Professor Fabienne Mackay

Fabienne is the Director and CEO of QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute. She joined QIMR Berghofer in May 2020.

Fabienne studied Medicine and Biomedical Engineering before obtaining her PhD in Molecular Biology and Immunology from Louis Pasteur University in Strasbourg, France. She started her research career in the biotech industry at Biogen Inc. in Boston. In 1999 she joined the Garvan Institute in Sydney and became Director of the Autoimmunity Research Unit in 2006. In 2009 she was recruited as Head of the Department of Immunology at Monash University. In 2015 she became the inaugural Head of the School of Biomedical Sciences and Head of the Department of Pathology in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, at the University of Melbourne.

Fabienne is an immunologist and a medical researcher. Her highly cited pioneer work on the factor BAFF provided the knowledge foundation for the development of belimumab (Benlystaâ, a BAFF inhibitor), as the first new treatment for lupus in over 50 years. She is the world most highly cited scientist in the BAFF field.

Fabienne was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (AAHMS) in 2016. She served six years on the prestigious Medical Advisory Board of the Gairdner Foundation in Canada, is a Council member of AAHMS, Board member of AAMRI, Board member of JDRF, and a member of the NHMRC Research Committee.

Her major research interest relates to autoimmune diseases such as lupus and leukemia.