Professor Ian Frazer

Biography

Professor Ian Frazer is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Research Director of the Translational Research Institute (TRI) in Brisbane, Australia. In his role as CEO, Professor Frazer is charged with leading the $354 million TRI to achieve its mission of being Australia's first institute, and one of only a few in the world, to research, trial and manufacture breakthrough drugs in the one location, once construction is complete in 2012. The TRI will accommodate up to 650 researchers from the four TRI partners: The University of Queensland, Queensland University of Technology, Mater Medical Research Institute and the Princess Alexandra Hospital.   

Research Interest

Internationally renowned for the co-creation of the technology for the cervical cancer vaccines, Professor Frazer began his career as a renal physician and clinical immunologist in Edinburgh, Scotland before emigrating in 1981 to Melbourne, Australia. He continued his clinical training and pursued studies in viral immunology and autoimmunity at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research with Professor Ian Mackay. In 1985, Professor Frazer accepted a teaching post with The University of Queensland and was appointed Director of The University of Queensland Diamantina Institute in 1991. In early 2011, Professor Frazer relinquished directorship of the Institute to commence in-post as CEO of the TRI. He retains an active research program at the Institute in immune responses to cancer and cancer immunotherapy.  Professor Frazer was awarded the 2005 CSIRO Eureka Prize for Leadership in Science and was selected as Queenslander of the Year, and Australian of the Year in 2006. He was also awarded the 2008 Prime Minister's Prize for Science, the 2008 Balzan Prize for Preventive Medicine, the 2009 Honda Prize and was recently elected as a Fellow of the esteemed Royal Society of London.