Professor Frank Gannon is CEO of QIMR Berghofer, a world leading medical research institute which focuses on four areas of research: Cancer, infectious diseases, mental health and chronic disorders. Established 70 years ago, it is one of Australia’s most successful medical research institutes and has around 700 scientists, students and support staff. Frank is the institute’s 7th Director and CEO after assuming the role in 2011. Previously, he was the Director General of Science Foundation Ireland and from 1994 to 2007, was the Executive Director of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO), and Senior Scientist at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) based in Germany. He has also previously been the Director of the National Diagnostic Centre and Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology at University College Galway, Ireland.

In 1970, Frank earned a Bachelor of Science from the National University of Ireland in Galway, followed by a Phd from the University of Leicester, England in 1973. Later, he was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Madison Wisconsin in the USA and Chargé de Recherche in INSERM at the University of Strasbourg, France from 1975 to 1981, after which he returned to Galway, Ireland, where he was born and raised.