Professor Ian Frazer AC

Readers note: This is an excerpt from the 200 Treasures exhibition catalogue, developed in 2017. This content was written as a brief biography on why this person was included in the exhibition.

Ian Frazer was born in Glasgow in 1953 to parents who were medical scientists. As a child, he was always curious, wanting to take things apart and learn how they worked. He followed in his parents’ path by taking degrees in medicine and surgery at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and then trained as a renal physician. He became interested in the immunological issues associated with organ transplantation and, due to this work, was recruited by Melbourne’s Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in 1980 to research viral immunology. There, Frazer studied the immune systems of a group of homosexual men who were unable to overcome hepatitis B infections. This work made Frazer a leader in understanding a global health emergency: he had identified the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which caused acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Frazer and his research team observed a connection between AIDS and genital warts caused by the human papilloma viruses (HPV). He also began investigating a link between HPV and cervical cancer and found that uncontrolled HPV infection led to cancer.

From 1985, Frazer continued these studies at the University of Queensland, where he was joined by Chinese virologist Jian Zhou and his wife, researcher Xiao-Yi Sun. Frazer and Zhou worked to develop a vaccine for HPV, culminating in the Gardasil vaccine, which is now used in more than 120 countries to prevent HPV- related cervical cancer. Zhou did not live to see their work reach fruition: he died in 1999.

Professor Frazer continues in the field, leading research at the Epithelial Cancer division at the University of Queensland Diamantina Institute, and has received many awards for his outstanding contributions to medical research.