The Annual Sir Frank Macfarlane-Burnet Annual Address
Wednesday evening 22nd October 2014 at the
Traralgon Bowls Club – Liddiard Road Traralgon
(Doors open at 7.00pm for 7.30pm) 2 Course dinner included
Cost: $50.00 per person – 50% student concession available
The Gippsland Regional Group of the Order of Australia Association (Victorian Branch) proudly present:
Professor Ian Gust, AO,MD,BS,BSc,DipBact,FRCPA,FRACP,MASM,FT
‘Infectious diseases – Development of vaccines against Hepatitis and Influenza Pandemic Planning’
Making new discoveries in science and medicine requires strong commitment, a 'prepared' and creative mind and
a striving for excellence. Sir Frank Macfarlane-Burnet arguably the greatest Australian Medical Scientist clearly
excelled and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1960 shared with Sir Peter Medawar. Has the way we
conduct medical and scientific research changed much since Macfarlane-Burnet's time? Professor Gust will
continue to illustrate how new advances are made in medical science today with an informative presentation
detailing his public health work at the Burnet Institute known for "...the development of vaccines against Hepatitis
A and membership of the International Task Force for Hepatitis B Immunization. He established the National HIV
reference laboratory and directed the National Health and Medical Research Council's special unit for AIDS
virology. Since he retired in 2000, he has been director of the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for
Influenza and a member of the National Influenza Pandemic Planning Committee."
Our speaker:
Professor Ian Gust
is an Australian medical researcher, virologist, and former science
administrator. His area of work is in the development of drugs and vaccines against viral diseases
and he is best known for the development of vaccines against the Hepatitis A virus. He currently
serves as a non–executive company director and consultant. After an initial residency at The Alfred
Hospital, Professor Gust was appointed as a pathology registrar at the Fairfield Infectious Diseases
Hospital, Melbourne; then spending two years in the United Kingdom at the London School of
Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the WHO Regional Virus Laboratory in Glasgow. He returned
to Fairfield in 1970 and was appointed a medical virologist at the Infectious Diseases Hospital, a
position he held for over twenty years.
During this period, Fairfield gained a world wide reputation for virology education, research and
treatment. The laboratory was the first to isolate hepatitis A virus and one of the first strains of
respiratory syncytial virus (the A2 strain, now a reference A group virus).
In 1985, Professor Gust was appointed as the inaugural director of the of Macfarlane Burnet Centre
for Medical Research, Fairfield Hospital, now commonly known as the Burnet Institute, holding this
position until 1991. Between 1991 and 2008, he served as director of research and development
for the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, now listed as CSL Limited, where he was closely
involved in the company's successful expansion in Australia and internationally.
Since his retirement, he has been a Professorial Fellow in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in the University of
Melbourne, and as a consultant to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; to UNICEF, the World Bank and the World Health
Organisation. A non–executive director of biotechnology company, Biota Holdings Limited, since 2001, he is also a director of Promics
Pty Ltd.
Professor Gust served variously as a member of WHO expert committees on viral hepatitis (1974, 1979, 1982), biological
standardisation (1992), and virus diseases (1975, 1985-1991). He has been a Director of the National Hepatitis Reference Centre
(1979-1990) and between 1989 and 1992 served as the Commonwealth Chief Medical and Scientific Adviser on AIDS
Bookings are essential. Request a booking slip via: emnetworksolutions@gmail.com or call Doug on: 0409008494
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