Immunologist Professor Fabienne Mackay, whose research interests include lupus and CLL, has been appointed the eighth Director and CEO of QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute.
Currently head of the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Melbourne, Professor Mackay will move to Brisbane for a mid-May start.
Professor Mackay told the limbic it was an honour and an exciting opportunity to lead a research institute that was so highly regarded across the nation and internationally.
She was particularly enthusiastic about the Institute’s breadth of expertise – from making early discoveries in the laboratory, to testing those discoveries in the clinic, to population studies, epidemiology and public health.
“That’s a very nice and very powerful pipeline. It means the expertise is there to take an early discovery all the way to the bedside.”
Professor Mackay said she brings to the position a strong background in biomedical research and the drive to see results.
“…I’ve also worked in industry. I’ve done a lot of research that I have translated into treatment especially in lupus,” she said.
“We don’t want to do research for research’s sake, which is very important, but making sure that what we discover actually gets to the patients.”