Distinguished Australian scientist and virologist Professor Frank Fenner FRS talks first of his boyhood in Australia, the development of interests in natural history and the influence of a remarkable father. Conversation then turns to the his decision to read medicine, medical school life in Adelaide, influential vacation projects in physical anthropology, and the way in which the outbreak of World War II tempered post-graduate decisions, taking him to studies in tropical medicine. War years of increasing influence as a malariologist are then reviewed, including the way they led to a post-war appointment with Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet at the Hall Institute for Medical Research, Melbourne, and studies of mousepox, the first of a series of investigations of poxviruses. Professor Fenner then describes a visiting fellowship at New York's Rockefeller Institute and the invitation to a professorship at the new Australian National University that followed in 1949, an appointment that was to find its main research direction in the 1950s myxomatosis epidemic that overwhelmed Australia's rabbit population. His comprehensive studies of the disease ranged from the collection of epidemiological data to genetic and microbiological investigations. How the genetics of viruses emerged a principal research interest is then considered, particularly the studies of vaccinia that resulted. In its final stages, the interview which was recorded in the library of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians turns to Professor Fenner's considerable contributions to the World Health Organisation's world smallpox eradication programme. From start to finish, this is a rich story of scientific and scholarly initiatives, with occasional insights into the strength of family commitments and public service that underlay the achievements.
Malaria, mousepox, smallpox eradication, vaccinia, myxomatosis, tuberculosis and BCG, John Curtin School of Australian National University, Howard Florey (Lord Florey), Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet.
Allergy and immunology, Microbiology, Pathology, Virology, Smallpox,
vid-071, MSVA_068
Permanent link to this resource: https://doi.org/10.24384/000162
Fenner, FrankBlythe, Max
Learning Resources
Original artefact: 1992 RADAR resource: 2017
Sydney, AU
© Oxford Brookes University; The Royal College of Physicians Published by Oxford Brookes UniversityAll rights reserved.