Building blocks

In 1946, Federal Parliament passed a Bill establishing ANU as the country’s national university. The University comprised four founding research institutes, one of which was the John Curtin School of Medical Research (JCSMR).

Over the following decades, research schools in psychology and population health were established at ANU, and in 2002, a medical school. In 2017, these schools were combined into one specialised college, the College of Health and Medicine, in recognition of the important, and growing, role ANU can play in this field as Australia’s national university.

Our Nobel Laureates

Instrumental to the inception of JCSMR was one of the world’s most eminent scientists, Lord Howard Florey. Florey won the 1945 Nobel Prize in Medicine for developing the therapeutic potential of penicillin and instigating its large scale production.

Following in the footsteps of Lord Howard Florey, Professor John Eccles, founding Professor of Physiology, was awarded the 1963 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his ground-breaking research on the ionic mechanisms of synaptic transmission in the brain.

Thirty three years later, Professors Rolf Zinkernagel and Peter Doherty received the 1996 Nobel Prize in Medicine for their revolutionary work in immunology.

Then and now

The contribution of ANU Professor Frank Fenner to the field of virology is without precedent. Distinguished by his visionary ability to advance cross-disciplinary research, Professor Fenner’s work at JCSMR on the myxoma virus changed the way the scientific community thought about the evolution of disease. Later, he oversaw the global eradication of smallpox, regarded as the greatest achievement of the WHO.

Our extraordinary history informs our bright future. Today, our researchers continue to change lives at a local, national and global level:

Professor Carola Vinuesa, also from JCSMR, has revolutionised treatment for sufferers of autoimmune diseases like lupus, type-1 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis, by providing them personalised medication based on their genetic make-up.

Professor Emily Banks, from the ANU Research School of Population Health, is an epidemiologist whose large-scale cohort studies have provided critically important information for the health of Australians, including links between hormone replacement therapy and breast cancer, and the impact of smoking on heart disease.

Neonatologist Professor Zsuzsoka Kecskes from the ANU Medical School developed an Australian-first, family-focused neonatal intensive care unit at the Canberra Hospital, changing the lives of parents.

Professor Kate Reynolds from the ANU Research School of Psychology has changed the way we think about social cohesion. Working in partnership with government, her research informs policy on how we can all get along in our communities.

Together, all our extraordinary researchers, across all our research schools, are making history at the ANU College of Health and Medicine.