In 2010 he was made an officer of the Order of Australia in recognition of his distinguished service to psychiatry as a clinician and researcher, particularly as a major contributor to the understanding and innovative treatment of mood disorders and as founder and Executive Director of the Black Dog Institute.
[3] As a consequence of his advocacy for diagnosing melancholia, in 2010 Parker was invited to head a group of prominent international psychiatrists to argue for its separate status in the new DSM-5 classificatory system.
[6] He has been involved with the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) – as Editor of the Journal (1979–88) and Chair of the Quality Assurance Committee (1990–95).
During his time at the Black Dog Institute, Parker ‘translated’ research findings via educational programs – some with health professionals in mind and some shaped for the general community.
[9] Parker has also developed or evaluated a number of assessment and self-assessment tools to help practitioners and individuals to gauge the type and clinical import of a mood disorder.
[12] In 2017, Parker was awarded the James Cook Medal of the Royal Society of New South Wales for "Outstanding contributions to both science and human welfare in and for the Southern Hemisphere".