What Makes Peter Collignon Tick?

Few households knew Peter Collignon’s name three years ago.

But with the COVID-19 pandemic, that all changed.

Physician and microbiologist at Canberra Hospital, Professor Peter Collignon, who is a member of the Infection Control Expert Group which advises the federal government, was shot into the spotlight, becoming one of Australia’s best-known epidemiologists.

Since the pandemic began, he’s spoken to Neil Mitchell 30 times.

While he’s a health science leader in Australia, none of Professor Collignon’s five children have pursued a medical career, and he’s happy about that.

“I reckon a third or half of doctors are unhappy about being doctors because they probably had too much influence in doing medicine and wanted to do something else,” he told Neil Mitchell.

“I’m very conscious that people have got to do what they’re happy with.”

Professor Collignon also opened up about growing up with migrant parents, but never learning to speak their mother-tongue, and the one food he won’t touch because of his work.

In What Makes You Tick?, Neil Mitchell takes you into the mind of some of Australia’s most influential people and finds out what makes them get out of bed in the morning.

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