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Dr Alex Wodak AM

Addiction Medicine Specialist

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Alex is a physician who was Director of the Alcohol and Drug Service at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney, from 1982 until he retired in 2012. 

In his retirement he works on drug law reform in a volunteer capacity as President of the Australia Drug Law Reform Foundation. 

Together with colleagues, Alex started Australia’s first needle syringe programme in 1986 and Australia’s first Medically Supervised Injecting Centre in 1999 when both were pre-legal. 

Together with colleagues, he established the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (1987), Australian Society of HIV Medicine (1989) and the NSW Users AIDS Association (1989). 

Alex was the Foundation President of the International Harm Reduction Association (1996-2004). 

He has been interested in tobacco harm reduction since 1992. He has published a number of papers on smoking cessation among prisoners.