Inaugural university chair and fellowship recipient

Dr Julia Ellyard has been presented with the inaugural Judith Whitworth Fellowship for Gender Equality in Science at the Australian National University (ANU).

The fellowship provides two years of salary plus research support of up to $50,000 for early- to mid-career scientists who have experienced significant career disruption as a result of maternity or parental leave.

Ellyard, who has three young children, works on autoimmune diseases in the department of Pathogens and Immunity at The John Curtin School of Medical Research (JCSMR).

“It is hard coming back to work when you’ve got small children, it can take 1-2 years to get back to where you were before,” Ellyard said in a statement.

The fellowship will enable Ellyard to re-establish scientific projects, strengthen her track record and regain national and international competitiveness when applying for independent external research funding.

The fellowship is named in honour of Professor Judith Whitworth, past director of the JCSMR, and is supported by JCSMR, The John Curtin Medical Research Foundation and the ANU Workplace giving program.

Meanwhile, distinguished medical researcher Professor Ross Hannan has become the inaugural Centenary Chair in Cancer Research at the ANU.

Currently based at Melbourne’s Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Hannan will take up the new position in 2015.

“I plan to establish a new internationally competitive department focused on understanding the fundamental mechanisms of cancer biology and translating this into new treatments for cancer sufferers,” Hannan said in a statement.

A joint project of the ANU and the ACT Government - the government provided $1.5 million - the new position will foster collaboration between Canberra medical specialists and scientists at JCSMR and across ANU.

Hannan’s appointment was announced at a special ceremony at ANU that also marks the start of a new ACT health partnership, Synergy in Canberra for Health (SynCH).

The SynCH partnership is a formal collaboration between ANU, University of Canberra, ACT Health and Medicare Local that spans the ACT and includes primary care, acute care and preventative population health. It will bring clinicians, educators and researchers together and help educate health professionals at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, as well as provide continuing professional development.