Geoff Hill awarded Australia Fellowship

QIMR’s Professor Geoff Hill awarded Australia Fellowship

Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR) researcher Professor Geoff Hill has been awarded a prestigious Australia Fellowship by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). The Fellowship, worth $800,000 per annum for five years, will be used to improve the outcome for transplant patients.

“It is huge honour to receive the Australia Fellowship. The funding will allow the expansion of the Bone Marrow Transplantation Laboratory at QIMR and Royal Brisbane and  Women’s Hospital (RBWH),” said Professor Geoff Hill.

“Bone marrow or stem cell transplantation is currently the most effective therapy for blood-derived malignancies such as leukaemia and inherited immune deficiencies. Unfortunately due to complications which occur post transplant mortality rates are high. The Fellowship will allow us to study new treatments that focus on overcoming the current limitations and improving transplant outcomes.”

“Stem cell transplantation also provides a valuable insight into the immune response and can help improve our understanding of immunotherapy, graft rejection and immune tolerance. We want to untangle the desirable immune responses from undesirable ones to further improve outcomes for cancer and transplant patients.”

“The funding will support our current research as well as training a new generation of transplant immunologists and transplant clinicians. It will also allow investment within the haematology and immunology discipline, promoting professional activities to progress the research into multicentre studies within Australia and internationally.”

Australia Fellowships are the most prestigious of the NHMRC fellowships and awards with only six awarded this year. They are designed to support the most outstanding and creative health and medical researchers across the range of disciplines in biomedical, clinical, health services and public health research and are highly competitive among leading researchers both in Australia and around the world.