Mark William Yates was born in Shropshire, England, one of four sons of Bill Yates and Camilla Yates (nee Tennant). The family migrated to Australia in 1968. Early education was at Brighton Grammar School and St John’s Regional College at Dandenong after his father’s successful election as the Federal member for Holt in the Fraser Government. He graduated MB BS from Monash University in 1986, followed by FRACP in 1994.
Mark has had a longstanding interest in medical politics. He was on the MUMUS Committee from 1983-86 whilst a student, then becoming the first medical student to sit on AMAV Council. He remained on Council, becoming AMAV President from 2005-07. He became an AMAV Board member from 2013.
Mark’s internship was at Monash Medical Centre, followed by specialty training in geriatrics at North West Hospital, then at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton and Southmead Hospital in Bristol, England. He returned to a Consultant position at North West Hospital in 1995 and subsequently was appointed Clinical Director of Sub-acute medicine at Ballarat Health Services in 2001. He became Clinical Director of Internal Medicine Services at Ballarat in 2007. Whilst at Ballarat, Mark was appointed to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee and to the BUPA Medical Advisory Panel.
In 2011 Mark was appointed Director of Clinical Studies at the Ballarat Campus of Deakin University. He served as a member of the Cognitive Impairment Advisory Group of the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, and also as a member of the Western Victoria PHN Regional Integrated Committee at Ballarat. In 2018 he became Executive Director of Ballarat Innovation and research Collaboration for Health (BIRCH).
Additional roles related to his geriatric specialty include Clinical Tutor, University of Melbourne from 2002, Member of the Minister’s Dementia Advisory Group from 2004, Lead Tutor in Aged Care, Rehabilitation and Palliative Care for Deakin University from 2011, and AMAV Councillor representative to the ANZ Society for Geriatric Medicine from 2020. From this year (2025) he has been appointed to the National Aged Care Advisory Council. His additional roles encompass several specific projects, including:
SCV – iCORD Delirium Expert Reference Group
Chief Investigator Dementia Together -NHMRC 2006635 Timely Dementia Diagnosis
Associate Investigator Centre of Research Excellence in Enhanced Dementia Diagnosis NHMRC 2007037
Lilly Pharmaceutical International Advisory Group
Mark is married to Dr Anna Yates (nee Glue) and they have three children, William, Alice and Jonothan.
Last updated 11 March 2025. Source: Self report.