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Nine University scholars named AAHMS Fellows

20 October 2017

Nine scholars from the University of Sydney have been inducted as fellows of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.

The University’s new Fellows are Professor Catherine Sherrington, Professor Richard Scolyer, Professor Jeremy Chapman, Professor Philip Hogg, Professor David Le Couteur, Professor Georgina Long, Professor Roger Reddel, Professor Jacob George and Professor Markus Seibel.

The University of Sydney’s Fellows are part of a larger group of 49 scholars appointed by the AAHMS at its third Annual Scientific Meeting and brings the Academy’s Fellowship to 321.

Professor Catherine Sherrington’s research is focused on the promotion of physical activity and prevention of falls in older people and people with chronic conditions. She is also a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Ageing and Disability Program, Musculoskeletal Health, School of Public Health.

Professor Richard Scolyer is a melanoma expert and co-leads an award winning research program investigating causes, predictive biomarkers and treatment of melanoma. Professor Scolyer is also an NHMRC Practitioner Fellow, as well as editor of the 4th Edition of the World Health Organisation Classification of Tumours, Skin Tumours volume. He is Co-Director of Research at the Melanoma Institute of Australia and Clinical Professor at Sydney Medical School.

Professor Jeremy Chapman is a transplant expert and has played significant roles in the development of kidney, pancreas and unrelated bone marrow transplantation in Australia. He has led the global development of ethical transplantation through The Transplantation Society, the World Marrow Donor Association and through advisory roles to the World Health Organisation. Professor Chapman is the Clinical Director Division of Medicine and Cancer at Westmead Hospital and Clinical Professor at Sydney Medical School.

Professor Philip Hogg’s research focuses on a fundamental chemical modification of proteins he discovered that has led to a potential new cancer diagnostic system and therapeutic treatment that are currently being clinically tested. Professor Hogg is the Head of the ACRF-Centenary Cancer Research Centre and Sydney Catalyst Chair in Translational Cancer Research, Sydney Medical School.

Professor David Le Couteur is a Professor of Geriatric Medicine at Sydney Medical School and is an expert on ageing and geriatric pharmacology. He also specialises in dietary research for diabetes patients and for improving long-term health. Professor Le Couteur is also Director of the Centre for Education and Research on Ageing at the University of Sydney and has served on several Australian federal medicines committees.

Professor Georgina Long is the Chair of Melanoma Medical Oncology and Translational Research at the Melanoma Institute of Australia. She leads an extensive clinical trials team with a focus on targeted therapies and immune-oncology in melanoma. Professor Long is the Chair of the ASCO Scientific Guidelines Committee and president-elect of the international Society for Melanoma Research. She is an international leader in melanoma research and has obtained major NHMRC program-grant funding as a co-chief investigator.

Professor Roger Reddel is the Sir Lorimer Dods Professor, Sydney Medical School and Director of the Children’s Medical Research Institute (CMRI). He is a world-renowned expert on cancer cell immortalisation with his research focusing on developing anti-cancer treatments that would block immortalisation and developing tests for detecting signs of cellular immortalisation for early detection of cancer.

Professor Jacob George is the Robert W. Storr Professor of Hepatic Medicine, Sydney Medical School and Director of the Storr Liver Centre, Westmead Institute for Medical Research. He focuses his research on liver disease, liver cancer, viral hepatitis, liver fibrosis and pharmacogenomics. Professor George is also the Head, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Westmead Hospital and has over 325 peer reviewed publications.

Professor Markus Seibel is the Chair in Endocrinology at Sydney Medical School with an extensive amount of research into musculoskeletal health and biology. Professor Seibel broke new ground with the development of new biochemical markers of bone metabolism, discoveries in the biology of cancer metastases to bone and the effects of steroid hormones on bone and general health. He is also the inaugural Director of the Bone Research Program at the ANZAC Research Institute.

President of the Academy, Professor Ian Frazer said: “Health and medical research undertaken by the new Fellows of the Academy, and enabled by government and philanthropic funding, will help to ensure quality and equitable health care as we enter the age of precision medicine.”

Elliott Richardson

Assistant Media Advisor (Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy)

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