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Distinguished Professor of Genetics and Vice Chancellor's Fellow, La Trobe University

Jenny Graves is an evolutionary geneticist whose research exploits the genetic diversity of Australia's unique mammals as a source of genetic variation to study the organisation, function and evolution of mammalian genomes. This has lead to new theories of the origin and evolution of human sex chromosomes and sex determining genes.

Jenny is Distinguished Professor and Vice Chancellor's Fellow at La Trobe University, Professor Emeritus at ANU and Thinker-in-Residence at the University of Canberra.

She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, and served on the Executive for eight years, first as Foreign Secretary, then as Secretary for Education and Public Affairs. She was elected a Foreign Member of the National Academy of Science USA in 2019.

Jenny is an international L'Oreal-UNESCO Laureate (2006) and has made many contributions to women in science at the local and international level. She was made an Officer in the Order of Australia (AO) in 2009 and a Companion in the Order of Australia (AC) in 2022. She won the Prime Minister's Prize for Science in 2017, the first woman to be individually recognised.

Experience

  • –present
    Distinguished Professor, La Trobe University
  • 2001–2011
    Professor, Australian National University
  • 1993–2001
    Professor, La Trobe University

Education

  • 1971 
    University of California, Berkeley, PhD
  • 1967 
    University of Aelaide, MSc

Honours

Jenny is a L'Oreal-UNESCO Laureate (2006) and was made an Officer in the Order of Australia (AO) in 2009 and a Companion in the Order of Australia (AC) in 2022. She won the Prime Minister's Prize for Science in 2017, the first woman individually recognised. She is a Fellow of he Australian Academy of Science and an International Member of the United States National Academy of Science.