Geoff McFadden took a BSc (Hons) and PhD at the University of Melbourne. He made two research trips to Antarctica, worked for three-years in Muenster, Germany, and had a post at the Institute for Marine Biosciences in Halifax Canada. He has worked on all six continents as a marine biologist, botanist or parasitologist. Geoff is now a Professor in the School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne.
Geoff discovered that malaria parasites are closely related to plants and algae by identifying and characterising the apicoplast (a relict chloroplast) of malaria and Toxoplasma. This has led to a whole new line of drug development to combat a major world health issue. He set up Australia’s first malaria life cycle facility and mosquito insectary to investigate drug targets and vaccine strategies funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Malaria Vaccine Initiative. Geoff is convener and founder of Ozemalar, the Australian European Malaria Research Network, which funds res
