Senior research leaders

Jenefer Blackwell
BSc(Hons) PhD FMedSci
Head of Division, Division of Genetics and Health

Professor, University of Western Australia. Professor Blackwell joined the Institute in 2007, after spending 17 years at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and 17 years at the University of Cambridge. She was the founding director of the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, and retains a position there as Honorary Senior Scientist and Affiliated Principal Investigator. Her primary goal at the Institute is to establish the use of genetics as a tool for epidemiological research.

Carol Bower
MBBS MSc PhD FAFPHM DLSHTM
Head of Epidemiology, Division of Population Sciences

Clinical Professor, University of Western Australia, Professor Bower has been a research scientist at the Institute since its 1990 opening. She established the internationally recognised Western Australian Birth Defects Registry, is a Fellow of the Australian Faculty of Public Health Medicine and holds a Principal Research Fellowship from the National Health and Medical Research Council.

Nick de Klerk
BSc MSc PhD
Head of Biostatistics, Division of Population Sciences

Adjunct Professor, University of Western Australia, Professor de Klerk joined the Institute in 2000 after leading the Occupational Respiratory Epidemiology Group in the Department of Public Health at the University of Western Australia for 10 years. Before that he gained broad experience in biostatistics and epidemiology both in Western Australia and England.

Prue Hart
BSc(Hons) MSc PhD
Head of Inflammation Laboratory, Division of Molecular Biotechnology

Principal Research Fellow, NHMRC and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Western Australia. Professor Hart joined the Institute in July 2003 from Flinders University in Adelaide where she had been in the NHMRC Fellowship scheme since 1991. She has previously worked at University of Queensland (Royal Brisbane Hospital), Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen and the University of Melbourne (Royal Melbourne Hospital).

Colleen Hayward
BEd BSc
Manager, Kulunga Research Network

Associate Professor, Curtin University, Colleen is a senior Noongar woman with family ties throughout the South-West of Western Australia. She has an extensive negotiation, advocacy, policy and management background in a range of government and non-government areas and was previously deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Aboriginal Legal Service of WA. Other experience covers areas including health, education, training, employment, housing.

Pat Holt
PhD FRCPath(UK) DSc FAA
Member of Executive, Deputy Director and Head, Division of Cell Biology

Professor Holt established the Division of Cell Biology in 1990. He is currently Senior Principal Research Fellow, NHMRC and holds a Professorship at the University of Western Australia. Previous appointments include Acting Director, Clinical Immunology Research Unit, Princess Margaret Hospital for Children; and Research Fellow, Institute of Environmental Hygiene, University of Gothenburg.

Ursula Kees
Dip Phil II PhD
Head, Division of Leukaemia and Cancer Research

Adjunct Professor, University of Western Australia, Professor Kees has been a researcher at the Institute since its inception in 1990. She is interested in the molecular genetic mechanisms leading to cancer in children. In collaborative studies with the Oncology Total Care Unit at Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, she developed new methods for cancer diagnosis.

Deborah Lehmann
MBBS, MSc
Member of Executive and Head of Infectious Disease Epidemiology Research, Division of Population Sciences

Clinical Associate Professor, University of Western Australia, Professor Lehmann joined the Institute in 1998 after 18 years at the Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research where she headed a multidisciplinary Pneumonia Research Program. In November 2004, Deborah was appointed an Associate Professor at Curtin University of Technology. She provides expertise in infectious disease epidemiology and Indigenous health.

Sven Silburn
BSc(Hons) MSc(Clin Psych) MAPS
Director, Centre for Developmental Health, Division of Population Sciences

Professor Silburn joined the Institute in 1991. Professor and Director, Centre for Developmental Health, Curtin University of Technology, Sven completed his clinical training in South Africa and worked in clinical child psychology for the Health Department of Western Australia. He chairs the Ministerial Council for Suicide Prevention and is a member of the Consortium Advisory Group for the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) and the Steering Committee for the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC).

Peter Sly
MD FRACP DSc
Member of Executive and Head, Division of Clinical Sciences

Professor Sly established the Division of Clinical Sciences at the Institute in 1991. He is currently Professorial Fellow and Coordinator of Postgraduate Education, School of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Western Australia; Senior Principal Research Fellow, NHMRC; Respiratory Physician, Princess Margaret Hospital for Children.

Wayne Thomas
BSc Hons PhD
Member of Executive, Head of Laboratory Sciences and Head, Division of Molecular Biotechnology

Professor Thomas currently holds a Professorship at the University of Western Australia and is a Senior Principal Research Fellow, NHMRC. He has been division head since 1990. He has previously worked at the Medical Research Council, Clinical Research Centre London and at Walter and Eliza Institute for Medical Research. He is the chairman of the International Allergen Nomenclature Committee.

Paul Watt
BSc (Hons) D.Phil
Head of Drug Discovery Technology Unit

A top graduate from UWA, Adjunct Associate Professor Watt obtained a doctorate in Molecular Biology from Oxford University, before receiving postdoctoral training at Harvard and Oxford. His lab has developed a new class of peptide drugs known as Phylomers which hit a diverse array of targets with high affinity and specificity. These drug leads have been validated in pre-clinical models of inflammatory diseases and are being commercialised via the Institute spin-off company Phylogica Ltd.

Stephen Zubrick
MSc AM PhD
Member of Executive and Head, Division of Population Sciences

Professor Zubrick is a Senior Principal Research Fellow in the Institute and holds a Professorship at Curtin University’s Centre for Developmental Health. He has worked in various mental health settings. He chairs the Consortium Advisory Group, National Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, sits on the Commonwealth Longitudinal Studies Advisory Group and is a member of the Federal Government Australian Council for Children and Parenting.