Griffith’s Eskitis Institute for drug discovery has celebrated its tenth anniversary with the announcement of the new Eskitis Foundation Board.

A decade of research into drug discovery for the treatment and prevention of cancer, infectious diseases and neurodegenerative disease has seen the Institute build unique resources including the Nature Bank and the Queensland Compound Library.

Nature Bank is a storehouse of 200,000 natural products collected from more than 45,000 plants and marine invertebrates, and which may provide the key to developing new therapeutic drugs.

Vice Chancellor and President of Griffith University, Professor Ian O’Connor said the achievements of the Institute had been made possible only by the extraordinary directorship of Professor Ron Quinn AM.

The Vice Chancellor also said he was delighted at the formation of the Eskitis Foundation Board, and thanked the members for taking up their roles.

“Their contributions will be vitally important for the next stage of development at the Eskitis Institute,” Professor O’Connor said.

The Eskitis Foundation Board members are;

  • Mr Martin Holzworth, a graduate of Griffith who is currently a partner and account executive at CSC, a worldwide independent IT services provider.
  • Mr Craig Sydney, also a Griffith graduate of the School of Information andCommunication Technology, who is a partner at Ernst & Young, and provides risk management solutions and services for businesses and organisationsworldwide.
  • Mrs Terri Irwin, AM, an internationally renowned conservationist, author, film-maker and broadcaster with a life-long passion for wildlife and biodiversity conservation and who is also owner of the world famous Australia Zoo.
  • Mr Paul Bird who has transitioned from a 35-year career in media, management and communications industries to his current role as an Independent Non-Executive Director. Paul is President of Montrose Access and also serves as Director of the Heart Foundation (Queensland) as well Corporate Advisor to the Board of Resource Co-ordination Partnership.
  • Mr Spencer Jolly, a former State Political Editor for the Nine network until his retirement in July 2013. Mr Jolly reported on Queensland politics for 27 years.

Mr Holzworth said the Board’s job would be to ensure people understood more about the extraordinary achievements of the Eskitis Institute and bring new support.

Professor Quinn expressed his gratitude to the new Board Members and to all those who have helped Eskitis reach its goals to date.

“Our success is all about the calibre of our people and the diverse interests, skills and backgrounds they bring together.

“In particular I would like to acknowledge our students who are the powerhouse of this institution.

“I’m looking forward to the next 10 years.”