Professor Alan Trounson relinquished his position as a VESKI Board Director on 31st December 2007 to take up a permanent position as the President of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine in the US.
As a founding VESKI Board Director and Chair since August 2007, Professor Trounson has been actively involved in driving the development of the VESKI Innovation Fellowship program as well as advancing his ground breaking work in stem cell research.
Professor Trounson will join an eminent group of scholars in an ambassadorial role as a VESKI Fellow from 1 January 2008.
Previously he was Professor of Stem Cell Sciences and Director, Monash Immunology and Stem Cell Laboratories at Monash University, and the Founder and Executive Vice-Chairman of the National Biotechnology Centre of Excellence - 'Australian Stem Cell Centre' - as well as Global Scientific Strategy Advisor.
Professor Trounson graduated from the University of New South Wales in 1971 with an MSc in Wool and Pastoral Sciences. In 1974, he was awarded a PhD in animal embryology by Sydney University. From 1974-1976, he was awarded the Dalgety Research Fellow at the ARC Institute of Animal Physiology and Biochemistry at Cambridge University.
In 1977, he was appointed Senior Research Fellow at Monash University and by 1984 was a Reader in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
He was appointed Director of the Centre for Early Human Development in 1985, was awarded a Personal Chair in Obstetrics and Gynaecology/Paediatrics in 1991 at Monash University, and in 2003 was awarded a Personal Chair as Professor of Stem Cell Sciences, also at Monash University. The faculties of Medical Sciences and Physical Education and Physiotherapy, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium awarded Professor Trounson a Doctor Honoris Causa in 2003.
His scientific accomplishments include: The pioneering of human in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and associated reproductive technologies; the diagnosis of inherited genetic disease in pre-implantation embryos; the discovery and production of human embryonic stem cells and their ability to be directed into neurones, prostate tissue and respiratory tissue. He is on the Victorian Government's Innovation Economy Advisory Board, and is a Director of the Victorian Endowment for Science, Knowledge and Innovation (VESKI).
His present research interests are focused on human embryonic stem cells and their suitability for transplantation for the treatment of inflammatory lung disease and cystic fibrosis.