President, Australian Academy of Science

Member, IAC Board

Suzanne Cory is one of Australia's most distinguished molecular biologists. She was born in Melbourne, Australia and graduated in biochemistry from The University of Melbourne. She gained her PhD from the University of Cambridge, England and then continued studies at the University of Geneva before returning to Melbourne in 1971, to a research position at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. She was Director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute and Professor of Medical Biology of The University of Melbourne from 1996 to 2009. She is currently a Professorial Research Fellow in the Molecular Genetics of Cancer Division of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute and a Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow of The University of Melbourne. Professor Cory was elected President of the Australian Academy of Science in May 2010.

Cory’s research has had a major impact in the fields of immunology and cancer. Her scientific achievements have attracted numerous honours and awards, including the Burnet Medal of the Australian Academy of Science, the Australia Prize (joint recipient), the Charles S. Mott Prize (joint recipient) of the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation in 1998, a L'Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science Award in 2001 and the Royal Medal of The Royal Society in 2002. She was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 1986, a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1992, a Foreign Member of the US National Academy of Sciences of the US in 1997, a Foreign Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2001, an Associate Foreign Member of the French Academy of Sciences in 2002, an Academician of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in 2004 and an Associate Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization in 2007. In 1999 she was appointed Companion in the General Division of the Order of Australia and in 2009 she was awarded the French decoration of Chevalier de l’Ordre de la Légion d’Honneur.