Professor Helen Marshall - a Leading Light

The University of Adelaide’s Professor Helen Marshall, AM has been named South Australia’s 2022 Woman of the Year, in the Advertiser, Sunday Mail, SkyCity Inspirational Women of the Year Awards, acknowledging her dynamic contribution to medical research.

She was also named Office of the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment Leader of the Year at the Awards.

The awards announced today – International Women’s Day 2022 - acknowledge her leadership and career contribution to vaccinology, and in the fight against the devastating impacts of meningococcal disease, through her significant research into the safety of the meningococcal B vaccine for adolescents.

And with the new challenges presented by COVID-19, she has provided expert support to the health department and has pivoted her research, with new projects to examine the barriers and incentives to the uptake of the new vaccines, in particular target groups, including pregnant women.

Professor Marshall is Deputy Director, Clinical and Translational Research for the Robinson Research Institute at the University of Adelaide. She also holds the position of Senior Medical Practitioner and Medical Director, Vaccinology, and Immunology Research Trials Unit (VIRTU), in the Department of Paediatrics at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

Her commitment to her research and the value of her contribution has been acknowledged in the past three years with many awards.

In 2019 she won the SA Science Awards Excellence in Research Collaboration, and the following year was named by the Australia Day Council in the awards for South Australian Inspiring Women.

And this year Professor Marshall was named the 2022 South Australian of the Year and became a Member of the Order of Australia in the Australia Day Honours.