Professor Prue Hart FAHMS was recognised by her peers as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences in recognition of her ground-breaking scientific research and world-wide leadership
by Penni Fletcher-Hughes
With summer almost upon us, Professor Prue Hart from the Kids Research Institute and UWA believes the time is right to get the message out that the sun’s rays are not always harmful but, in moderation, can be extremely beneficial for us.
“Spreading the news about the benefit of sunlight to multiple body systems – mental, immune, bone and skeletal, cardiovascular, metabolic and ocular is one of my main research challenges,” says Professor Hart.
“Exposure to sunlight has become a risk versus benefit equation with the benefits for most of us being very high. More specifically, non-burning sun exposure is beneficial for multiple body systems, principally by pathways not dependent on vitamin D.
“Humans started on this planet with dark pigmented skin. As we moved away from Africa and equatorial regions to Europe and Asia, we evolved paler skin so that we could benefit from lower levels of sunlight to which our skin became exposed.
“Like many autoimmune diseases there is a greater prevalence of multiple sclerosis in populations in countries further from the equator – a known latitude gradient.”
Turning this observation into treatments, Professor Hart has run a comprehensive study of narrowband ultraviolet B radiation, as used to treat inflammatory skin conditions, for patients with the earliest form of multiple sclerosis. Longitudinal cellular, proteomic and metabolomic analysis of bio-banked serum samples from the participants have shown how narrowband UVB is anti-inflammatory, including calming down immune response in auto immune disorders.
“Sunburn should absolutely be avoided but it’s not all risk when you go in the sun. There are multiple whole-body health benefits of non-burning or moderate sun exposure and we are learning more and more about these.
“But you can have too much of a good thing, so the take home message is to never get sunburnt. It is particularly important to wear a hat to protect the head and face from skin cancers.”
Professor’s Hart’s research findings have been published in many leading scientific journals and are largely covered in the June 2025 edition of Scientific American.
She is a PhD graduate of the University of Queensland and has worked in many cities of Australia and overseas in Denmark. She is currently a member of the UWA Kids Research Institute. Prue is also a member of the scientific advisory team of the US company Cytokind who are expanding Light Therapy Use for MS Fatigue. The challenges ahead for her and her international colleagues are to find greater empirical evidence of the systemic benefits of sun exposure and how it is good for our health.
On October 29, 2025 Prue was inducted as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences in recognition of her world-wide leadership and ground-breaking scientific research.
