🔊 Eavesdrop on Experts: Being bold in medical research

Hear Professor Fabienne Mackay speak about her ground-breaking lupus research and why researchers should continue to ask the big questions.

Professor Mackay, Head of the School of Biomedical Sciences, has concentrated much of her career on tackling lupus. In 2011, her work resulted in the first new treatment for the incurable autoimmune disease in more than 50 years.

In this episode of Eavesdrop on Experts, Professor Mackay sits down with Dr Andi Horvath to discuss how she arrived at this breakthrough and why it’s important to continue research momentum to improve outcomes for a wider range of patients.

“I would love the public to realise that lupus is actually very prevalent; that the therapies we have at the moment, even through I worked towards one, are not serving everybody. It helps some patients but not all of them,” Professor Mackay says.

Following the release of the podcast, Professor Mackay was also interviewed about her research on 2SM Radio in Sydney. Listen to the audio here.

In 2019, Professor Mackay received the prestigious Lupus Research Alliance Distinguished Innovator Award in the US, which will enable her to continue her work in developing a novel therapeutic strategy involving nutrition and the microbiome of the gut.

“Always be bold. Think blue sky. It is a bit of risk and I know it’s never something that students are comfortable to do, but I think that where you find the most valuable discoveries.”

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