Welcome to Laureate Professor Peter Doherty AC

Society members and guests were delighted to welcome and induct Professor Peter Doherty AC as our 2017 Fellow. Peter is well known in the science community as a vigorous advocate for the role of science in society and a proponent of the scientific method. He is celebrated for his outstanding achievement in the field of infection control and immunology, recognised through the award of the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology in 1996.

The presence of a Nobel Laureate was too good to pass up, and we took the opportunity to induct 16 excited new members with Professor Doherty! A very warm welcome to Colin Abbott, Sandy Chauhan, Jerry Courvisanos, Shanu Dissanayake, Alan Duffy, Biruh Gebretsadik, Aruna Hewa, Arjumand Khan, Milosh lee, Winshon Lozada Restrepo, Marija Pavela, Suranji Dewage, Imen Saidi, Tim Thompson, Jose Villarreal Diaz and Carolina Zuluaga. If you’re a new member and yet to sign in, don’t worry – our meetings are twice monthly. Just let us know if you plan to join us and we’ll have your welcome pack ready for you.

With our Fellow and new members all safely inducted, Professor Doherty then delivered a rousing exploration of his scientific work and a far-ranging exploration of the status of science in society, particularly in our worrying ‘post-truth’ era of US leadership. Titled “The Challenges Facing Us,” Peter’s talk touched on many of the concerns held by members of the Society, and generously answered many of our niggling questions on a host of diverse and interesting subjects. A wonderful evening of exploration and

discussion, with an eloquent vote of thanks from our new Vice-President, Nicola Williams.