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.

Dr Guillerey said she saw the award as recognition of the challenges many women still face in the research and academic gender gap, but she has never let this stop her.

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. She also successfully obtained the Queensland Children’s Hospital Grant for her work with leukaemia.

“My research is aiming to design better immune-based treatments for blood cancer patients,” said Dr Guillerey.

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.

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.

In accepting the award this week, Camille said its awards like these that make a big difference to her research contributions. The grant will also assist Camille in retaining another talented researcher, Dr Irina Buckle, in her Mater Research group.

“I am so grateful to accept this award as it really helps my research opportunities and, in particular, our focus on a type of immune cells called ‘natural killer’ cells.

“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.”

The Mater Research Strategic Grant for Outstanding Women is proudly funded through Mater Foundation’s generous donors and supporters.