Cory, Suzanne (1942-…), an Australian molecular biologist, has made important discoveries about the immune system and the development of cancer. Molecular biology is the study of molecules that direct life processes in cells. In 2010, Cory became the first woman to be elected president of the Australian Academy of Science. Another woman, the geologist Dorothy Hill, had been briefly appointed president of the academy in 1970.
Cory’s research focuses on genes that determine whether certain cells live or die. Genes help determine how living things grow and develop. The process of gene-regulated cell death, called apoptosis, is an important part of the normal growth and development of living things. Cory’s research may help produce medications that promote apoptosis in cancer cells. She was elected a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 1986 and a fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1992. In 1999, she was named Companion of the Order of Australia.
Cory was born on March 11, 1942, in Melbourne. She studied biochemistry at the University of Melbourne, graduating in 1964 and earning an M.S. degree in 1965. In 1966, she went to Cambridge University in the United Kingdom to study molecular biology. She received a Ph.D. degree there in 1968. After postgraduate studies at the University of Geneva in Switzerland, Cory returned to Australia in 1971. She took a position at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Parkville, Victoria. Cory served as director of the institute from 1996 to 2009.
