QIMR salutes its first Officer
Queensland Institute of Medical Research staff and supporters are celebrating the public acknowledgement of the work of Director, Professor Michael Good. Professor Good was included in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list as an Officer of the Order of Australia. Professor Good was awarded the AO in recognition of his service to medical research, particularly in the fields of infectious disease immunology and vaccine technology, as well as his leadership roles at QIMR and his outstanding contribution to science education. Late last year, Professor Good and his team entered into a research collaboration with global pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. to develop a vaccine against Group A Streptococcus (GAS), which infects almost 2 million people around the world each year, resulting in over 500,000 deaths annually. |
“A vaccine to prevent GAS infections would not only have major health benefits for developed countries but the impact on Australia’s Indigenous communities who suffer the highest reported cases of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease in the world would be outstanding.” In other research, Professor Good and his team are working to commence clinical trials for a vaccine against malaria in the near future. Infecting up to four children each minute of every day, malaria causes at least 1 million deaths around the world each year. QIMR has grown significantly in terms of size and quality of research since Professor Good’s appointment as Director seven years ago. Under his leadership, QIMR is well positioned to become Australia’s premier medical research institute with the imminent construction of the Smart State Medical Research Centre which, when fully operational, will house up to 400 additional scientists. In April this year, Professor Good co-chaired the health stream on developing a long-term national health strategy at the Prime Minister’s 2020 Summit in Canberra. |
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| Professor Michael Good becomes Officer of the Order of Australia | ||||