Leading scientist throws in the labcoat

The Australian National University will be using the 12th Frank and Bobbie Fenner Conference to honour the retirement of Emeritus Prof Frank Fenner, the Australian scientist who oversaw the eradication of smallpox.

Fenner, a former director of the John Curtin School of Medical Research (JCSMR) and its founding chair of microbiology, will end his impressive 70-year career in medical science at the end of this year.

His retirement will bring about the end of an era at the school and the university, said JCSMR director Prof Judith Whitworth.

“It’s impossible to put into words the contribution Prof Fenner has made to the school, the university and Australia at large. This conference celebrates his achievements, along with those of the people who have followed in his footsteps,” said Whitworth.

After an early career in medicine and the Army Medical Corps, working on the malaria parasite, Fenner joined JCSMR in 1949 and was director from 1967 to 1973. At the end of his tenure at JCSMR, he set up the Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies at ANU. In 1983, he returned to the school as a visiting fellow.

Fenner has been recognised with numerous awards, including the Britannica Australia Award for Medicine (1967), the Japan Prize (1988) and the Prime Minister’s Science Prize (2002).

This year’s conference will detail the advances in medical research during the course of Fenner’s career, including new vaccination strategies against diseases, the threats posed by emerging pathogens and emerging therapies for cancer and asthma.

The conference also highlights the successes of the school with a seminar led by 1996 Nobel laureates, Prof Peter Doherty and Prof Rolf Zinkernagel, examining immunological developments since their Nobel Prize-winning work at ANU.

The conference, which is also named in honour of Fenner’s late wife, will be held at the John Curtin School of Medical Research from 24-26 October.