Professor Melissa Brown

BSc (Hons) PhD (Melbourne)

Areas of responsibility
As Executive Dean, Melissa is responsible for the academic leadership and management of the Faculty. The role includes accountability for all aspects of academic programs (teaching and research), staff management and resource allocation for schools and centres in the Faculty, as well as representation of the Faculty and University to the wider community.

Biography
Melissa completed her PhD at The University of Melbourne in 1993, on blood cell growth factors and their role in human leukaemia. She then undertook postdoctoral training at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund and King’s College in London, where she was involved in characterizing the first breast cancer susceptibility gene. She returned to Australia in 1999, first to The University of Melbourne and subsequently to UQ where she has been since, with the exception of a 6 month sabbatical at The University of Oxford in 2005. During her career, Melissa has taught molecular genetics to thousands of students, has published 90 research papers and reviews in the field of cancer genetics and has attracted more than $20M in research funding. She has also introduced multiple processes and schemes to enable research higher degree students and early career researchers to reach their potential, and to bring new teams of high calibre researchers together to address important questions in science and medicine, and has actively supported the career development of many UQ students and staff.