Anne Kelso

After completing a BSc(Honours) and PhD at the University of Melbourne, I undertook biomedical research in Switzerland, Melbourne and Brisbane. While at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, I was also Director/CEO of the Cooperative Research Centre for Vaccine Technology (2000-2006), before returning to Melbourne in 2007 as Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza. In the latter role, I was involved in global surveillance of human influenza viruses, advising on the composition of influenza vaccines and pandemic preparedness. In 2015, I moved to Canberra as CEO of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), reporting to the Minister for Health and Aged Care and overseeing the delivery of national health and medical research grants and the development of evidence-based health guidelines and national research ethics guidelines. There I led major reform of NHMRC's grant program and a significant initiative to improve gender equality in health and medical research. Having retired from NHMRC in mid-2023 and returned to Melbourne, I am now serving on a number of scientific advisory committees for the medical research sector and government in Australia and Singapore. I was appointed Officer in the Order of Australia in 2007 for service to science, elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences in 2018, and awarded an honorary Doctor of Medical Science by the University of Melbourne in 2023.