Our highly esteemed Medical Research Advisory Committee (MRAC) reviews, scrutinises, and competitively evaluates funding applications from Australian researchers, across a wide spectrum of projects.
As senior medical research professionals themselves, our MRAC have a detailed understanding of the global cancer research landscape and they will only endorse the most promising projects that have potential to provide us with the greatest health and social returns.
Procedures of the Committee include:
Membership of the ACRF Medical Research Advisory Committee is authorised by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).
PROFESSOR MICHELLE HABER AM, BSC (PSYCH) (HONS), PHD, HON DSC (UNSW), FAHMS
Co-Chair of the ACRF Medical Research Advisory Committee
Appointed to the MRAC in 2012. Executive Director, Children’s Cancer Institute Australia, Sydney; Head of Program, Experimental Therapeutics; Conjoint Professor, Faculty of Medicine, University of NSW.
PROFESSOR RICKY JOHNSTONE PHD
Appointed to the MRAC in 2019. Executive Director Cancer Research, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre; Professorial Fellow (Professor), The Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology, University of Melbourne; Associate Director of Laboratory Research, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre; NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellowship. The Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre; Senior Fellow in the Department of Biochemistry, University of Melbourne; Assistant Director of Research, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre; Co-Head, Cancer Therapeutics Program, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR PRATITI (MIMI) BANDOPADHAYAY, MBBS, PHD
Appointed to MRAC in 2025. Pediatric neuro-oncologist and scientist within the Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Harvard Medical School, and an Institute Member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. She also serves as a faculty member for the Harvard Medical School PhD Program
PROFESSOR MICHAEL BROWN MBBS, FRACP, FRCPA
Appointed to the MRAC in 2016. Director, Cancer Clinical Trials Unit, and Senior Consultant, Department of Medical Oncology, Royal Adelaide Hospital Cancer Centre; Clinical Professor, School of Medicine, The University of Adelaide; Affiliate Professor, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide; Adjunct Professor, School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of South Australia; Head, Translational Oncology Laboratory, Centre for Cancer Biology, SA Pathology, Adelaide.
PROFESSOR GEOFF HILL MBCHB, MD, FRACP, FRCPA
Appointed to the MRAC in 2008. NHRMC Aust Fellow. Full Member José Carreras / E. Donnall Thomas Endowed Chair for Cancer Research; Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center; Director of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance; Professor of Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology, University of Washington
PROFESSOR PETER LEEDMAN AO, MBBS, PHD, FRACP, FAHMS
Appointed to the MRAC in 2019. Director, Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, WA; Professor of Medicine, University of WA.
PROFESSOR ANGEL LOPEZ MBBS, PHD, FRCPA, FAA
Appointed to the MRAC in 2014. Centre for Cancer Biology; Head of Division of Human Immunology, Centre for Cancer Biology, Adelaide.
PROFESSOR MARINA PAJIC, MSC (HONS), PHD
Appointed to the MRAC in 2025. Co-Director of the Translational Oncology Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research; Conjoint Professor, Faculty of Medicine University of New South Wales Sydney; Head of the Personalised Cancer Therapeutics laboratory, Garvan Institute. Snow Medical Research Fellowship and NHMRC Investigator in understanding and targeting therapeutic resistance of pancreas cancer, Garvan Institute.
PROFESSOR HELEN RIZOS BSC (HONS1), PHD
Appointed to the MRAC in 2019. NHMRC Senior Research Fellow; Head of Department, Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Macquarie University.
PROFESSOR CLARE SCOTT MB AM BS PHD MELBOURNE FRACP
Appointed to the MRAC in 2019. Joint Division Head, Clinical Translation (Cancer), Walter & Eliza Hall Institute; Chair, Gynaecological Cancer, Faculty of Medicine, University of Melbourne; Laboratory Head, Victorian Cancer Agency Clinical Fellow, Cancer Biology and Stem Cells Division, Walter & Eliza Hall Institute.
PROFESSOR ALEXANDER SWARBRICK, BSC (HONS), PHD
Appointed to the MRAC 2025. Laboratory Head and co-Director, Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research. Conjoint Professor, Faculty of Medicine, UNSW.
PROFESSOR CHRISTOPHER SWEENEY, MBBS, DHS, FRACP
Appointed to the MRAC in 2025. Director, South Australian Immunogenomics Cancer Institute and Professor of Medicine University of Adelaide, Australia, Consultant Medical Oncologist Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, Australia.
PROFESSOR.DR SJOERD VAN DER BURG PHD
Appointed to the MRAC in 2017. Advisor for the immunomonitoring of spontaneous and immune therapy induced immune responses at the Dutch Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Full professor in the immunotherapy of solid tumours at the University of Leiden. Head of the laboratory of Experimental Oncology of the departments of Clinical Oncology and Ophthalmology, Leiden University Medical Center, The Netherlands.
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR NICOLE (NIKKI) VERRILLS, BSC (HONS), PHD
Appointed to MRAC in 2025. Professor of Cell Biology and Biochemistry and Deputy Head of School, School of Biomedical Sciences & Pharmacy, University of Newcastle and Hunter Medical Research Institute.
PROFESSOR KAREN VOUSDEN, PHD, CBE, FRS, FRSE, FMEDSCI, FAACR
Appointed to MRAC in 2025. Principal Group Leader, the Francis Crick Institute, London in Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS), and as the Director of the DFCI Pediatric Low-Grade Glioma Program.
DR NIC WADDELL BSC, PHD
Appointed to the MRAC in 2022. Head of the Medical Genomics group and coordinator of the Cancer Program at QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Brisbane, Queensland; Member, Executive Committee for Australian Genomic Technologies Association; Member, Australian Genomics; Research Committee Member, Cure Cancer Australia; Member, Queensland Genomics Community Advisory Group; Co-founder and Board Member, genomiQa; Cancer Institute NSW Research Committee; Associate Member, Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences Mentoring Scheme
PROFESSOR IAN FRAZER AC, FRS, FAA, MB, CHB (EDINBURGH), MD (MELBOURNE)
On sabbatical
Appointed to the MRAC in 2005, Chairman 2009-2017. Professor, School of Medicine, The University of Queensland; Head, Cancer Immunology Program, UQDI; Board Chair, TRI Foundation; Chair, Advisory Board, Medical Research Future Fund.
What your donations have achieved
Cervical cancer vaccine
We gave initial seed funding to Professor Ian Frazer’s research into the cervical cancer (HPV). Over 150 million doses of vaccine have been delivered worldwide to date.
The pill that melts away cancer
Our long term support of cancer research at WEHI has led to a treatment that melts away certain advanced forms of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. It has been approved for clinical use in the US, European Union and Australia and is being trialed for other types of cancer.
Personalised cancer diagnosis
In 2015, we awarded $10 million seed funding to an ambitious cancer proteome project that aims to provide each cancer patient a personalised treatment plan within 36 hours. This will improve treatment outcomes and help avoid unnecessary treatments.
Zero childhood cancer
We are one of the founding partners of the initiative that will tackle the most serious cases of infant, childhood and adolescent cancer in Australia. It is a key step towards the program vision of one day helping to cure 100% of children with cancer.
