree. But it is also because all our fields of work, even in science, change so rapidly.  Much of the practical science you have learnt in your degree, in 20-30 years time, is likely to be largely redundant, and replaced by the development of new procedures and practices.  In this sense our steep learning curves continue throughout our careers and lives.  What guards you best are the skills of critical thinking and thoughtful analysis that you have acquired through your degrees and early years of study.

So as you move forward in your scientific careers it is important to recognise this critical aspect of science and scientific knowledge – it is transitory – it develops, grows, it morphs into new forms, and not infrequently we discard old beliefs.  When we look back at the history of science there is nothing more certain that in 50 or 100 years scientists will think very differently to all of us now.  Each society throughout time has considered itself thoroughly ‘modern’. Each believing we have a unique handle on truth (religious or scientific) and that little will change in terms of that knowhow. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Most of our significant scientific advances have come from scientific revolutions, often criticised in their early years.  Science has always been – and should be – a battleground for contenting views of truth.  From the grand ideas of Galileo and Copernicus, who challenged the belief that the earth was the centre of the universe, to our home grown Nobel laureates Marshall and Warren whose discovery that gastric ulcers are caused by infection and respond to antibiotics, was radical at the time.  Whilst the climate change science is now very strong, many conventional scientists remained unduly sceptical in the early years, and some still do.  It is not easy to accept scientific evidence that mandates the need for radical social change.  Moreover, because knowledge and power are closely connected, it is difficult to challenge the scientific orthodoxy and accepted practices.

My own background is in science, albeit with significant spread and diversity.  I graduated initially with majors in physics and applied mathematics, before being totally captured by the practices of Chinese herbal medicine and the neurophysiology of acupuncture. Like all young scientists with a healthy curiosity I was not satisfied with conventions and keen to develop insight into the health behaviours of many millions of people over many centuries that used traditional herbal medicines.  Herbal medicine presents significant scientific challenges.  It effectively proposes that diseases can be changed gradually through the simultaneous use of small quantities of several compounds working synergistically.  But this runs counter to our current pharmaceutical model of disease management, where we usually focus on using one preferred pure drug.  The difference is sharp – are our illnesses a result of one aberrant physiological function or more multi-factorial in nature? This is a critical scientific question of our time and one that can dramatically change medical care and research.

When acupuncture was first revealed to the West largely through the media monitored visits of US President Richard Nixon to China in the early 70s, it was met with cries of ‘voodoo’ and ‘impossible’ by our conventional scientists. We now know that acupuncture stimulates a wide range of neurohormones in both the brain and the bloodstream, a veritable orchestra of responses, and we have high level evidence that these neurotransmitters are responsible for clinical responses to pain, nausea and most likely numerous other health benefits still to be confirmed in rigorous clinical trials.

So as you move forward in your careers, don’t be afraid to challenge our knowledge base, to explore beyond the conventional scientific views of the time. 

But if it were scientific curiosity alone that drove me, I’d be a lonely boy.  My patients have actually taught me more than anyone else. They have taught me about listening, hearing their stories, understanding their suffering and being responsive to it.  They have helped me understand, as no textbooks could, the connection between their clinical symptoms and signs, the environmental, and their psychological and social contexts. It was by weaving together these apparently disparate bits of information on the back of established medical theory from another culture that I have been able to help.  Everyone has a story, everyone has something to offer. We grow so much by listening and learning from others.

The University of Western Sydney has been your education ‘home base’ for the past few years. My strong view is that you are very fortunate to have undertaken your tertiary studies at such a young, innovative and dynamic University.  UWS has earned a well deserved reputation for its high level of academic research, its innovative programs of study and the calibre of graduates. UWS graduates share not only a high standard of professional expertise but an enthusiasm and dynamism in pursuing their career aspirations, which strongly echoes the University's commitment to excellence and innovation.  Welcome to an extremely well regarded and highly sought after group of graduates.

A University degree is a highly valuable asset.  And graduation is an important rite of passage for each of you. It is the culmination of your many years of academic study.

I trust that each member of today's graduating class will leave the University of Western Sydney with happy memories of time spent at university, committed friends and professional networks as well as confidence in the knowledge and skills that you have acquired. The University has played its part in your development. In future years I hope that you will look back on this special day of celebration with great pride.

Keep in touch with your friends, remain close to your family. The human skills of respecting the opinion of others, being personally flexible and having a mature work-life balance are important - as important to your career progression as your completed studies.

Thank you for sharing these important years of your lives with all of us at UWS. After today's ceremony you leave with the best wishes of the University of Western Sydney and as one of its valued ambassadors."

Photo: Sally Tsoutas