Donna Cross

Donna Cross is an Australian academic, professor, a child health advocate^[1] at the School of Global and Population Health within the University of Western Australia and leader of the Telethon Kids Institute.^[2][3] She was awarded an Order of Australia for her work in children's mental health.^[4]

Cross is currently the Chief Investigator and the Western Australian Node Director of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course.^[5]

Cross was historically the Founding Director for the Child Health Promotion Research Centre within the Edith Cowan University, from 2003 to 2012.^[6] As Founding Director she led projects aimed at promoting the mental development and wellbeing of young people. Cross also created the Friendly Schools Plus (FS+) program,^[7][8] which has been adopted by over 3,000 schools in Singapore, Australia, the UK, and the USA.^[9]

Cross received a PhD from Columbia University, in New York, and a Bachelor of Education from the Western Australia Institute of Technology in 1983.^[10]

Cross has spent her career investigating childhood mental health, safety in schools, and designing and implementing research around well-being in school settings.^[11][12] She also has researched impacts of cyber-bullying, aggression, and the protection of young adolescents, particularly for implementing her research in real-life settings.^[13]

Cross has written 38 books and chapters, as at July 2024, with 173 peer-reviewed journal articles, 95 reports, and more than 100 health education resources.^[9] Cross has an H-index of 57 and over 12,000 citations, according to google scholar.^[14]

Select publications include:

• Papageorgiou, A., Fisher, C. and Cross, D. (2022) "Why don’t I look like her?" How adolescent girls view social media and its connection to body image. BMC Women's Health. doi:10.1186/s12905-022-01845-4
• Lester, L., Cross, D. (2015) The Relationship Between School Climate and Mental and Emotional Wellbeing Over the Transition from Primary to Secondary School. Psych Well-Being 5, 9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13612-015-0037-8^[15]
• Perren, S., Dooley, J., Shaw, T. et al. (2010) Bullying in school and cyberspace: Associations with depressive symptoms in Swiss and Australian adolescents. Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health 4, 28. https://doi.org/10.1186/1753-2000-4-28.^[16]
• Cross, D. Waters, S. (2012) Friendly schools plus teacher resource. Early & middle adolescene 11-14 years.^[17]

Award for Cross's work in adolescent mental health include the following:

• 2023 - Western Australian Science Hall of Fame.^[18]
• 2015 - fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Science^[3].
• 2012 - Western Australian of the Year Awards,^[4]
• 2012 - Future Justice Prize.^[5]
• 2011 - Cross finalist for the WA Citizen of the Year Award,
• 2011 - WA Scientist of the Year.^[6]

Cross was awarded both the Churchill fellowship and NHMRC Research fellowship in 2016.