Neil Watkins PhD, FRACP, MBBS

Dr Watkins after completing medical school, physician training and a PhD in Perth Western Australia, Dr Watkins moved to the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Centre in Baltimore MD, reaching the rank of Associate Professor of Oncology. During his postdoctoral training, he was supervised by Dr Steve Baylin (Professor of Oncology, Assistant Director of the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Centre) and Dr Phil Beachy (Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics and Howard Hughes Medical Investigator). Both are world-renowned in the fields of cancer epigenetics and developmental biology, respectively.

His work focused on the role of aberrant developmental pathways in cancer and how they might be pharmacologically exploited therapeutically. These studies have led to several extremely high impact publications, funding from internationally competitive research grants, multiple research awards and the development of a rapid translational pipeline, resulting in the delivery of these new therapeutic approaches the clinic. His PhD thesis was supported by an NHRMC scholarship, and the first two years of his postdoctoral fellowship by a NHMRC CJ Martin Fellowship. While on the faculty at Johns Hopkins, he successfully obtained large-scale extramural funding as a principal investigator, including several NIH grants. His work was also recognised by several highly prestigious awards, including the National Cancer Institute Career Development Award, the General Motors Award for Cancer Research, and the Children’s Brain Tumour Foundation House of Hope Award.