Our story

The Sax Institute was established in 2002, initially as the Institute for Health Research. The Institute changed its name in 2005 to honour Dr Sidney Sax, who helped pioneer the use of research in health policy making in Australia.

Born in South Africa, Dr Sax migrated to Australia in 1960, working as a physician and deputy medical superintendent before becoming Director of Geriatrics for NSW in 1964. 

As the first Director of the division of research and planning in the NSW Department of Health, he created data sets that for the first time allowed basic health services planning, including the beginnings of the hospital morbidity data collection. 

In 1982, under the Imperial system of honours then used in Australia, he was appointed a Commander of the British Empire for his services delivery. Dr Sax also played a key role in developing Medibank, Australia’s first universal national health insurance scheme. 

Dr Sax died in 2001. The Sax Institute continues to honour his contribution to developing a national system of health services on evidence-based principles.