CSIRO appoints new health sciences and nutrition chief

CSIRO Chief Executive, Dr Geoff Garrett, has announced the appointment of Dr Graeme Woodrow as the new Chief of the Division of Health Sciences and Nutrition. Dr Woodrow will lead CSIRO's research into nutrition, drug design and the development of diagnostics for diseases.

"We are indeed fortunate to attract somebody of Dr Woodrow's calibre to this position. He has over 25 years of diverse experience in the field of biotechnology in both academia and industry," Dr Garrett says.

Most recently Dr Woodrow has been Chief Executive Officer and Director of Inhalix Pty Ltd, a medical device and diagnostic company based in Sydney. From 1983 to 1997 he worked for Biotech Australia Pty Ltd in various research and management roles covering human health and biopharmaceuticals. In 1997 he joined AgrEvo (subsequently Aventis CropScience) as Global Head of Genomics and Bioinformatics Acquisitions (based in Germany) and later played a key role in technology identification, assessment and acquisition in Biotechnology R&D (Belgium). He joined Inhalix in early 2001.

Dr Woodrow did his first degree in microbiology at the University of Sydney followed by a PhD in biochemistry at the John Curtin School of Medical Research at the ANU. He undertook his postdoctoral training at Cambridge, Basel and Vancouver before returning to Monash University as a CSL (Commonwealth Serum Laboratories) Research Fellow.

"He has an excellent track record of research, management, planning and in building biotech-based businesses," Dr Garrett says. "He also has extensive experience in commercialisation of research across a number of domains."

Dr Woodrow will replace Dr Richard Head who has moved into a new role as Director of a major CSIRO research initiative in preventative health. Dr Woodrow will join the Division in mid-December 2002, taking on the Chief's role in mid-January 2003.