Message from the CEO: The people behind our progress

It’s now 40 years since the launch of the Macfarlane Burnet Institute for Medical Research, an institution founded on the belief that advances in medical research must reach the lives of the people who need them most.

That belief still drives us today. And if there is one thing we’ve learned, it’s that progress depends on people – the lab-based researchers who explore difficult questions; the fieldworkers who know their communities; and the people like you, who choose to stand beside them. 

This spring edition of Thanks to You celebrates some of those people.

You’ll meet Dr Fredrick Charles, our Papua New Guinea Country Director, whose commitment to improving healthcare began as a child watching his mother work as a midwife in rural PNG. You’ll also meet some remarkable supporters: Tino Vescovi, whose lifelong fascination with understanding how things work – including his own health – sparked an interest in our healthy ageing research; and Audrey and Michael Wilson, whose support for Burnet grew from more than 20 years living, working and raising a family in PNG.

Their stories are a wonderful reminder that generosity can be motivated by curiosity, experience, trust, compassion; or by the simple, heartfelt desire to help and give back to others.

That spirit was evident in the outstanding response to our end-of-financial-year appeal, which raised more than $200,000 for healthy ageing research. And it will be at the heart of Australia’s inaugural Medical Research Giving Day in September – a time for people across the country to celebrate the extraordinary contribution medical research makes to all our lives.

In this issue, we also remember our much-missed colleague Dr Rob Center and honour his decision to remember Burnet with a gift in his Will. His gift will establish the annual Robert Center Awards, helping emerging researchers to develop their careers – a cause close to Rob’s heart.

Across all these stories, I see the same spirit and values that have sustained Burnet for 40 years.

This is who we are: researchers, health workers, partners, collaborators, donors, colleagues and communities. And you.

Thank you for being part of Burnet’s story – and for helping us strive for a more equitable world through better health.

Professor Brendan Crabb AC
Director and CEO