Anne Kelso

Professor Anne Kelso  (born 1954) is an Australian biomedical researcher in immunology and influenza. She is the Chief Executive Officer of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).

Education and career 
Kelso obtained her PhD in immunology at the University of Melbourne in 1980 for her thesis, "The Role of Antigen in Alloreactive T Lymphocyte Reactions". 

Kelso became Director/CEO of the Cooperative Research Centre for Vaccine Technology in 2000 till the year 2006. Before going on to becoming the Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza in Melbourne in 2007. This ended in 2015 when she took up the role of CEO of the National Health and Medical Research Council.

Kelso has previously served as president of the Australasian Society for Immunology; a Secretary-General of the International Union of Immunological Societies; as a member of several governing boards and advisory groups, including the Council of QUT, the boards of the Telethon Kids Institute and the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health. She has also been on committees advising the WHO and the Australian Government on Influenza.

As Chief Executive Officer of the NHMRC, Kelso administers Australia's medical research funding and issues with public health guidelines. She is responsible for setting the major objectives for NHMRC, identifying new and emerging health issues and developing strategies to address these.

Biomedical research 
By conducting research on the regulation of T lymphocyte effector function, Kelso was able to further the discipline of immunology more broadly as a communicator and through service to national and international professional societies. The Australian Academy of Science recognises her research contributions to Australian science as "wide-ranging and significant".

Professor Kelso's current research involves the dissection of influenza-specific immunity in patients.

Awards and recognition 
Kelso holds an honorary professorial appointment in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Melbourne, where she was a part of a collaborative research team who worked on T cell immunity to influenza viruses.

Kelso was appointed Officer in the Order of Australia in the 2007 Australia Day Honours for "service to science, particularly in the field of immunology and vaccine research through contributions to a range of scientific organisations, and as an academic and mentor".

Professor Kelso supports and promotes the NHMRC in applying a number of initiatives to advance gender equity such as introducing gender equality policy requirements for all NHMRC Administering Institutions. This introduced the Elizabeth Blackburn Fellowship awarded to outstanding female research fellows and analysing NHMRC funding data to get more of an understanding of issues affecting women's success rates.

In 2018 Kelso was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. Also in 2018 she was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.

Works

References 

Category:Living people
Category:1954 births
Category:Australian immunologists
Category:Australian women scientists
Category:Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science
Category:Officers of the Order of Australia
Category:Fellows of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences