Woolcock Memorial Lecture

The Memorial Fund

The Patrick and Dorothy Woolcock Medical Research Fund was established by Mrs Dorothy Woolcock as a provision in her Will.

Dr Patrick Woolcock, known as Paddy, was a chest specialist. The couple met at the hospital in Broken Hill where Dorothy was a theatre nurse. They married in December 1950.

As a specialist, Paddy frequently attended the chest conferences at The Prince Charles Hospital. He was able to benefit from the world class cardiology and cardiac surgical services at the hospital, and other members of his family also benefited from the excellent clinical services.

Paddy Woolcock died in August 1990, aged 75. Dorothy died in 2001, aged 79. Upon her death, The Patrick and Dorothy Woolcock Medical Research Fund was created.

The funds are held in a perpetual trust by the Queensland Community Fund. The income from the bequest is provided to The Prince Charles Hospital Foundation to support cardiac and thoracic medical research and the Paddy Woolcock Memorial Lecture.

The Lecture

As a condition of her bequest, Dorothy Woolcock stipulated that the Paddy Woolcock Memorial Lecture would be held at least once every three years.

The Prince Charles Hospital Foundation has held the Paddy Woolcock Memorial Lecture every two years since the Memorial Fund began. The lecture features an eminent scholar or researcher.

2011 - Professor John Shine FAA AO

Professor Shine is the Executive Director of the Garvan Institute. His discovery of a protein gene replication process in the 1970s led to the ability to mass-produce insulin for diabetes treatment. He was a leader in gene cloning and modification in teh 1970s and 80s.

Past speakers:

2009 - Professor Fiona Wood

"The research journey - asking 'why?'"

Clinical Professor Fiona Wood AM is an international burns and plastic surgery specialist. Dr Wood holds several international board positions and she is currently the Director the West Australian Burns Service, Clinical Professor in the school of paediatrics and child health at the University of Western Australia and consultants as a Plastic Surgeon at Princess Margaret Hospital and Royal Perth Hospital.  Dr Wood was Australian of the Year in 2005. She is a Director of the McComb Foundation, researching scarless wound healing, and co-founder of Clinical Cell Culture, the company which developed the spray on skin used to treat victims of the 2002 Bali bombing for which she received an Order of Australia medal (AM).

2007 – Professor Ian Frazer

“Harnessing the immune system to prevent cancer.”

Professor Ian Frazer is the Director of the Diamantina Institute for Cancer, Immunology and Metabolic Medicine in Brisbane. In 2007 he was presented with the Howard Flory Medal and the Clunies Ross award. Professor Frazer co-discovered a vaccine for strains of the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), a cause of cervical cancer.

2005 – Professor Michael Good

“Vaccines for the heart – an opportunity to further improve cardio-vascular health.”

Professor Michael Good is the Director of the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, a past President of the Australian Medical Association and a past Director of the Cooperative Research Centre for Vaccine Technology. Professor Good’s interests are in the fields of immunity and immunopathogenesis to malaria and group A streptococcus/rheumatic fever, with particular interest in the development of vaccines.

2003 – Professor Peter Doherty

“Why we all benefit from supporting biomedical research.”

Nobel Laureate Professor Peter Doherty is a researcher at the University of Melbourne’s Department of Microbiology and Immunology. His discovery of how immune cells respond to viruses led him to receive the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1996. Professor Doherty’s research is currently focussed on immunity to respiratory viruses and to HIV/AIDS.