22 August 2019
Research Australia has welcomed to its Board, Professor Melissa Little, Theme Director of Cell Biology at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Program Leader of Stem Cells Australia, Professor, Department of Pediatrics, and Honorary Professor, Anatomy and Neuroscience Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne.
Research Australia Chairman, Chris Chapman said, “Professor Little joins the national peak body for health and medical research, as one of the country’s leading research minds.
“Her appointment to the Board is further testament to the prominence of Research Australia’s Directors, who hail from across the health and medical research sector and we are proud that Professor Little is adding her significant expertise to the Research Australia mission.
“Professor Little’s appointment provides further insight and guidance into the research landscape particularly as her work has encompassed the whole of the pipeline, from fundamental through to translational research and commercialisation”.
Research Australia’s Managing Director and CEO, Nadia Levin said, “Along with international recognition for her work into potential regenerative therapies for kidney disease, Professor Little is a leader in research policy. She has participated in a number of key government reviews, including the Wills Review, which led to the formation of Research Australia in 2000, and the more recent McKeon Review.”
Professor Little said that she was pleased to be joining the Board of Research Australia which has a unique position as the national peak body of health and medical research. “I look forward to contributing to its advocacy for better health and economic outcomes for the whole of the research pipeline.
“I am keen to ensure that health and medical research is appropriately recognised for its critical contribution to all of our lives, and I am looking forward to working with my fellow Research Australia Directors to progress these opportunities”.
Professor Little’s work has been recognised by many awards, including the GlaxoSmithKline Award for Research Excellence (2005), the Australian Academy of Sciences Gottschalk Medal in Medical Sciences (2004), an Eisenhower Fellowship (2006), a Boorhaave Professorship, Leiden University (2015), the UNSW Eureka Prize (2016), the NHMRC Elizabeth Blackburn Fellowship Biomedical (2018), an Honorary Doctorate, Leiden University (2019), and the Alfred Newton Richards Award (2019). She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Academy for Health and Medical Sciences.
Professor Little and our recently announced Board Director, Professor Dawn Freshwater of the University of Western Australia, join esteemed sector leaders on The Research Australia Board including:
- Chair Chris Chapman
- Dep Chair Peter Wills AC
- Director Prof Ian Jacobs, UNSW Sydney
- Director Dr Andrew Nash, CSL Ltd
- Director A/Prof Annette Schmiede, Bupa Health Foundation
- Director A/Prof Greg Kaplan, Ingham Institute
- Director Prof Nicholas Fisk, UNSW Sydney
- Director Prof Mary Foley AM, Telstra Health
- Director Jenny Morawska, The Morawska Group
- Director Prof Alexandra McManus
- CEO & MD Nadia Levin
