About Our Champion

Watch Professor McCluskey speaking about the Doherty

Professor James McCluskey was appointed Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University of Melbourne in March 2011. Prior to this he held the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Partnerships) position and was the Chair at the University’s Department of Microbiology and Immunology. He joined the University in 1997.

Professor McCluskey trained in Perth as a physician and pathologist and spent four years at the National Institutes of Health, in the United States. On returning to Australia in 1987, he worked at Monash University before joining Flinders University and the Australian Red Cross Blood Service.

He is known internationally for research into basic and clinical immunology and he is known around the world for leadership in the field of Immunogenetics.

Having published over 240 scientific articles, Professor McCluskey’s work has substantially grown our understanding of how genes control immunity, autoimmune disease and the basis of transplantation matching.

In recognition of this contribution, in 2007 Professor McCluskey was awarded the Rose Payne Medal from the American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics. In 1995 he was awarded the Parr Prize from the Australian Rheumatology Association in recognition of his research excellence.

His work has also been recognised through the Priscilla Kincaid-Smith Oration of the Royal Australian College of Physicians and the Burnet Oration of the Australasian Society for Immunology.

Professor McCluskey is a member of the Board of Directors of St Vincent’s Institute, the Nossal Institute for Global Health, Bionic Ear Institute (alternate), Bio21 Cluster and the Macfarlane Burnet Institute for Medical Research and Public Health.

Professor McCluskey has been a consultant immunologist to the Victorian Transplantation and Immunogenetics Service since 1997, he has consulted for the Australian Red Cross Blood Service for more than 20 years and he is Editor-in-Chief of the international immunogenetics journal Tissue Antigens.