The 2014 Medal has been won by Professor Jane Visvader from Walter & Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research for Scientific Excellence for her work in the field of Biomedical & Health Sciences.

Jane Visvader is one of Australia’s leading molecular and cellular biologists, with a range of important discoveries spanning her career. She completed her PhD in the Department of Biochemistry, University of Adelaide, before pursuing postdoctoral studies in the Verma Laboratory (Salk Institute, San Diego) and Adams Laboratory (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI)), followed by appointment as Instructor at the Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School in Boston. During this period she made significant contributions to understanding cell fate decisions in the haemopoietic system.

Visvader was recruited to Victoria in late 1997 by the prestigious Victorian Breast Cancer Research Consortium to establish a Breast Cancer Laboratory at WEHI jointly with Professor Geoff Lindeman. This was an important milestone in the Institute’s history cementing its expansion beyond immunology and blood system to a new research field of epithelial cancer biology. Over the last 16 years Visvader has worked closely with Lindeman, building a highly successful research group. Their research focuses on the molecular and cellular regulation of normal mammary gland development and determining how perturbations give rise to breast cancer.

In recognition to her research achievements and leadership in science, Visvader was promoted to Professorial Fellow of the University of Melbourne and in 2010 appointed Joint Head (with Lindeman) of a new Stem Cells and Cancer Division at WEHI.

Note Time Change:  Presentation of the Research Medal and Lecture has been changed to 6:30pm start