Professor Richard Kitching is a Nephrologist physician-scientist who has made sustained and important contributions to our understanding of kidney disease. These include defining the roles of T lymphocytes and their subsets in mediating kidney injury, and the protective role of regulatory T cells in immune kidney disease. He has defined key parts of molecules that cause renal and systemic autoimmune diseases, establishing a framework for more specific therapies. His work has recently moved beyond immune kidney disease to answer a fundamental question in the biology of HLA and antigen recognition, with implications for both the understanding and future treatment of diseases.

Professor Alan Cowman is an expert in the field of malaria and his work has determined how malaria parasites evade lethal effects of important antimalarial drugs. This knowledge allowed detection of drug resistant malaria parasites to understand prevalence and spread of drug resistance, important for developing public policy on antimalarial use. He developed tools to manipulate the parasite genome and constructed genetically attenuated parasites as novel avenues to develop vaccines which have progressed to human clinical trials. His work has identified new targets in the malaria parasite for development of antimalarials which are currently in development with Merck USA.

Professor John Bertram is internationally recognised for his outstanding research contributions in kidney developmental biology, developmental origins of kidney and cardiovascular health and disease, and quantitative imaging. He has shown that low nephron number in kidneys is linked to high blood pressure and kidney disease in animals and several human populations. These findings have contributed to initiatives to develop approaches for the non-invasive imaging and counting of glomeruli which is anticipated to improve clinical management of people with, and at risk of developing, kidney disease and hypertension. He has played significant roles in mentorship of young students and scientists.

Professor Monica Slavin is Director of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and a Centre of Research Excellence in Infections in cancer. She is an international leader in the specialised field of infections in patients whose immune systems are compromised. Whilst involved in direct patient care, she has built a research group fostering multidisciplinary collaboration and health services research. She is renowned for her mentorship of a new generation of independent clinician researchers. She has held long term national leadership roles through the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases, published 248 original research articles (cited over 8,000 times), attracted >$10 million dollars in research funding, is editor of six scientific journals and has supervised 12 PhD students.