Hamish Scott

Biography

Professor Hamish Scott did his PhD (1992) and first post-doc at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital and the University of Adelaide. During these 7 years he led the discovery of genes for 3 rare human diseases. After 11 more years this resulted in either FDA approved therapy (2003) or clinical trials of novel therapies for these diseases. In 1995, Hamish moved to the University of Geneva Medical School in Switzerland. His focus was, and remains, the application of genetic and genomic technologies to understand diseases processes to improve diagnoses and treatment. He led international collaborations in identification of human genes causing Down syndrome and rare forms of genetic deafness and autoimmunity (e.g. arthritis and multiple sclerosis). This continues to have profound effects on our understanding of basic biology of Down syndrome, hearing and the immune system and lead to new therapeutic strategies in these and related diseases. This was also the start of his interest in cancer and leukemia as children with Down syndrome have a low incidence of solid tumours and a high incidence of leukemia. This is also when he started to work on familial predisposition to leukemia.

Research Interest

Medicine,Medical Education,Research,etc