Alex Brown was all set to become an engineer when his older sister convinced him to take a different path.

While still in high school, Professor Brown went to visit his sister at university where she was studying medicine.

"She really encouraged me to give it a go ... so I basically followed my sister into medicine and the rest is history," he told AAP.

"It was a really good choice.

"My big sister was right."

Initially practising as a medical doctor, the Yuin man has had a career in Indigenous health spanning 25 years.

He is a professor of Indigenous Genomics at The Kids Research Institute Australia and Australian National University.

He's also the director of the National Centre of Indigenous Genomics at the university and was the first Indigenous scientist appointed to the board of the CSIRO, Australia's main science and research organisation.

Prof Brown's focus on empowering Indigenous people, identifying and overcoming health disparities, and addressing chronic disease in vulnerable communities led him to public health and research and, in particular, the field of genomics.

Genomics, Prof Brown said, "looks at somebody's genetic code, their genetic architecture", and whether there are any "signals" within that person's DNA that are associated with various diseases or conditions.

"There's a whole bunch of work around understanding what's unique about Indigenous people's genetic story, given we've been here for 65,000 years plus in Australia," he said.

"That gives us a better way of understanding how people grow and develop in place, on country for a long period of time, in a very stable, long-standing nexus between healthy people and healthy country."

But to understand the genetic story of Indigenous people, Prof Brown said communities had to be empowered to make their own decisions and their rights and interests protected.

"The overarching importance of Indigenous leadership in this space cannot be overstated," he said.

"It is probably the only way we can make sure that Indigenous people's voices are heard and that they've got their hands on the steering wheel about the way in which this work gets done."

Prof Brown's achievements in his field have been recognised with a fellowship with the Australian Academy of Technological Science and Engineering.

And he's "quite chuffed" about it.

"It's knowing that the work that you're doing has meaning, has value as making a contribution," he said.

"But I'd give every single thing away for better outcomes for our kids, for the future - and that's the work that really matters to us."