Governance Board

Professor James Angus (Chair)

Professor James Angus, a renowned academic and biomedical researcher, has made significant contributions to pharmacology and cardiovascular disease through his work at leading research institutes in Victoria.

He is an Honorary Professorial Fellow and Emeritus Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Pharmacology at the University of Melbourne, where he also served as Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry, and Health Sciences from 2003 to 2013. Additionally, he has chaired and served on various governance and scientific advisory boards for Australian health and medical research institutions.

In 2010, he was honoured as an Officer of the Order of Australia for his distinguished service in these fields.

Professor James McCluskey

Professor James McCluskey has been the Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University of Melbourne since March 2011, where he led the development of the Doherty Institute. Before this role, he served as Pro Vice-Chancellor, Research Partnerships, and Chair of Microbiology and Immunology.

Trained as a physician and pathologist in Perth, James worked at the National Institutes of Health in the USA before returning to Australia in 1987. He worked at Monash University, Flinders University, and the Australian Red Cross Blood Service before joining the University of Melbourne in 1997.

Renowned for his research in immunology, particularly human leukocyte antigens and the major histocompatibility complex, he has been an international leader in the field. James has consulted for the Australian Red Cross for over 20 years, serves as Editor-in-Chief of Tissue Antigens, and holds significant board positions at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Florey Neuroscience Institutes, Bionics Institute, and is Chair of the Nossal Institute Council and the Board of Nossal Institute Limited.

Mr Geoffrey Cumming

Born into a medical family in Kingston, Canada, Geoff studied economics at the University of Calgary, LSE, and the University of British Columbia.

He began his career in tax and international economics with the Government of Alberta before joining the Royal Bank of Canada’s Global Energy Group and leading its venture capital division in Western Canada. Geoff then became a partner at Peters & Co Limited, and later served as President and CEO of Gardiner Oil and Gas and its parent company, Gardiner Group Capital, while also founding Emerald Capital and Karori Capital.

He has directed over thirty companies globally and chaired several in solar and energy technologies. Notably, as the largest shareholder in Ryman Healthcare Limited, he helped it grow into a $5 billion company.

Philanthropically, Geoff has made a significant impact by donating over C$100 million to medical research at the University of Calgary, supported by the Government of Alberta, and has contributed to numerous international causes in health, sanitation, and environmental issues.

Professor James McCarthy

Professor James McCarthy is Director of the Victorian Infectious Diseases Service at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, and Professor of Medicine at the Doherty Institute.

He received his medical degree from the University of Melbourne before undertaking clinical and research training in Australia, the United Kingdom, and in the United States at the University of Maryland and the Laboratory for Parasitic Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, before returning to Australia in 1997.

His research has focussed on the diagnosis and treatment of parasitic diseases, with a major recent focus on the development and application of clinical trial systems that entail deliberate infection of human volunteers with malaria and other pathogenic organisms. This has enabled study of the host-pathogen interaction, development of diagnostic biomarkers and the evaluation of investigational drugs and vaccines.

Professor Sharon Lewin

An infectious disease expert at the forefront of the research and public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, Professor Sharon Lewin is the Director of the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity (Doherty Institute), a centre of excellence where leading scientists and clinicians collaborate to improve human health globally. She is the inaugural director of the Cumming Global Centre for Pandemic Therapeutics. 

As well as leading the Doherty Institute, Sharon is the Chief Investigator of APPRISE - the Australian Partnership for Preparedness Research on Infectious Diseases Emergencies - bringing together leading experts in clinical, laboratory and public health research to enhance Australia’s pandemic response capabilities. 

Sharon also co-chairs the National COVID-19 Health and Research Advisory Committee - the peak advisory group to Australia’s Chief Medical Officer - and was a member of the Victorian Government COVID-19 Advisory Group alongside leaders in banking, construction, retail and logistics that informed the safe easing of pandemic response measures for Victorian industry. 

An internationally renowned researcher in HIV cure, Sharon was the President of the International AIDS Society from 2022-2024.  

Sharon is also a Melbourne Laureate Professor of Medicine at the University of Melbourne, a National Health and Medical Research Council Practitioner Fellow and a Consultant Infectious Diseases Physician at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.