Famous Australian Doctors: Great Models for Aspiring Students
5 years ago by Rob
Medical interviews
Congratulations to those who got a medical interview. It is a good idea to prepare for the interview. You may need to have examples of role models during the interviews. If you need some some inspiration for finding your role model, we have found some inspiring doctors below. These short biographies of their notable work will be great for medical interviews.
Remember, MedEntry offers great medical interview training packages and medical interview guide.
Frank Macfarlane Burnet
An Australian virologist best known for his contributions to immunology. He won the Nobel Prize in 1960 for predicting acquired immune tolerance and was best known for developing the theory of clonal selection. He went on to conduct pioneering research in microbiology and immunology at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne, and served as director of the Institute
Professor Donald Metcalf
Granted a Carden Fellowship in 1954, from the Anti Cancer Council of Victoria, he worked tirelessly at the Walter And Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne. After postdoctoral work at Harvard Medical School in the mid 50’s, he returned to WEHI as head of the Cancer Research Laboratory.
His speculation in the 1960’s that there must be a biological mechanism to control white blood cell formation led to a fifteen year period where he and his colleagues identified and purified four hormones which regulated this production. These cytokines which control blood cell formation are responsible for resistance to infection and were named Colony Stimulating Factors (CSF’s). Gene cloning in the late 1980’s made mass production of CSF’s possible and this new treatment was then made available to boost the weakened immune systems of patients undergoing chemotherapy. CSF’s are also used to mobilise stem cells for transplants. He saw his work translate from speculation, to research, and ultimately become an effective treatment, used on more than 20 million people worldwide. Donald Metcalf worked at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI) for over fifty years, and even after officially retiring, continued to inspire and mentor scientists.
John Eccles
An Australian neurophysiologist who won the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology for his work on the synapse.
Edward Dunlop
An Australian surgeon who was renowned for his leadership while being held prisoner by the Japanese during World War II. He started an apprenticeship in pharmacy when he finished school, and moved to Melbourne in 1927. There, he studied at the Victorian College of Pharmacy and then the University of Melbourne, where he obtained a scholarship in medicine. Dunlop graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1934 with first class honours in pharmacy and in medicine.
Fred Hollows
A New Zealand and Australian ophthalmologist who became known for his work in restoring eyesight for countless people in Australia and many other countries. He moved to Australia in 1965 where he became Associate Professor of ophthalmology at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. The Fred Hollows foundation continues as an organisation committed to improving the sight of disadvantaged people throughout the world, including Indigenous communities in Australia.
John Yu
Discovered his passion for paediatric care after starting work at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children.
Peter C. Doherty
An Australian veterinary surgeon and researcher in the field of medicine. Doherty's research focuses on the immune system and his Nobel Prize work described how the body's immune cells protect against viruses.
Gustav Nossal
A distinguished Australian research biologist. He is famous for his contributions to the fields of antibody formation and immunological tolerance.
Fiona Stanley
An Australian epidemiologist noted for her public health work, and her research into child and maternal health, and birth disorders such as cerebral palsy. She is a professor at the School of Paediatrics and Child Health at University of Western Australia, and the UNICEF Australian Ambassador for Early Childhood Development.
Fiona Wood
A British born plastic surgeon working in Perth, Western Australia. She is the director of the Royal Perth Hospital burns unit and the Western Australia Burns Service. In addition, Wood is also a Clinical Professor with the School of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Western Australia and Director of the McComb Research Foundation. Wood has become well known for her patented invention of spray-on skin for burn victims, a treatment which is being continually developed.
Ian Frazer
A researcher who developed and patented the basic technology behind the HPV vaccine against cervical cancer. This vaccine has been administered to young females across Australia. In 2006 he was named Australian of the year in recognition of his work.
Catherine Hamlin
An Australian obstetrician and gynaecologist who, with her husband Dr. Reg Hamlin, co-founded the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, the world's only medical centre dedicated exclusively to providing free obstetric fistula repair surgery to poor women suffering from childbirth injuries. She is a National Living Treasure of Australia.
Basil Hetzel
An Australian medical researcher who has made a major contribution to combating iodine deficiency, a major cause of goitre and cretinism worldwide.
Graeme Clark
An Australian doctor. He was a key figure in the research and development of the Bionic Ear – a multiple-channel cochlear implant.
Victor Chang
A Chinese-Australian cardiac surgeon and a pioneer of modern heart transplantation.
David de Kretser
An Australian medical researcher and was Governor of Victoria from 2006 to 2011. De Kretser is an infertility and andrology expert, and a long-serving academic.
Howard Florey
An Australian pharmacologist and pathologist who shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1945 with Sir Ernst Boris Chain and Sir Alexander Fleming for his role in the making of penicillin. Although Fleming received most of the credit for the discovery of penicillin, it was Florey who carried out the first ever clinical trials in 1941 of penicillin.
Henry Harris
An Australian-born professor of medicine at the University of Oxford, now retired, who led pioneering work on cancer and human genetics in the 1960s. He studied medicine at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and began a career in medical research rather than clinical practice.
Neil Hamilton Fairley
An Australian physician, medical scientist, and army officer; who was instrumental in saving thousands of Allied lives from malaria and other diseases.
Norman Swan
A Scottish Australian medical doctor, journalist and Radio producer. Dr Swan has been awarded the highest honour in Australian journalism and the Australian equivalent of a Pulitzer Prize - the Gold Walkley - for revealing scientific fraud conducted by well-known gynaecologist Dr William McBride. Dr Swan's investigation sent "shock waves throughout the medical world" and led to Dr McBride being de-registered.
Ann Woolcock
An Australian respiratory scientist and one of the world's leading asthma experts. She contributed greatly to the field of asthma research and founded the Institute of Respiratory Medicine, Sydney. She was the first woman in clinical medicine to be elected to the Australian Academy of Science
Georgia Chenevix-Trench
An Australian cancer researcher who investigates genetic predispositions to cancer. She was elected to the Australian Academy of Science in 2014, for her work on the genetics of breast, ovarian and other cancers, including showing that mutations in the ATM gene confer moderate risks for breast cancer.
Helen Mayo
An Australian medical doctor and medical educator, born and raised in Adelaide. In 1909, she co-founded the School for Mothers, where mothers could receive advice on infant health. This organisation, which became the Mothers' and Babies' Health Association in 1927, eventually established branches across South Australia and incorporated a training school for maternal nurses. In 1914, after unsuccessfully campaigning for the Children's Hospital to treat infants, Mayo co-founded the Mareeba Hospital for infants.
