Peter Mac professors Ben Solomon and Phil Darcy have been elected Fellows of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (AAHMS).

Each year, the AAHMS Fellowship elects the best and brightest minds in Australia to join the Academy in recognition of their outstanding achievements and exceptional, ongoing contributions in the field of medical and health sciences.

Professor Solomon is a medical oncologist in Peter Mac’s Lung Service and Group Leader of the Molecular Therapeutics and Biomarkers Laboratory. His research is focused on developing novel treatments which improve outcomes for patients with lung cancer.

Professor Darcy is a NHMRC Senior Research Fellow and Group Leader within the Research faculty at the Peter Mac. His team, among a range of projects in immunotherapy, is working to make CAR T-cell therapy – a breakthrough in blood cancer – also able to treat solid tumours.

AAHMS President, Professor Ingrid Scheffer, congratulated the 31 newly elected Fellows (15 women and 16 men) drawn from a wide range of fields and specialities.

“The wealth of experience and diversity of expertise amongst our newest Fellows will allow the Academy to continue to provide an expert and authoritative voice that spans the full breadth and depth of health services, medical science, research and innovation in Australia,” Prof Scheffer said.

“Our Fellows include the nation’s top health and research leaders and I look forward to seeing the contributions that our 2022 Fellows make to ensure that Australia continues to have a robust and world-leading health and medical research and innovation sector.”

New Fellows were announced at the AAHMS’ 2022 Annual Meeting which is underway in Melbourne on 13 – 14 October.