Leadership

Professor Kelso is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NHMRC. She was previously Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza in Melbourne, a role she held from 2007 until early 2015. Her earlier research career was spent at the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, where she earned her reputation as a leading researcher in the field of immunology. From 2000 until 2006, she was also Director/CEO of the Cooperative Research Centre for Vaccine Technology.

She has previously served as President of the Australasian Society for Immunology, as Secretary-General of the International Union of Immunological Societies and as a member of several governing boards and advisory groups, including the Council of QUT, the Boards of the Telethon Kids Institute and committees advising the WHO and the Australian Government on influenza. She was appointed Officer in the Order of Australia in June 2007 for service to science.

Professor Brendan Murphy is the Chief Medical Officer for the Commonwealth. Previously, Prof Murphy was Chief Executive Officer of Austin Health for 11 years. Prior to that, he was Professor/Director of Nephrology and Chief Medical Officer at St. Vincent’s Health. He is President of the Victorian Hospitals Industrial Association and is also a Director of the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute, a Professorial Fellow with the title of Professor at Melbourne University and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.

Dr Alan Finkel is Australia’s Chief Scientist. Alan has an extensive science background as an entrepreneur, neuroscientist and educator. Prior to becoming Chief Scientist, he was the Chancellor of Monash University and President of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE). Dr Finkel was awarded his PhD in electrical engineering from Monash University and worked as a postdoctoral research fellow in neuroscience at the Australian National University. In 1983 he founded Axon Instruments, a California-based, ASX-listed company that made precision scientific instruments used at pharmaceutical companies and universities for the discovery of new medicines. After Axon was sold in 2004, Dr Finkel became a director of the acquiring company, NASDAQ-listed Molecular Devices. He is a former Board member of the National Stroke Research Institute and played a crucial role in a successful amalgamation that formed the Florey Neuroscience Institutes.