The Academy is delighted to announce Professor Ingrid Scheffer AO FRS FAA FAHMS as our President Elect. She will formally take up the role of President at our AGM in October 2019, when Professor Ian Frazer AC FRS FAA FTSE FAHMS steps down as President. Professor Scheffer is Chair of Paediatric Neurology Research at The University of Melbourne and Senior Principal Research Fellow at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health.
Professor Scheffer will be the Academy’s second President and first female President. She was the Academy’s Vice President immediately prior to her announcement as President Elect. Professor Frazer has served as the Academy’s Inaugural President since 2014 and will become our Immediate Past President.
Professor Scheffer officially began her role as President Elect at the Academy’s AGM on 11 October 2018, at which two Council members were also elected:
- Professor David Mackey FAHMS becomes our new State Branch Chair for Western Australia. Professor Mackey is Managing Director at the Lions Eye Institute and Director of the Centre for Ophthalmology and Visual Science, University of Western Australia. He takes over the role from Professor Steve Webb.
- Professor Terry Nolan FAHMS joins Council as an Ordinary Member. Professor Nolan is Head of the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne.
This election brings the Academy’s Council to 20 members in total – of which 10 are women and 10 are men. Further information on the Academy’s Board and Council is available on the Governance page of our website.
Professor Ingrid Scheffer
Laureate Professor Ingrid Scheffer is a physician-scientist whose work as a paediatric neurologist and epileptologist at the University of Melbourne has led the field of epilepsy genetics over more than 25 years, in collaboration with Professor Samuel Berkovic and molecular geneticists. Together they identified the first epilepsy gene and many genes subsequently. Professor Scheffer has described many novel epilepsy syndromes and refined genotype–phenotype correlation of many disorders.
Her major interests are genetics of the epilepsies, speech and language disorders, autism spectrum disorders, and translational research. She led the first major reclassification of the epilepsies in three decades for the International League Against Epilepsy. She has received many awards: 2007 American Epilepsy Society Clinical Research Recognition Award, ILAE Ambassador for Epilepsy Award, 2013 Australian Neuroscience Medallion, and the 2012 L’Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science Laureate for the Asia-Pacific region.
In 2014, she was a co-recipient of the Prime Minister’s Prize of Science, and awarded the Order of Australia. She has sat on the NHMRC since 2015. In 2014 she became the inaugural Vice-President of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences and in 2018 was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of London.