Professor Michael Farrell is the Director of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC) at the University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW and Faculty Theme Lead of Mental Health, Neuroscience, Ageing and Addictions, UNSW Medicine. Prior to his appointment at UNSW, Professor Farrell was a Professor of Addiction Psychiatry at Kings College London.
His extensive research interests include evidence-based practice and treatment evaluation, in tobacco, alcohol and other drug dependence, psychiatric comorbidity, translation of new evidence into practice. He was Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee of The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. He is an editor with the Cochrane Drug and Alcohol Group. He is a member of the World Health Organization Expert Committee on Drug and Alcohol Dependence. He is the immediate Past President of the Australian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs (APSAD). He has published over 400 scientific papers and a number of books. He has been a board member or director of many different Alcohol and other Drug NGO Community Groups over the past thirty years He has been a consultant on National Drug Policy to many national Governments. He is a strong advocate for better investment and support for prevention, treatment and research.