Jill Trewhella

Jill Trewhella FAAAS FLANL Dist FRSN[1] is a biophysicist who has worked in both Australia and the United States.

Early life

Born in Gosford to parents John and Joy,[2] Trewhella planned a career as a high school mathematics teacher in Newcastle,[1] but after the death of her brother enrolled at his alma mater, the University of New South Wales,[3] where she received a Bachelor of Science degree with a double major in applied mathematics and physics and first class honours in physics in 1974.[2] She also received her MSc in physics from UNSW before moving to the University of Sydney to complete her PhD in inorganic chemistry supervised by Peter Wright in 1980.[2]

In 1991 she married Don Parkin.[2]

Career

After completing her doctorate, she spent four years at Yale University as a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry.[2] From Yale, Trewhella moved to Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1984 and held various roles there over a twenty-year period.[2] From 1995 until 1999 she was a laboratory fellow. By 2003 she was Bioscience Division Leader and Program Manager for the Department of Energy Office of Biological and Environmental Research. She was consulted by press and the United States government about bioterrorism during the 2001 anthrax attacks.[2] She held an adjunct associate professorship at the University of New Mexico.[4]

In 2004-2005 Trewhella spent a year at the University of Utah as Director of Special Projects, developing major new initiatives involving collaborative research projects and bidding successfully for an National Institutes of Health Research Centre of Excellence. She returned to Sydney in 2005 as an Australian Research Council Federation Fellow to join the School of Molecular Bioscience in the Faculty of Science at the University of Sydney.[1]

In 2009 Trewhella took up the position of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research),[1][5] within the university’s senior executive group. Her role is to work in partnership with academic leaders across the university to maintain and develop Sydney’s research position within Australia and internationally, overseeing the development of major collaborative, cross-disciplinary research programs and providing supporting infrastructure. During her tenure the Charles Perkins Centre was established.[6]

In 2013 her position became tenuous with calls for her dismissal associated with the appointment of her spouse to work in her laboratory, and other conflict of interests, and her reluctance to investigate and subsequent exoneration of another academic's conduct in a controversial study of sugar in the diet, referred to as the Australian Paradox.[7][8]

In 2015 Trewhella is due to take up the Tage Erlander Visiting Professorship in Sweden, based mainly at Linköping University.[9]

Research

Trewhella's research focuses on the use of chemistry, physics and computational methods to study bio-molecular structures as a basis for understanding their functions.[6] She uses small angle x-ray scattering to investigate protein structure.[5]

Trewhella has published more than 150 research papers, book chapters, essays, articles and reports.[6] Her work has been recognised with a number of competitive research grants, awards and honours,[6] including being named as a fellow of the Neutron Scattering Society of America in 2010,[10] and a distinguished fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales in 2011.[1] She holds a joint appointment at the Bragg Institute within the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) and is an Adjunct Professor of Chemistry at the University of Utah.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Distinguished Fellows of the Royal Society of New South Wales". Royal Society of New South Wales. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Biophysicist in Profile" (PDF). Biophysical Society. July 2003. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  3. ↑ McCarthy, Joanne (20 November 2004). "Frontline scientist; PROFILE:". Newcastle Herald. p. 18.
  4. ↑ Parks, Clinton (2 July 2004). "Leaving Los Alamos". Science Careers. Science. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  5. 1 2 Lane, Bernard (18 February 2009). "Scientist delves across the disciplines". The Australian. p. 21.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "Professor Jill Trewhella". Research and Innovation. The University of Sydney. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  7. ↑ (PDF) http://www.australianparadox.com/pdf/LettersProfTrewhella.pdf. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  8. ↑ "Sweet research goes sour".
  9. ↑ "Decisions on Visiting Fellowships". Research Funding. Vetenskapsrådet. 29 October 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  10. ↑ "NSSA Fellows". Neutron Scattering Society of America. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
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