Events

19 Sep 2017

Dr Robert Gallo in conversation with Norman Swan

As part of the 9th International Global Virus Network Meeting, the Doherty Institute is proud to present 

Dr Robert Gallo in conversation with Norman Swan: From HTLV-1 to HIV and a lifetime of global advocacy for virus research. 

Conversation followed by audience Q & A
Free public event: GVN meeting registration is not required, but you will need to book for this event here.

Tweet fromthe meeting: #GVNMelb17

Professor Robert C Gallo is co-founder and director, The Homer & Martha Gudelsky Distinguished Professor in Medicine, Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland School of Medicine and Co-Founder and Scientific Director, Global Virus Network (GVN).

Dr Gallo was previously at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for 30 years prior to co-founding IHV in 1996.

In 1976, he and his co-workers discovered interleukin-2 (IL-2) followed by the discovery of the first human retroviruses, Human T Cell Leukemia Virus-1 (HTLV-1) and HTLV-2. Dr. Gallo and his colleagues co-discovered HIV as the cause of AIDS and developed the HIV blood test.

Currently, he focuses on developing an HIV vaccine and viral oncology research.

Dr Gallo has been awarded 35 honorary doctorates, is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and Institute of Medicine, and a member of the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Dr Norman Swan is the award-winning presenter of ABC Radio National’s Health Report.

Producer and presenter of the Health Report, Dr Norman Swan, is a multi-award winning producer and broadcaster.

Born in Scotland, he graduated in medicine from the University of Aberdeen and later obtained his postgraduate qualifications in Paediatrics in the United Kingdom. Joining the ABC in 1982, Dr Swan has won numerous awards for his work on RN.

Dr Swan was named Australian Radio Producer of the Year in 1984 and was awarded a Gold Citation in the United National Media Peace Prizes for his radio work. He has won three Walkley National Awards for Australian journalism and in 1989 he was given Australia's top prize for Science Journalism, the Michael Daly Award.

A famous example of Dr Swan's work is his much publicised and controversial investigative program on scientific fraud and the well-known gynaecologist Dr William McBride. The program exposed fraudulent research, sending shock waves throughout the medical world and led to Dr William McBride being de-registered. It earned Dr Swan the 1988 Australian Writers' Guild Award for best documentary and a Gold Walkley.

On television, Dr Swan has hosted ABC Television's science program Quantum, and been a guest reporter on the ABC Television current affairs program Four Corners. He created, wrote and narrated a four part series on disease and civilisation, Invisible Enemies, made for Channel 4 (UK) and SBS Television. This has been shown in 27 countries. He also co-wrote and narrated The Opposite Sex, a four part series for ABC Television.

He was the Australian correspondent for the Journal of the American Medical Association and has consulted for the World Health Organisation in Geneva.