Bryan R.G. Williams, Ph.D.
USA
Monash Institute of Medical Research
Professor Williams is currently Institute Director of the Monash Institute of Medical Research. He has a distinguished research career spanning over 30 years in the areas of innate immunity and cancer biology, and has published over 300 peer-reviewed journal articles and reviews. He is internationally recognized for his work in innate immunity, and for his studies on protein kinase R, an important innate immune signaling molecule. He has also gained prominence in the field of RNA interference.
Professor Williams received his PhD from the Department of Microbiology at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand in 1976. Following postdoctoral training at the National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill, London, he held faculty positions at the University of Toronto and the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada. He was Chairman of the Department of Cancer Biology at the Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, USA, from 1991 until joining MIMR in January 2006. He received the 1990 Milstein Award from the International Society for Interferon Research in recognition of his contributions to advancing interferon research for the treatment of human diseases. He was elected as an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 1997 and was President of the International Society for Interferon and Cytokine Research (ISICR) from 1998 to 1999. He shared the 2005 Maurice Saltzman Award from the Mt Sinai Health Care Foundation for his leadership contribution to the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. In 2006 he received the Dolph Adams Award for the most highly cited review article published in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology and in 2008 the Boltzmann Award for international research collaboration, awarded by the European Cytokine Society.
Professor Williams is a Member of the Victorian Cancer Agency Consultative Council, a Member of the Medical and Scientific Committee of Cancer Council Victoria, and serves on the Management Committee for the Monash Comprehensive Cancer Consortium (MCCC). He is a Member of the Board of Trustees and the Scientific Advisory Council of the Hope Funds for Cancer Research, Newport, RI, USA, and Chair of the Biopharmaceuticals, Biomaterials and Medical Devices Advisory Committee, Therapeutics Innovation Australia. He is also Chair of the Selection Panel for the Victorian Premier’s Award for Health and Medical Research.
Professor Williams serves on the Boards of Marshall Edwards Inc. (Chair), BioGrid Australia Ltd (Chair), Pacific Edge Pty Ltd and Cancer Trials Australia. He is also a Member of the Scientific Advisory Boards of Amarillo Biosciences Inc. and Pacific Edge Ltd. He serves on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Interferon and Cytokine Research, Viral Immunology, Journal of Virology, Faculty of 1000 and Cytokine and Growth Factor Reviews. He is also Chair of the ISICR Publications Committee. In 2013 Bryan was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and the Australian Academy of Science.
FRANCE
Dr. Rathinam received his Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine from Madras Veterinary College, India and PhD from Michigan State University in 2009.
Dr. Sonnenberg completed his doctoral research training at the University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine in 2011, focusing on mucosal immunology.
