WEHI Announces Cory Fellowship

A fellowship to encourage outstanding female scientists to take up leadership positions in medical research has been established by the new Director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Professor Douglas Hilton.

Professor Hilton, who today started his directorship of the institute, has made setting up this fellowship his first initiative, reflecting his strong desire to encourage more women to pursue lifetime careers in medical research.

The fellowship is named after the institute’s outgoing Director Professor Suzanne Cory. The $1.25 million Cory Fellowship is open to Australian women wanting a first opportunity to lead a laboratory. Whether they completed their PhD two years ago or 20 years ago we encourage them to apply.

Professor Hilton is passionate about encouraging younger scientists, particularly women, to take up leadership positions.

“There are many talented young scientists in Australia, some of whom have outstanding research skills, but the current career paths for scientists are so linear that there are few opportunities for these people to become independent until they reach their 40s or 50s,” he said.

“I am particularly concerned about the under-representation of women at senior levels. About 60 per cent of PhD students at WEHI are women and similar numbers are found at other medical research institutes but we don’t see anything like this representation at the top.

“We need to remove barriers to women continuing in science. I suspect many excellent leadership candidates simply do not put themselves forward and I hope this fellowship encourages them to do so.”

“They should be inspired by the achievements of Professor Cory who has made a stellar contribution to WEHI over more than 30 years, especially in her past 13 years as Director.”

On hearing of the new Fellowship, Professor Cory said, “I am honoured and thrilled about this special Fellowship. Many women have made superb contributions to science. And yet, even today, too few women make science their life's vocation. Australia needs all the scientific skills it can muster to tackle the huge health and environmental problems that lie ahead. We cannot afford to lose 50 per cent of our capability. I hope this Fellowship will encourage more young women to stay in science and fulfill their potential.”

The Cory Fellowship will provide the successful applicant with $250,000 a year over five years to establish a laboratory at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. The institute is looking for women scientists who work in areas such as diabetes, immunology, cancer genetics, epigenetics, bioinformatics, stem cells, infectious diseases, and systems biology.

Applications will open in September and the inaugural Cory Fellow will be announced before the end of the year.

The Cory fellowship brings to four the number of Leadership Fellowships offered by WEHI. The fellowships are named after some of the institute’s most distinguished scientists: Professor Sir Gustav Nossal, Professor Donald Metcalf, Professor Jacques Miller and Professor Suzanne Cory.

Source: Medianet Release AAP