AMA VICDOC Summer 2024 - Magazine - Page 59
his extensive experience in making complex
scientific topics accessible to the public. He
was a wonderful speaker who drew plenty
of laughs from the crowd.
Peter shared that he enrolled in vet
school with the idea of researching
domestic animals to aid food production.
Peter joked that he is the only Nobel Prize
winner who has had his right arm up the
back of 2,000 cows, and also most likely the
only winner to have been bitten by a pig!
He earned his PhD at the University of
Edinburgh, where he researched animal
diseases and went on to specialise in
sheep diseases. It is here he became a
veterinary neuropathologist.
In the years following, Peter moved
between the US and Australia, diving into
research and growing his career and his
reputation. He and his research partner
Rolf Zinkernagel (now a Professor at the
University of Zurich) did theoretical work
on T Cell discovery at the John Curtin
School of Medical Research at the
Australian National University in
Canberra that led, some 22 years
later, to the Nobel Prize.
He held a position at the Wistar
Institute in Philadelphia, the oldest
biomedical institute in the US, and
went on to become Head of Immunology
at St Jude’s Paediatric Hospital in
Memphis, Tennessee, a world leader in
understanding, treating and defeating
childhood cancer and other lifethreatening diseases. Peter was working
here, at St Jude’s, when he got a call in
the middle of the night, informing him he’d
won the Nobel Prize. He initially thought it
might be someone playing a prank.
What followed were a whirlwind few
years, where he rubbed shoulders with
royalty, diplomats, celebrities and fellow
prize winners and of course, regular folk
who were keen to know more about him
and his work. During this time, he quickly
learned to hone his science communication
skills for a public audience.
The afternoon was a wonderful
conclusion to our 2024 events for
retired doctors. Others were a lunch and
presentation on cyber security in February,
a talk and tour of the Pharaoh exhibition
at the NGV in June, and a lunch and
presentation from AMAV President
Dr Jill Tomlinson in September.
Thank you to all
who attended, we look
forward to seeing you at
the next retired doctors'
event on Wednesday
19 March 2025.
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