Dr Richard Franklin PhD FARL FPHAA is a Professor of Public Health at James Cook University. He teaches into the Masters of Public Health and Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and is subject coordinator of TM5581 Expedition and Wilderness Medicine, TM5502 Tropical Public Health and TM5513 Public Health Management, Leadership Policy and Planning. His research interests include the injuries of people in the tropics, leprosy, health systems, envenomation, disasters and workplace health and safety. He has published over 300 journal articles, book chapters, editorials, and monographs.

He is currently the President of the Australasian College of Tropical Medicine (ACTM) and a board member of Farmsafe Australia, Kidsafe and Auschem training. He is a graduate and fellow of the Australian Rural Leadership program.

He is a member of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) contributor group and recently authored a global study on drowning using the GBD data. He supervises a range of masters and PhD students, exploring a diverse range of topics from drowning prevention to leprosy to tourist injuries.