Life change for life changer
After saving millions of lives globally from cervical cancer, HPV vaccine co-inventor Emeritus Professor Ian Frazer AC has taken the first steps towards retirement.
He was instrumental in developing the world’s first and only cancer vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV) – a virus proven to be the leading cause of cervical cancer. Since the HPV vaccine (Gardasil) was released in 2006, the incidence of cervical cancer and mortality in Australia has halved, and the country is on track to be the first to eliminate the cancer by 2035.
But, as this internationally renowned immunologists and cancer researcher, who has stepped down from his UQ academic appointment, quietly begins a two-year transition to retirement, it’s hard to believe that medical research is a world away from his childhood dreams growing up in Scotland.
“My interests at that time were physics and astronomy. I built rockets and radio sets; medical research didn’t really enter into the picture,” Emeritus Professor Frazer reflects.
A young Ian Frazer. Image: Supplied.
A young Ian Frazer. Image: Supplied.
You might say it was written in his stars having academic parents – his father a doctor and biochemist and his mother a scientist.
“I was given a Merit Chemistry set when I was eight years old and a book on biochemistry as a Christmas present when I was aged 11, so I think my dad had some ideas about what I should do,” he says.
“I did go to Edinburgh University on a scholarship to study astrophysics but soon realised that my job prospects were minimal in that discipline at the time, so I enrolled in medicine.
“By the start of my third year I was hooked on immunology, largely due to some good mentorship from friends of my dad.”
While the keen skier has previously admitted that he could have quite happily become a ski instructor at the time, Emeritus Professor Frazer fortunately pursued a medical career. He started as a doctor in the area of renal medicine before drifting towards medical research.
It put him on the path to meeting molecular virologist, the late Dr Jian Zhou, while they were both on sabbatical at Cambridge University in 1989. After convincing Dr Zhou to move to Brisbane, together they made a discovery at UQ in 1991 that would underpin the Gardasil vaccine.
Dr Jian Zhou.
Dr Jian Zhou.
“We didn’t set out to make a vaccine, but we wanted to understand this unusual virus that could cause cancer, and persist and evade the body’s defences against infection, but couldn’t be grown in the lab,” he explains.
“We set out to make the virus synthetically and when we succeeded, we agreed that we might have discovered something useful.
“I remember telling my wife after Jian and I first saw the virus-like particles that became the basis of the vaccine, that we might just have discovered something significant!”
It would be years of further development at UQ and then clinical trials before the HPV vaccine was released in Australia in 2006 – initially for young women, and then expanded to young men. Today more than 100 countries around the world have introduced the vaccine – potentially saving 300,000 lives each year.
Emeritus Professor Frazer’s co-discovery pushed him into the world spotlight and led to numerous accolades including being named Australian of the Year in 2006, receiving the Prime Minister’s Prize for Science, named as a National Living Treasure, and named a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in 2012.
“The last 20-odd years have been a whirlwind,” he says.
“I’ve been balancing science, politics, and family life while in the public eye – especially the year I was Australian of the Year.
“It’s meant that I never seemed to get a break and when I did, we would deliberately plan holidays where I wouldn’t be recognised.”
While the co-discovery may have come at the expense of his anonymity, it has also acknowledged Australia’s high-quality research and moved it to the forefront – a legacy he will leave for researchers and future scientists.
While he’s preparing for retirement in the future, Emeritus Professor Frazer is still committed to supervising his HDR students and his current research.
As work isn’t just a place for researchers, but also where they make a difference in the lives of many people, The University of Queensland has recognised Emeritus Professor Frazer’s outstanding contribution by renaming the UQ Diamantina Institute to the Frazer Institute, in his honour.
Plaque unveiling. UQ Vice-Chancellor Professor Deborah Terry, Emeritus Professor Ian Frazer AC, UQ Chancellor Peter Varghese AO and Institute Director Professor Paul Clarke.
Plaque unveiling. UQ Vice-Chancellor Professor Deborah Terry, Emeritus Professor Ian Frazer AC, UQ Chancellor Peter Varghese AO and Institute Director Professor Paul Clarke.
Q&A with Emeritus Professor Ian Frazer AC
When you’ve spent your career in the field of medical research, how do you step away from it?
You don’t – as fast as you drop one responsibility, a few new ones appear. I guess that’s my fault – I’m now fascinated by the process of development and commercialisation of research in the way that I was once fascinated by the underlying basic science.
What are you most looking forward to in the future?
Time with the grandchildren, and time on the ski-slopes.
What do you think your wife and family are most looking forward to in the future?
My retirement! At the moment I’m still supervising PhD students, running a lab, managing two biotech companies, and assisting the government in managing research funding.
We would list co-inventing Gardasil as your greatest achievement, but what would you say are your greatest achievements and/or proudest moments?
Mentoring all the 42 students I’ve assisted with training, and particularly the ones that have gone on to pursue a career in biomedical science. As well as being dad to my children – who are now all doctors and with families.
Have you had ‘pinch me’ moments?
Public recognition becomes addictive – the Balzan Prize award ceremony in Rome and the Honda Prize in Japan, where we were in each case treated like royalty. The Golden Plate award in Washington where I met former US Presidents, Sir Edmund Hillary and Desmond Tutu amongst others, and they were interested in what I had done!
Are there things that you still want to achieve, or be involved in?
The very first question I was interested in as a young scientist was: why do some people get a virus infection and it kills them, whereas others get only a mild infection or can’t be infected at all? My erstwhile mentor Professor Ian Mackay referred to this as the dance of the 7 veils – you solve one part of the puzzle, and the next challenge reveals itself! We have some answers, but I’d still like to see the whole question answered.
What is something that we might not know about you?
I have enjoyed 100 days of heli-skiing in Canada - all while over the age of 60!
This story is featured in the Summer 2022 edition of UQmedicine Magazine. View the latest edition here. Or to listen, watch, or read more stories from UQ’s Faculty of Medicine, visit our blog, MayneStream.
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