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About

Professor Ken Smith is WEHI’s seventh director. 
He commenced in April 2024 after returning to Australia from the UK, where he had been Head of the Department of Medicine at Cambridge University since 2010. 

Throughout his 30-year career, as both a researcher and clinician, Prof Smith has been renowned for his high-quality, innovative research and its impact on patient outcomes.

The Smith Lab at Cambridge University ran an experimental medicine and translational program focused on understanding the mechanisms underlying immune-mediated diseases. Work in the lab ranged from fundamental immunological principles, including the development of complex animal models, through experimental medicine and genetics, to clinical trials.

Prof Smith has strong international scientific research links and networks and brings a global outlook to take WEHI into a new era. 
He has been instrumental in forming alliances between industry and academia and has first-hand experience in founding start-up companies and commercial experience with the pharmaceutical industry in the UK, US and Europe. 

Prof Smith embraces equality, diversity and inclusion, with a commitment to driving the implementation of initiatives that support these priorities. 

He completed his Doctor of Philosophy at WEHI through the University of Melbourne, supervised by former WEHI director, Sir Gustav Nossal AC, and Professor David Tarlinton. His Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery is from the University of Melbourne. Professor Smith is a qualified consultant physician (nephrology and general internal medicine) and pathologist (clinical immunology). 

Prof Smith has a Doctor of Science from the University of Cambridge and was elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2006, to the American Association of Physicians in 2020, and was awarded the Lister Institute Research Prize in 2007.

Publications

Selected publications from Prof Ken Smith

Hanson AL, Mulè MP, Ruffieux H, Mescia F, Bergamaschi L, Pelly VS, Turner L, Kotagiri P, Göttgens B, Hess C, Gleadall N, Bradley JR, Nathan JA, Lyons PA, Drakesmith H, Smith KGC. Iron dysregulation and inflammatory stress erythropoiesis associates with long-term outcome of COVID-19. Nature Immunology. 2024;25(3):10.1038/s41590-024-01754-8

Rae W, Sowerby JM, Verhoeven D, Youssef M, Kotagiri P, Savinykh N, Coomber EL, Boneparth A, Chan A, Gong C, Jansen MH, du Long R, Santilli G, Simeoni I, Stephens J, Wu K, Zinicola M, Allen HL, Baxendale H, Kumararatne D, Gkrania-Klotsas E, Scheffler Mendoza SC, Yamazaki-Nakashimada MA, Ruiz LB, Rojas-Maruri CM, Lugo Reyes SO, Lyons PA, Williams AP, Hodson DJ, Bishop GA, Thrasher AJ, Thomas DC, Murphy MP, Vyse TJ, Milner JD, Kuijpers TW, Smith KGC. Immunodeficiency, autoimmunity, and increased risk of B cell malignancy in humans with TRAF3 mutations. Science Immunology. 2022;7(74):10.1126/sciimmunol.abn3800

Bergamaschi L, Mescia F, Turner L, Hanson AL, Kotagiri P, Dunmore BJ, Ruffieux H, De A, Huhn O, Morgan MD, Gerber PP, Wills MR, Baker S, Calero-Nieto FJ, Doffinger R, Dougan G, Elmer A, Goodfellow IG, Gupta RK, Hosmillo M, Hunter K, Kingston N, Lehner PJ, Matheson NJ, Nicholson JK, Petrunkina AM, Richardson S, Saunders C, Thaventhiran JED, Toonen EJM, Weekes MP, Collaboration CIOTIAID-NIOHRCB, Göttgens B, Toshner M, Hess C, Bradley JR, Lyons PA, Smith KGC. Longitudinal analysis reveals that delayed bystander CD8+ T cell activation and early immune pathology distinguish severe COVID-19 from mild disease. Immunity. 2021;54(6):10.1016/j.immuni.2021.05.010

Thaventhiran JED, Lango Allen H, Burren OS, Rae W, Greene D, Staples E, Zhang Z, Farmery JHR, Simeoni I, Rivers E, Maimaris J, Penkett CJ, Stephens J, Deevi SVV, Sanchis-Juan A, Gleadall NS, Thomas MJ, Sargur RB, Gordins P, Baxendale HE, Brown M, Tuijnenburg P, Worth A, Hanson S, Linger RJ, Buckland MS, Rayner-Matthews PJ, Gilmour KC, Samarghitean C, Seneviratne SL, Sansom DM, Lynch AG, Megy K, Ellinghaus E, Ellinghaus D, Jorgensen SF, Karlsen TH, Stirrups KE, Cutler AJ, Kumararatne DS, Chandra A, Edgar JDM, Herwadkar A, Cooper N, Grigoriadou S, Huissoon AP, Goddard S, Jolles S, Schuetz C, Boschann F, Lyons PA, Hurles ME, Savic S, Burns SO, Kuijpers TW, Turro E, Ouwehand WH, Thrasher AJ, Smith KGC. Whole-genome sequencing of a sporadic primary immunodeficiency cohort. Nature. 2020;583(7814):10.1038/s41586-020-2265-1

Bashford-Rogers RJM, Bergamaschi L, McKinney EF, Pombal DC, Mescia F, Lee JC, Thomas DC, Flint SM, Kellam P, Jayne DRW, Lyons PA, Smith KGC. Analysis of the B cell receptor repertoire in six immune-mediated diseases. Nature. 2019;574(7776):10.1038/s41586-019-1595-3

Thomas DC, Clare S, Sowerby JM, Pardo M, Juss JK, Goulding DA, van der Weyden L, Storisteanu D, Prakash A, Espéli M, Flint S, Lee JC, Hoenderdos K, Kane L, Harcourt K, Mukhopadhyay S, Umrania Y, Antrobus R, Nathan JA, Adams DJ, Bateman A, Choudhary JS, Lyons PA, Condliffe AM, Chilvers ER, Dougan G, Smith KGC. Eros is a novel transmembrane protein that controls the phagocyte respiratory burst and is essential for innate immunity. Journal of Experimental Medicine. 2017;214(4):10.1084/jem.20161382

Lee JC, Biasci D, Roberts R, Gearry RB, Mansfield JC, Ahmad T, Prescott NJ, Satsangi J, Wilson DC, Jostins L, Anderson CA, Traherne JA, Lyons PA, Parkes M, Smith KGC. Genome-wide association study identifies distinct genetic contributions to prognosis and susceptibility in Crohn’s disease. Nature Genetics. 2017;49(2):10.1038/ng.3755

McKinney EF, Lee JC, Jayne DRW, Lyons PA, Smith KGC. T-cell exhaustion, co-stimulation and clinical outcome in autoimmunity and infection. Nature. 2015;523(7562):10.1038/nature14468

Lee JC, Espéli M, Anderson CA, Linterman MA, Pocock JM, Williams NJ, Roberts R, Viatte S, Fu B, Peshu N, Hien TT, Phu NH, Wesley E, Edwards C, Ahmad T, Mansfield JC, Gearry R, Dunstan S, Williams TN, Barton A, Vinuesa CG, Consortium IG, Phillips A, Mowat C, Drummond H, Kennedy N, Lees CW, Satsangi J, Taylor K, Prescott NJ, Mathew CG, Simpson P, Simmons A, Khan M, Newman WG, Hawkey C, Hart A, Wilson DC, Henderson P, Barrett JC, Parkes M, Lyons PA, Smith KGC. Human SNP Links Differential Outcomes in Inflammatory and Infectious Disease to a FOXO3-Regulated Pathway. Cell. 2013;155(1):10.1016/j.cell.2013.08.034

Lyons PA, Rayner TF, Trivedi S, Holle JU, Watts RA, Jayne DRW, Baslund B, Brenchley P, Bruchfeld A, Chaudhry AN, Cohen Tervaert JW, Deloukas P, Feighery C, Gross WL, Guillevin L, Gunnarsson I, Harper L, Hrušková Z, Little MA, Martorana D, Neumann T, Ohlsson S, Padmanabhan S, Pusey CD, Salama AD, Sanders J-SF, Savage CO, Segelmark M, Stegeman CA, Tesař V, Vaglio A, Wieczorek S, Wilde B, Zwerina J, Rees AJ, Clayton DG, Smith KGC. Genetically Distinct Subsets within ANCA-Associated Vasculitis. New England Journal of Medicine. 2012;367(3):10.1056/nejmoa1108735

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