Former health minister and tobacco control champion Nicola Roxon has been appointed as the new chair of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

Since retiring from a 15-year parliamentary career in 2013, Ms Roxon has been a non-executive director on ASX-listed, private and not-for-profit bodies. She is currently Chair of VicHealth and the health and community services superannuation fund HESTA.

As health minister, she led major reform in tobacco control, and under her leadership Australia became the first nation in the world to require that all tobacco be sold in plain packaging with prominent health warnings in 2012.

She also established the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission, the National Preventative Health Taskforce and the National Health Preventative Agency.

From 2014, Ms Roxon served as Chairman of the Cancer Council, Bupa, the Accounting Professional & Ethical Standards Board and the Sir Zelman Cowen Centre at Victoria University.

Health Minister Mark Butler said Ms Roxon’s appointment comes as the Institute builds on its legacy as an authoritative source of national health and welfare data and analysis.

“I am delighted that Nicola Roxon has accepted my invitation to Chair the AIHW Board. Nicola brings considerable experience to the role as a former Minister for Health,” Mr Butler said in a statement.

He also thanked Dr Erin Lalor for her time as acting Chair, and former chair Louise Markus, who led the AIHW board through COVID-19.