University of Queensland structural biologist and women in science champion Professor Jenny Martin has been named a Mentor of the Year Award finalist in the 2015 NAB-Women’s Agenda Leadership Awards.
The Mentor of the Year Award celebrates a woman who is using her achievements, experience and high profile to mentor or sponsor other women, and help more women to excel in their careers.
UQ’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience Director Professor Brandon Wainwright congratulated Professor Martin on being selected as a national finalist.
“Jenny is a world-class researcher, a passionate advocate for the advancement of women in science and a dedicated mentor to her many students and postdocs,” Professor Wainwright said.
“Through her involvement in a number of key scientific advisory boards, Jenny has been able to make a real impact to improving gender equity within the scientific community both here in Australia and internationally.
“Jenny is well respected by her peers and students, and her nomination for Mentor of the Year is a testament to the positive impact she makes to the lives and careers of those around her,” he said.
Professor Martin said she was honoured to be nominated alongside some of the nation’s finest female leaders.
“I’m humbled and deeply honoured by the nomination, and very grateful to the wonderful people that nominated me,” Professor Martin said.
“It’s so exciting to be a finalist – I still can’t quite believe it.
“It’s an extraordinary opportunity to meet and network with inspirational leaders across the spectrum of business, government, academia and the community and I’m literally jumping for joy to be involved,” she said.
Professor Martin is a lab head at IMB, an affiliate professor in UQ’s School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, and a member of the National Health and Medical Research Council’s Women in Health Sciences Committee and the Australian Academy of Science’s Science in Australia Gender Equity Forum steering committee.
Professor Martin has received several prestigious awards during her career including the Queensland Smart Women Smart State Research Scientist Award and the Women in Biotechnology Outstanding Achievement Award.
Her research aims to understand the role of proteins in disease – particularly within the areas of antibiotic resistance, diabetes and inflammation – and to develop novel drugs that target these disease-causing proteins.
The winner of the Mentor of the Year Award will be announced at the 2015 NAB-Women’s Agenda Leadership Awards finals at a luncheon in Sydney on 26 February.
To learn more about how IMB is supporting its women in science, visit www.imb.uq.edu.au/women-in-science.
Media: Gemma Ward, IMB Communications, +61 7 3346 2134.
