16 April 2010
In February of this year, a panel of independent scientists conducted a review of our research programme.
Prof Ashley Dunn (former Director of the Ludwig Institute, Melbourne), Prof Bryan Williams (Director of the Monash Institute of Medical Research) and Assoc Prof John Carter (Clinical Leader, Wellington Blood and Cancer Centre) spent two days evaluating our research and grilling our group leaders before concluding that our work is of a high international standard and offers the potential for genuine breakthroughs in the field of immunology.
The panel were also keen to stress that the Institutes commitment to translating basic discoveries about the nature of disease into tangible outcomes with a genuine impact on patient care was both highly commendable and extremely rare. They cited the cancer vaccine programme as a shining example of the bench to bedside philosophy that is so vital in turning lab results into improved wellbeing for New Zealanders.
We are extremely proud of the outcome of this independent review and the supportive comments we received. We will continue to strive to undertake the very best quality research into diseases affecting thousands of New Zealanders and then turn those into improved health outcomes.