Career
From 1977 - 1984, Dr Pond was a post-doctoral research Fellow for two years and then Assistant Professor of Medicine for six years at the University of California San Francisco . She attained American Board qualifications in Medicine and Medical Toxicology. Susan returned to Australia in 1985 to take up the position of Associate Professor of Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Queensland.
Susan was the first woman to be appointed to a Personal Professorial Chair in the Department of Medicine at the University of Queensland (1990), and the first woman to receive the Wellcome Australia Medal (1992). She was a senior executive in Johnson & Johnson Research Pty Limited from 1997 - 2002 becoming the first female Managing Director of a Johnson & Johnson Company in Australia (2003 - 2009). From 2010 - 2016, Susan led the Renewable Transport Fuels Program at the United States Studies Centre, focussing mainly on renewable aviation fuels. From February 2017 to May 2018 she was the director of Sydney Nano (The University of Sydney Nano Institute).
From 1985 - 1996, Dr Pond served on many Therapeutic Goods Administration Advisory Committees and from1994 to 1996 she as chairman of the Australian Drug Evaluation Committee. While at Johnson & Johnson, she was the first corporate member to the elected to the Ausbiotech Limited Board (2004) on which she served as chairman from 2006-2009.
Since 2010, Dr Pond has served as an independent, non-executive director on many government, biotechnology company, and not-for-profit boards including the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, Centenary Institute, Trusted Autonomous Systems for Defence Cooperative Research Centre, Phenomics Australia, and Council of the Queensland University of Technology. Susan served as the inaugural Chair of the NSW Smart Sensing Network (NSSN) from 2017 - 2022.
Previous positions have included: adjunct professor, faculty of engineering and information technologies, University of Sydney; Chairman & Managing Director of Johnson & Johnson Research Pty Limited; Adjunct Professor in Sustainability, United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney; Professor of Medicine at the University of Queensland 1984–1996.
