Melanoma Institute Australia all-stars Professor Georgina Long and Professor Richard Scolyer are the 2024 Australians of the Year.
Meet your new Australians of the Year, Professor Georgina Long and Professor Richard Scolyer.
Thanks to their lifesaving research, advanced melanoma is now a curable disease. pic.twitter.com/XahHciZaDg
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) January 25, 2024
They are the first clinician recipients since eye surgeon Dr James Muecke in 2020 and the first duo to share the honour since Thailand cave rescuers Dr Richard Harris and Dr Craig Challen in 2019.
Both Professor Long and Professor Scolyer, medical co-directors at Melanoma Institute Australia, are no strangers to accolades from their professions – locally and internationally – and the community.
They have both been recognised as Officers of the Order (AO) in 2020 and 2021 respectively for their distinguished service to medicine – particularly as clinicians and researchers focussed on melanoma – and to professional medical societies.
Both were inducted as Fellows of the prestigious Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences in 2017, with Professor Long also awarded the Academy’s Outstanding Female Researcher Medal in 2021.
Medical oncologist Professor Long and pathologist Professor Scolyer have also both received the University of Sydney’s Vice-Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence for Outstanding Research in 2021.
She was also awarded the 2023 MOGA – Novartis Oncology Cancer Achievement Award.
Both have stellar global reputations and have led or contributed to international clinical trials, expert panels, scientific committees and working groups.
In 2023, Professor Scolyer received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for Melanoma Research and a Founder’s Award from the American Society of Dermatopathology.
Their prolific and highly cited publications – individually and together – guarantee both regularly sit at or near the top of melanoma talent lists in various international rankings such as Expertscape and Clarivate.
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