Doreen Rosenthal


Doreen Anne Rosenthal is an Australian academic and adolescent sexual health and women's health researcher. As of 2020, she is a Professor Emerita in the School of Population Health at La Trobe University and Honorary Professor in the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne.

Academic career

Born Doreen Anne Lapin in Melbourne, Victoria in 1938, Rosenthal matriculated from MacRobertson Girls' High School in 1955. Married and with three young children, Rosenthal graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1972 with a BA, majoring in psychology. Continuing at that university, she then completed a PhD in 1975 with her thesis titled An investigation of some factors influencing development of formal operational thinking.
Her research has included studies of homeless young people, their drug use, why they leave home and their HIV risk. Another focus of her research has been women's sexual health. She has also studied ethical questions in research and collaborated on projects in Botswana, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Honours and recognition

Rosenthal was elected a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia in 1998. She was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in the 2003 Australia Day Honours for "outstanding service nationally and internationally to understanding of and research into adolescent health, particularly in the fields of sexual health and HIV/AIDS". In 2007 she was inducted onto the Victorian Honour Roll of Women.

Selected works

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