Prof Alan Cowman wins ASBMB Lemberg Medal

Friday, May 5th 2006

“Alan Cowman is recognised globally as a pre-eminent malaria researcher. He has made an enormous impact on infectious disease research, changing people’s lives and health outcomes through his significant research breakthroughs."

So begins the citation that led to Professor Cowman being honoured with the most prestigious award of the Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the Lemberg Medal.

The citation continues: “[Professor Cowman] works in a highly competitive field on an organism that is notoriously difficult to manipulate and [he] publishes in prestigious international journals advancing understanding, knowledge and strategies to combat this devastating disease. The Cowman laboratory’s innovative and pioneering work … has driven the development of new technologies and opened up fresh avenues of investigation, discovery [and] knowledge that is essential in identifying the most appropriate vaccine and drug targets for the development of new therapeutics against malaria.”

Professor Nick Nicola, Acting Director of WEHI, said, “It is estimated that malaria infects and debilitates up to 10% of all humanity: about 500,000,000 people, mainly in the wet tropical regions of the world. Tragically, up to three million people may die from malaria every year. Malaria is a continuing global pandemic, on a scale comparable to HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. WEHI - and indeed the world - is fortunate to have scientists of the calibre of Professor Cowman and his colleagues pursuing innovative approaches to deal with this appalling disease.”

Professor Cowman is the Head of WEHI’s Division of Infection and Immunity. His previous honours include the Gottschalk Medal for Medical Science and Biology from the Australian Academy of Sciences and (twice) an International Research Scholarship from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, USA. He is also a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.

For further information, please contact:

Mr. Brad Allan

WEHI Communications Manager
Phone: (03) 9345 2345
Mobile: 0403 036 116
Email: allan@wehi.edu.au