Professor Katherine Kedzierska receives AAHMS Fellowship

The Laboratory Head in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology is among 40 new Fellows elected by the Academy.

The Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (AAHMS) Fellowships recognise outstanding contributions to the health and medical research landscape in Australia.

Professor Kedzierska is an expert in viral immunology and leading influenza researcher. Her research group, in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and Doherty Institute, investigates influenza-specific T cells and the correlates of severe and fatal cases of the disease in high-risk groups.

Professors Kedzierska’s work has helped reveal why some groups, including Indigenous Australians, the elderly and patients with co-morbidities are susceptible to severe influenza disease.

In May, it was announced that Professor Kedzierska would take part in a global US$34.3 million research project to study how young children’s immune systems respond to the influenza virus.

The AAHMS Ordinary Fellows for 2019 were admitted on 10–11 October at the Academy’s fifth annual meeting.

Nineteen of the 40 new Fellows are women, a number acknowledged by the Academy as a significant achievement of its commitment to increase gender diversity.

AAHMS Fellows must have demonstrated distinguished professional achievement in a field related to health and/or medicine and exceptional leadership. Through the Fellowship, they will engage with the community, industry and governments and continue to be involved with issues of health care, prevention of disease, education, research, health services policy and delivery.

Read more about Professor Kedzierska’s influenza research in Pursuit.