Building blocks

In 1946, Federal Parliament passed a Bill establishing ANU as the country’s national university. The University comprised four founding research institutes, one of which was the John Curtin School of Medical Research (JCSMR).

Over the following decades, research schools in psychology and population health were established at ANU, and in 2002, a medical school. In 2017, these schools were combined into one specialised college, the College of Health and Medicine, in recognition of the important, and growing, role ANU can play in this field as Australia’s national university.

Our Nobel Laureates

Instrumental to the inception of JCSMR was one of the world’s most eminent scientists, Lord Howard Florey. Florey won the 1945 Nobel Prize in Medicine for developing the therapeutic potential of penicillin and instigating its large scale production.

Following in the footsteps of Lord Howard Florey, Professor John Eccles, founding Professor of Physiology, was awarded the 1963 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his ground-breaking research on the ionic mechanisms of synaptic transmission in the brain.

Thirty three years later, Professors Rolf Zinkernagel and Peter Doherty received the 1996 Nobel Prize in Medicine for their revolutionary work in immunology.

The contribution of ANU Professor Frank Fenner to the field of virology is also without precedent. Distinguished by his visionary ability to advance cross-disciplinary research, Professor Fenner’s work at JCSMR on the myxoma virus changed the way the scientific community thought about the evolution of disease. Later, he oversaw the global eradication of smallpox, regarded as the greatest achievement of the WHO.

Today

Our extraordinary history informs our bright future. Today, our researchers continue to change lives at a local, national and global level. They are improving the population's mental and physical health through discovery, education and the translation of research into effective health policy and practice. They are at the forefront of medical practice and pscyhological science and discovery, improving patient experience and health service delivery. And their novel, cross-disciplinary and translational medical research is providing solutions to the health problems that beset our community. Discover how health and medical research at ANU is shaping our future.