Sir Graham Le Gros

Sir Graham Le Gros is Deputy Chair of the Trust Board after serving as director from 1994–2024.

During his time as director, he built the Malaghan Institute into a world-class centre for immunology and biomedical innovation. He led an active research programme in allergic and parasitic diseases, was pivotal in establishing New Zealand’s first CAR T-cell clinical trial and was a founding director of the Vaccine Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand – Ohu Kaupare Huaketo, driving development of domestic vaccine capability during the pandemic.

Prior to joining the Malaghan Institute he held a five-year scientist position with Ciba-Geigy in Basel, Switzerland following a three-year Fogarty Fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, Washington DC . 

In 2005 he was made a Professor of Victoria University of Wellington and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in recognition of his research contributions to the fields of immunology and asthma. In 2010 he was awarded the Wellington Medical Research Foundation Gold Medal and in 2011 he won the Science and Technology category of the Wellingtonian of the Year Awards for his contribution to medical research in Wellington and New Zealand. 

In 2014 Graham was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from The Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia and in June 2014 he was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. In 2016 he received the Sir Geoffrey Peren Award, the Distinguished Alumni Award 2016 by Massey University. In 2017 Graham was named a Paul Harris Fellow by the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International. In 2021 he was elected to the Board of Research for Life and named a KEA World Class New Zealander.

In 2025 he was elected a Companion of the Royal Society of New Zealand dor outstanding leadership or eminent contributions to promoting and advancing science in New Zealand and in the 2026 New Years Honours was promoted to Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to medical science.