Suzanne Cory AC (b. 1942) is a molecular biologist whose research has contributed to the understanding of immunology and the development of cancer. Born in Melbourne, Cory went to the University of Cambridge in 1966 to undertake her PhD in molecular biology. Her pioneering studies determined the sequence of transfer RNA, using new technology developed by Nobel Prize laureate Fred Sanger. At Cambridge she met US-born scientist Jerry Adams, who she later married. In 1971 they returned to Melbourne and continued their research partnership at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research at the University of Melbourne, studying the formation of antibodies and the role of chromosomes in the development of cancer, and helping to introduce gene cloning technology in Australia. Director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute from 1996 to 2009, Cory received the prestigious international prize, the L’Oreal/UNESCO Women in Science Award, in 2001. She has been a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science since 1986, received its Burnet Medal in 1997, served on its council from 2002 to 2005, and was its president from 2010 to 2014 – the first woman elected to the presidency. Cory introduced major reforms to the teaching of biological science in Victoria, and Suzanne Cory High School, a selective-entry Victorian state school named in her honour, opened in 2011. In 2014 she delivered the ABC Boyer Lectures, The Promise of Science: A Vision of Hope. Cory continues to head the laboratory in the Molecular Genetics of Cancer Division at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute.
