Australian of the Year 2006, Professor Ian Frazer, will this evening follow in the footsteps of some of Australia’s greatest medical researchers, including Nobel Laureates Professor Barry Marshall and Professor Robin Warren, by being awarded the Merck Sharp & Dohme Florey Medal.
The prestigious honour is part of the Australian Institute of Policy and Science’s Tall Poppy Campaign and named after Australia’s first Nobel Laureate in Medicine, Sir Howard Florey, who made an indelible print on world health by developing penicillin.
The award comes as a clinical trial is about to get underway in Vanuatu to establish how effectively cervical cancer can be controlled in the developing world, where disease rates are higher than in the Western world, through use of appropriate screening technologies and deployment of the vaccine Professor Frazer created with his colleague, the late Dr Jian Zhou.
The study will also guide cervical cancer prevention strategies in resource poor settings and test the utility of delivering the vaccine to young children as part of a routine childhood immunisation schedule.
In addition, Professor Frazer’s research is now being developed by two Australian biotechnology companies to develop break-through approaches to treatment and prevention of Herpes and Hepatitis C.
Professor Rick McLean, Chair of the Tall Poppy Campaign and member of the Selection Committee for the Merck Sharp & Dohme Florey Medal, said the bi-annual accolade was created in 1998, the centenary of Sir Howard Florey’s birth, to celebrate world standing achievements in biomedical science and human health advancement by Australian researchers.
"Around 20 top ranking scientists were in the running for this year’s medal. Professor Frazer was the clear winner reflecting the public health significance of the cervical cancer vaccine here and around the world," he said.
Professor McLean said the first winners of the Florey Medal went on to be acknowledged globally with the 2005 Nobel Prize in Medicine for their discovery of the cause of gastritis and stomach ulcers and that 80 percent of cases could be permanently cured with antibiotics.
"We hope we are equally as far-sighted with our selection of Professor Frazer for this year’s medal," he said.
Professor Frazer said he is humbled and honoured to have been chosen by his peers for inclusion on an honour roll of such distinguished Australian scientists who have contributed greatly to global understanding of disease and its management.
2007 Merck Sharp & Dohme Howard Florey Medal Selection Committee:
- Professor Fred Mendelsohn, Director, Howard Florey Institute, Melbourne (Chair)
- Professor Rick McLean, Chair, Australian Institute of Policy and Science and the Tall Poppy Campaign
- Professor Judith Whitworth, Director, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Canberra
- Professor John Chalmers, Senior Director, The George Institute for International Health, Sydney
- Professor Frank Fenner, 2002 Prime Minister’s Prize for Science, Japan Prize 1988 (equivalent to the Nobel Prize but for applied science), Visiting Fellow at
- John Curtin School of Medical Research, Canberra
- Professor Peter Rathjen, Dean of Science, University of Melbourne
- Emeritus Professor Graham Macdonald, External Licensing Co-ordinator, Merck Sharp & Dohme (Australia)
- Dr Fiona Wood, Head of Royal Perth Hospital’s Burns Unit and Director, West Australia Burns Service
- Robyn WIlliams, ABC Science Show, National
- Dr Aileen Plant, Deputy Director, Australian Biosecurities CRC, Perth
About Howard Florey
In 1938 Adelaide-born Howard Florey was the first person in the world to make penicillin. While the antibiotic properties of mould had been known for hundreds of years, no-one had been able to identify the active ingredient. Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928 but was not able to extract it from his cultures of mould. Howard Florey led the team of scientists that purified penicillin, showed it could kill bacteria in people and produced it in mass quantities, saving the lives of millions around the world. He shared the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1945.
Merck, sponsor of the Florey Medal, was the first pharmaceutical company to manufacture penicillin, allowing patients to be treated with industry-produced penicillin in March 1942.
Released by Crossman Communications on behalf of Merck Sharp & Dohme and The Australian Institute of Policy & Science. For more information, or an interview with Professor Frazer, please contact Jackie Crossman, 0402 218 662.