
Dr Michael Henderson is a doctor of medicine and a graduate of Cambridge University and St Thomas’ Hospital, London. He has spent his entire professional life in aviation, road and motor sport safety research and administration.
He was author in 1968 of the seminal book “Motor Racing in Safety” and was one of the designers of the pioneering race safety concept car, the Pininfarina/Ferrari Sigma Grand Prix. He was the originator of the six-point race harness and a pioneer in the use of seat belts in racing cars.
In 2007 Dr Henderson was elected a Fellow of the FIA Institute for Motor Sport Safety and Sustainability.
Dr Henderson began circuit racing in Europe in 1960, and has competed since then at national and international level in a wide variety of formula, sports and sedan cars. He still races successfully in one of his significant historic formula and sports racing cars and is an acknowledged expert on the history of safety developments in motor sport. He has lived in Sydney, Australia, since 1968.
He is a past Director of Traffic Safety in New South Wales and established Crashlab, the first government road crash research unit and test laboratory in Australia. He was Chairman of the Australian Government’s Advisory Committee on Road Trauma, and is the author of around 100 research papers on road safety and an award-winning book on the analysis and perception of risk.
In addition to his position as a Fellow of the FIA Institute for Motor Sport Safety, Dr Henderson is also a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM), and the Australasian College of Road Safety.
In 2004 he was awarded Life Membership of the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS).
In 2007 Dr Henderson became the inaugural Chairman of the Australian Institute for Motor Sport Safety, and is currently leading its expanding research and educational activities.