The Charles Perkins Centre (CPC) is an Australian medical research institute, clinic and education hub that primarily focuses on diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity, as well as other related conditions.

The centre is named in honour of alumnus Charles Perkins, the first man of Aboriginal descent to graduate from an Australian university.

Designed by Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp with Building Studio,[1] construction of the 49,500-square-metre (533,000 sq ft), A$385 million centre began in 2012 and was officially opened in June 2014.

Born in 1936 to an Arrernte woman and a Kalkadoon man in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Perkins graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Arts in 1966.

Perkins was a key member of the Freedom Ride, a bus tour through New South Wales protesting small-town discrimination of Aboriginal people.

In 1972, as a public servant, he was suspended for alleged improper conduct after he described the Liberal and the Country Coalition government in Western Australia as being "racist and redneck".

The painting, Jeune Fille Endormie, which had never been publicly seen since 1939, depicts the artist's lover, Marie-Thérèse Walter and was donated on the strict understanding that it would be sold and the proceeds directed to medical research.

Professor Steve Simpson said that "He [Perkins] sought to lead collaborations in situations where a single person or agency could not deliver.

[6] Perkins' wife, Eileen and their daughters Hetti, Rachel and son Adam attended the black-tie opening of the building in June 2014 at which artists including Megan Washington, the Ltyentye Apurte Dance Group and students from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music performed.