This year has undoubtedly already been one of incomparable change and adaptation, and though living in a pandemic world has brought surprising challenges, it has been coupled with success stories for the research community.
The annual award of the Mater Research’s Strategic Grant for Outstanding Women aims to showcase the ingenuity that women play in research—and this year’s winner is no stranger to overcoming challenges to reach success.
Dr Camille Guillerey is a Senior Research Fellow at Mater Research and was last week announced as the 2020 recipient of the award; recognised for her trailblazing efforts in the research community.
Starting with Mater Research in 2018, Dr Guillerey worked under the tutelage of Associate Professor Kristen Radford to lead the growth of a small research team. She worked to published 24 papers across her postdoctoral study.
Travelling the world to gain a varied education saw Dr Guillerey performing research in Spain (Facultad de Medicina, Salamanca), the USA (Stanford University, Palo Alto) and France (Institut Pasteur, Paris), where she finished her PhD in 2013. She is now using this international experience to help enhance Mater’s vision in creating a healthier community.
In accepting the award this week, Camille said this award will not only make a big difference to her research contributions, but that she saw it as as an important step in acknowledging female contributions across academic, medical and clinical research.
“There are a number of challenges still facing women in research today and we can most definitely still see a gender gap across the research and academic industries.
“Awards like this one provide a really important platform to support the efforts of women across research and hopefully encourage the next generation to see what is possible in the world of research as a woman.”
Throughout her career, Dr Guillerey has been widely commended for her ground-breaking work in immunology research. Recently her research has evolved to focus on children’s leukaemia.
“Accolades like this one don’t come along every day and with the recognition that this brings, I am able to continue to focus on research that is making a real difference to the community,” said Dr Guillerey.
“Working with a grant from Queensland Children’s Hospital in combination with the Outstanding Women’s Grant from Mater Research, will allow us to see meaningful results faster in our current work in researching children’s leukaemia.”
Traditionally the Mater Research Strategic Grant for Outstanding Women coincides with International Women’s Day in early March, and whilst COVID-19 social distancing measures meant this year’s festivities had to be cancelled, Camille’s success has still been widely acknowledged across Mater.
The Mater Research Strategic Grant for Outstanding Women is proudly funded through Mater Foundation’s generous donors and supporters.
Pictured: Dr Camille Guillerey.