GTAC Advisory Board

The GTAC Advisory Board consists of leading life sciences and education experts who are dedicated to increasing student interest and literacy in science. They strengthen our reputation as leaders in life science education through facilitating linkages to the wider Research and Development sector and by providing support services and advice that enrich our practice.

 

Prof-Suzanne-Cory-publishProfessor Suzanne Cory

AC PhD FAA FRS

Chair (Appointed 2001)

Professor Suzanne Cory is one of Australia’s most distinguished molecular biologists. She was born in Melbourne, Australia and graduated in biochemistry from The University of Melbourne. She gained her PhD from the University of Cambridge, England and then continued studies at the University of Geneva before returning to Melbourne in 1971 to a research position at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. From 1996 to 2009 she was Director of The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute and Professor of Medical Biology at The University of Melbourne. She is currently an Honorary Distinguished Professorial Fellow at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. Her research has had a major impact in the fields of immunology and cancer and her scientific achievements have attracted numerous honours and awards. She was President of the Australian Academy of Science from 2010 to 2014 and serves on a number of councils and boards in Australia and overseas.

 

Dick-Strugnell-publishProfessor Dick Strugnell

Deputy chair (Appointed 2001)

Richard (Dick) Strugnell is a molecular microbiologist who completed his PhD at the Alfred in 1985 on the pathogenesis of experimental syphilis. He left for the UK on a CJ Martin Fellowship in late 1986 and spent three years split between the Wellcome Research Laboratories at Beckenham Kent, working with Gordon Dougan, and the Birmingham University School of Life Sciences, working with Charles Penn, on research that focussed on the use of Salmonella Typhimurium as a vaccine “vector”, ie. engineered to carry antigens from other pathogens as a live vaccine. Dick returned to Monash Microbiology at Clayton in 1989. After two years at Monash Clayton, Dick took up an independent academic position at the University of Melbourne, commencing as a Senior Lecturer in 1991. He was promoted to Associate Professor and Reader in 1999 and Professor in 2001.

His research has focussed on the molecular basis of bacterial pathogenesis, with an emphasis on the intersection between pathogen and the mammalian immune system, both adaptive and innate. He has studied Salmonella Typhimurium for the last 25 years was a co-organiser of the 3rd ASM (USA) International Meeting on Salmonella in Aix in 2009. He was also member of the CRC for Vaccine Technology for 13 years, the last 7 as Deputy Director under Anne Kelso, where he developed an interested in structured research training, the addition of allied skills training to the central and fundamental research project during the PhD. His time is split between University administrative responsibilities as Pro Vice Chancellor (Graduate and International Research) and running a research laboratory in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Melbourne in the new Doherty Institute. His research is funded by the NHMRC under Program Grant support, and the ARC.

Dick has been Member of the GTAC Board of Management since the Board was constituted

 

Bredan-crabb-publishProfessor Brendan Crabb

AC, PhD

(Appointed 2001)

Professor Brendan Crabb AC  is the Director and CEO of Burnet Institute and Immediate-Past President of the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes (AAMRI). He is Chair of the Victorian Chapter of AAMRI. Professor Crabb is a molecular biologist with a particular interest in infectious diseases and in health issues of the developing world. His personal research is the development of a malaria vaccine and the identification of new treatments for this disease.

He is the current Chair of the US-based Malaria Vaccine Science Portfolio Advisory Committee, the oversight group for the major malaria vaccines under development. He is also Chairman of Alfred Medical Research and Education Precinct (AMREP) Council, Chairman of the PATH/Malaria Vaccine Initiative Science Portfolio Advisory Committee in the US.

Professor Crabb holds Professorial appointments at The University of Melbourne and Monash Universities and is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences. Until his appointment as Director of the Burnet Institute he was a Senior Principal Research Fellow of the National Health & Medical Research Council of Australia, and an International Research Fellow of the US-based Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

He serves on the Scientific Advisory Boards of the Sanger Institute’s Malaria Program and the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Science. Professor Crabb was the Editor-in-Chief of the world’s leading parasitology research journal the International Journal for Parasitology from 2006 to 2009 and remains on its editorial board along with that of Nature Communications and F1000 Reports.

He was awarded a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in the 2015 Australia Day Honours for his contributions to medical research and global health.

 

Professor Tony Bacic

BSc (Hons), PhD, FAA

(Appointed 2013)

Professor Tony Bacic is Director of the La Trobe Institute for Sustainable Agriculture & Food (LISAF), La Trobe University, and the Australian Research Council (ARC) Research Hub for Medicinal Agriculture. He is a current board member of the Gene Technology Access Centre, and a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.  Internationally recognised as a leader in plant biotechnology, his research is focused on the structure, function and biosynthesis of plant cell walls and their biotechnological application, medicinal agriculture, as well as the application of functional genomics tools in biological systems.

 

Dr-Ruth-Kluck-publish-2Associate Professor Ruth Kluck

BSc, PhD

(Appointed 2014)

Associate Professor Ruth Kluck is laboratory head in the Blood Cells and Blood Cancer Division at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, where her main focus is the biochemistry of apoptotic cell death. Following PhD studies at the University of Queensland, she undertook postdoctoral training with Don Newmeyer in San Diego, where she discovered that pro-survival Bcl-2 proteins act by blocking mitochondrial permeabilisation. Continuing this work in Melbourne, her group has made major advances in understanding how Bak and Bax form pores in mitochondrial membranes, including the symmetric dimerisation model of Bak and Bax oligomerisation.

 

Dr Andrew Nash

Senior Vice President, Research, CSL Limited

(Appointed 2016)

Andrew Nash completed his PhD in immunology at The University of Melbourne in 1988 and, after moving to the Centre for Animal Biotechnology in the Faculty of Veterinary Science, developed and led a research group focused on basic and applied aspects of cytokine biology. In 1996 he joined the ASX listed biotechnology company Zenyth Therapeutics (then Amrad Corporation) as a senior scientist and subsequently held a number of positions including Director of Biologicals Research and Chief Scientific Officer.  In July of 2005 he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Zenyth, a position which he held up until the acquisition of Zenyth by CSL Limited in November 2006.  Following the acquisition he was appointed as CSL’s SVP, Research and is currently based at the Bio21 Institute where he leads a large global effort focused on the discovery and development of new protein-based medicines to treat serious human disease.

 

Professor Jan H. van Driel

PhD, MSc

(Appointed 2017)

Jan van Driel is a professor of science education at the Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne. After obtaining a Master’s degree in chemistry (1984), he worked as a teacher of chemistry in a secondary school and did a PhD, which focused on the teaching and learning of chemical equilibrium. From 1995-2016, he worked at Leiden University Graduate School of Teaching, the Netherlands. In 2006 he was appointed full professor of science education. Since 2016, he leads the Mathematics, Science and Technology Education Group at the Faculty of Education. His research interests include science teacher knowledge, teacher education and professional learning, science and gender, and interdisciplinary science and STEM education.

 

 

Professor Hayley Newton

(Appointed 2017)

Professor Hayley Newton is a cellular microbiologist with a keen interest in understanding the ways in which intracellular bacterial pathogens can manipulate their human host cells. She has worked with a range of bacterial pathogens, but her main research impact has come from studies into the zoonotic pathogen Coxiella burnetii. As a pathogen of both humans and animals, Coxiella, remains an important example of the need for a one health approach for research into human health and disease.

After completing her PhD at Monash University, Hayley was awarded a NHMRC Training Fellowship to undertake postdoctoral research at Yale University. Here she developed pioneering techniques to genetically manipulate Coxiella and discovered key virulence factors of this poorly understood human pathogen. These findings have led to a significant shift in our understanding of this mysterious intracellular pathogen. Hayley moved to the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Melbourne, at the Peter Doherty Institute in 2013 where she established her independent research program and a substantial teaching portfolio. In 2022, Hayley was recruited to the Infection Program, Department of Microbiology and Biomedicine Discovery Institute, at Monash University. Prof Newton is the Deputy Head and Graduate Research Coordinator for the Department of Microbiology. Hayley is also actively involved in the Australian Society for Microbiology being elected the Vice President of Scientific Affairs in 2022.

 

Professor Michael Parker

DPhil, FAA, FAHMS

(Appointed 2020)

Professor Michael Parker is Director of the Bio21 Institute, University of Melbourne and Head of Structural Biology, St. Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne. He is also an NHMRC Investigator Fellow in the Department of Biochemistry and Pharmacology at Bio21. Michael completed a Bachelor Science degree with a major in chemistry at ANU followed by a D. Phil. in protein crystallography from Oxford University, Michael returned to Australia to re-establish a protein crystallography laboratory at St. Vincent’s in 1991. He has published over 300 papers and his work has been recognised with numerous awards including the 2011 Lemberg Medal of the Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the 2011 Ramaciotti Medal for Excellence in Biomedical Research, and the 2012 Federation of Asian and Oceanian Biochemists and Molecular Biologists Award for Research Excellence. He was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2010 and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences in 2015. He has been closely associated with drug discovery and development for nearly 20 years. He was Head of Biota’s Structural Biology Lab (2000-2014) and Head of the structural biology node of the CRC for Cancer Therapeutics (2007-2014).

 

Jeffrey Naqvi

MSc, BCom, SFHEA FPRIA MAICD

(Appointed 2022)

Jeffrey Naqvi is an education scientist and currently leads the Master of Communication at RMIT University, and the Graduate Certificate in Digital Communication Strategy with RMIT Online. He is also the appointed Industry Fellow to the Bachelor of Communication (Public Relations) program.

For six years, he served as a Patron for the Freemasons Centre for Male Health and Wellbeing. Jeffrey’s education research focus centres on: work-integrated learning, to develop the next generation workforce; educational assessment equity, to ensure education is not only accessible but attainable for all; and, the gamification of learning. He has been awarded numerous grants in recent years, in the area of innovative course design using technology. He was appointed to the pilot of the Australian Technology Network’s Frontiers program, designing one of three online learning courses across six universities for Higher Degree by Research students to facilitate their transition into professional practice.

He is internationally recognised in his disciplinary fields: a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in the UK, as well as a Fellow of the Public Relations Institute of Australia. He works with Synthesis School, a US ‘edtech’ start-up from Elon Musk’s Astra Nova school, focusing on the gamification of learning for 8-14 year old children around the world to progress their stated mission to ‘accelerate human progress through education’ through alternate education models.

Prior to entering academia in 2015, Jeffrey worked in industry with over 20 years of experience as an international executive in strategy, commercial development, public relations, and marketing. His sectoral experience spans professional services, government, financial services, and IT and has worked in developed and developing economies, equipping him with a strong sense of cross-cultural awareness. He is also a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, having held previous board positions in Australia as well as overseas, where he was the Oceania regional delegate-at-large on the board of the Global Alliance of Public Relations and Communication Management, located in Switzerland.