Professor John Prins

Professor John Prins is an active clinician-scientist, a respected thought leader in diabetes and endocrinology in Australia, and has wide experience on grant review and advisory committees for NHMRC, non-government organisations and industry.

As Health Translation Queensland’s Executive Director, Professor Prins is passionate about supporting collaborative translational research in Queensland. He is responsible for the strategic direction and vision of Health Translation Queensland and for improving communication, collaboration, and efficiencies across the broader Queensland health and medical research sectors, from discovery science right through to patient care across the state.

Professor Prins undertook his clinical training in endocrinology in Brisbane and then completed a PhD in adipose tissue biology at The University of Queensland. He completed his postdoctoral training at the University of Cambridge and was awarded a Wellcome Senior Research Fellowship in Medical Sciences in 1998.

Professor Prins has significant corporate leadership experience across the academic, health and pharmaceutical sectors, including as Head of Melbourne Medical School, University of Melbourne; Director, Metro South Hospital and Health Service Board; CEO of the Mater Group and Director of the Mater Research Institute-UQ. He was instrumental in the formation of spin-out biotechnology companies Adipogen Pty Ltd (merged to form Verva Pharmaceuticals in 2015) and Jetra Therapeutics.

He has received more than $35 million in research and commercialisation funding, has published over 160 research publications with over 14,700 citations, and holds 4 international patents.

In July 2023, he was appointed Chair of the Australian Health Research Alliance (AHRA) - the national voice of 14 Research Translation Centres, which are either fully accredited or recognised as emerging by the National Health and Medical Research Council.