The Burnet Oration

The Burnet Oration was commenced in 1986 to commemorate the life and work of Sir F. Macfarlane Burnet, Nobel Laureate and one of the driving forces behind the development of the discipline of immunology in the Australasian region.

The Oration is a highlight of the Annual Scientific meeting each year, and is generously sponsored by CSL Ltd.

The ASI Burnet Oration Medal

ASI Burnet Orators

1986	1988	1989

Prof Gustav Nossal The Burnetian Legacy : Scientists as Citizens	Prof Gordon Ada Vaccine development and delivery – the challenge of AIDS	Prof Derrick Rowley Perception & reality in science
1990	1991	1992

Prof Graham Mitchell PhD to parasites in 25 years: results, discussion and acknowledgements	Prof Ian Mackay Autoimmunity : Paradigms of Burnet and complexities of today	Prof Kevin Lafferty Politics, personalities and the development of science
1993	1994	1995

Prof Jacques Miller Peripheral T cell tolerance revisited	Prof Robert Blanden Three decades of immunological paradigms	Prof Antony Basten B cells are T cells in disguise
1996	1997	1998

Prof James Watson Cytokines – from cell supernatants to the body	Prof Patrick Holt Regulation of immune responses at mucosal surfaces : allergic respiratory disease as a paradigm	Prof Peter Doherty Living in the Burnet lineage : viruses, tolerance and MHC restriction
1999	2000	2001

Prof Ken Shortman Dendritic Cells : Multiple Subtypes, Multiple Origins, Multiple Functions.	Prof Jonathon Sprent Cytokines and T memory cells	Dr Maureen Howard Selection, adaptation and deletion in the biotechnology industry
2002	2003	2004

Prof Suzanne Cory Continuing Burnet’s legacy at WEHI	Prof Rolf Zinkernagel On tolerance and reactivity	Prof Anne Kelso Chance and necessity in the immune response
2005	2006	2007

Prof Ian McKenzie The Nobel Prize, 1960 and thereafter : progress in transplantation and infection	Prof Marc Feldman The beginning of anti-cytokine therapy : from anti-TNF for rheumatoid arthritis to ?	Prof Chris Parish Antigen receptor sharing : a new paradigm in immunology
2008	2009	2010

Prof Ian Frazer Cervical cancer : its part in my downfall	Prof James McCluskey Genetic control of specific immunity by major histocompatibility molecules	Prof Chris Goodnow Clonal selection, self-tolerance and immunity : Fifty years after the Burnet-Medawar Nobel Prize
2011	2012	2013

Prof Bill Heath Immune surveillance of the skin	Prof Phil Hodgkin The Education of a Scientist	Prof John Fraser A reflection on 40 years of immunology from down-under
2014	2015	2017

Prof Barbara Fazekas Roads less travelled: unforeseen directions in immunological research	Prof Richard Boyd Stem cells and drug-based repair of the immune system - My magical mystery tour	Prof Lynn Corcoran The immunological journey of an outsider
2018	2019	2022

Prof Franca Ronchese The beautiful science of Immunology	Prof Michael Good Using non-dominant epitopes as a vaccine strategy to counter clonal selection and immune escape	Prof Prudence Hart The immune system: A beneficiary of sun exposure
2023

Prof David Tarlinton Something about B cells