An International Leader in Vaccinology

With an extensive background in child health and immunisation research, Professor Helen Marshall is best known for leading the world’s biggest study on meningococcal B disease.

 It involved providing the licensed Meningococcal B vaccine free to about 35,000 adolescents enrolled in years 10, 11 and 12 in schools across South Australia (SA), to help determine the impact of immunising large community groups against the disease.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Prof. Helen provided advice to the state’s Health Minister and was cited as one of Australia’s leading vaccination experts. Beginning in September 2020, she was the co-investigator at the University of Sydney in a Phase I human trial of a novel DNA-based COVID-19 vaccine developed by BioNet and Technovalia that could be administered without using a needle.

She is also part of a University of Queensland research team seeking to improve primary healthcare services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and is leading a study to provide free meningococcal B vaccinations to Northern Territory residents as she studies whether the vaccine can also provide protection against gonorrhoea.

In recognition of Prof. Helen’s research leadership, she was awarded 2022 SA Australian of the Year and 2022 SA Woman of the Year. In 2021 she was made a Fellow of the Australian Academy Health and Medical Sciences.

She is Professor in Vaccinology in the Adelaide Medical School, and 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. In 2022 she was appointed as the inaugural Clinical Research Director of the Women’s and Children’s Health Network in Adelaide.