Australia Day Awards and Honours for the Life Sciences community

Service to the Life Sciences was firmly in the spotlight for this year’s Australia Day Awards and Honours list.

Congratulations to joint Australian of the Year winners, melanoma treatment pioneers Professor Georgina Long AO and Professor Richard Scolyer AO, whose immunotherapy work has saved the lives of thousands of people.

Last year, when Richard was diagnosed with incurable grade 4 brain cancer, the pair developed a series of world-first treatments for brain cancer based on their melanoma breakthroughs, and Richard became the world’s first brain cancer patient to have pre-surgery combination immunotherapy.

Champion swimmer and Griffith Health graduate Emma McKeon AM was named the 2024 Young Australian of the Year: the most decorated Australian Olympian of all time, Emma is currently part of the Griffith Swim Team and will compete at this year’s Olympic and Paralympic Games.

A warm congratulations to members of our Queensland life sciences community who received Australia Day Honours.

UQ Vice-Chancellor Professor Deborah Terry AC was one of four people receiving the Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), for her innovations in higher education and services to the community.

Life Sciences professionals named members of the Order of Australia (AM):

·      Professor Arthur Bruce Abernethy, Executive Dean of the UQ Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences, for significant service to education in the field of health and behavioural science.

·      Mr Adrian Samuel Carson, CEO of the Institute for Urban Indigenous Health, for significant service to Indigenous health through research and development programs.

·      Professor Gail Garvey, for her significant service to IndigenousHealth and CancerResearch

·      TRI-based kidney researcher, professor Carmel Hawley AM from Queensland Health and UQ, for significant service to kidney medicine as a researcher, clinician and mentor.

·      Professor Neil Menzies, Dean of Agriculture at UQ, for his significant service to science, and to tertiary education

·      Mrs Patricia Neely, a founding member and recently retired Board member for the Australian Amyloidosis Network, for significant service to community health, and to the community via the

·      Mrs Beverley Trivett, for significant service to community health through brain cancer research.

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Main image: Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) medal.

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