Ruth, a WEHI alumna, worked as a technical assistant with Emeritus Professor Jacques Miller in the 1960s and said she loved the workplace culture and people she worked with.

“It was a very happy workplace, with great job satisfaction,” she said.

After reconnecting with the WEHI community many years after she had left, Ruth and Robert were inspired to give back to medical research.

The couple has made many donations to WEHI’s Innovation Grants program in recent years.

The program supports early-career researchers who scored highly in their Australian National Health and Medical Research Council grant applications but narrowly missed out on funding.

Robert said he was pleased to be able to help researchers continue to make vital discoveries.

Innovation Grant recipient Dr Joanne Hildebrand said the funding had enabled her to continue a project that looked at how cells are programmed to die when they are infected by viruses and bacteria.

“One unexpected finding from this research is that a gene change that is carried by one to two per cent of the population can reduce the ability of the immune system to recover after radiation therapy, in preclinical models. This could have important implications for patient care and the pre-screening of suitable bone marrow donors.”

Dr Hildebrand said the grants enabled worthy research projects to progress that would otherwise not be funded.