Prof Laura Mackay wins prestigious LEO Foundation honour

The internationally-recognised immunologist and research group leader (Dept Microbiology & Immunology ) has been awarded the LEO Foundation Award in Region Asia-Pacific.

Professor Laura Mackay, Laboratory Head and National Health and Media Research Council (NHMRC) Leadership Fellow in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology at the Peter Doherty Institute, has been awarded the LEO Foundation Award in Region Asia-Pacific for her contributions to our understanding of T cells and their relevance for immunology memory.

The prestigious honour, which was announced at the International Societies for Investigative Dermatology (ISID) in Japan earlier this week, aims to highlight outstanding young researchers and scientists from around the world whose work represents an extraordinary contribution to skin research.

Professor Mackay praised the support of the LEO Foundation for early- and mid-career researchers, like herself, and said she was honoured to receive the recognition.

“The LEO Foundation’s work to highlight young skin researchers will greatly support our teams’ pursuit to understand the role of memory T cells in the skin,” Professor Mackay said.

“It is an honour to be recognised for this award among the talented pool of researchers across the Asia-Pacific region and to be afforded the opportunity to champion skin immunology research.”

Based in Denmark, the LEO Foundation 's philanthropic awards and grants aim to support the best international research in skin diseases.

Three times a year, three outstanding scientists from the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia-Pacific receive a LEO Foundation Award to support their promising research in skin health. The Awards are granted in open competition with all award applications being evaluated by an independent and international global review panel.