Professor Ross McKinnon

Strategic Professor in Cancer Research & Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor

College of Medicine and Public Health

place Health Sciences (3.41)
GPO Box 2100, Adelaide 5001, South Australia

Welcome to my homepage. I am a Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor in the College of Medicine and Public Health. I was previously Foundation Director of the Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, Dean (Research) and Cancer Council Beat Cancer Professor. A Flinders School of Medicine PhD graduate, I joined Flinders as Inaugural Director of the Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer in 2011 after 16 years with UniSA. At UniSA, I was the Inaugural Director of the Sansom Institute (2005-2009), Associate Head (Research) of the School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences and Director, Centre for Pharmaceutical Research (spun out as CPR Pharma). I am an academic pharmacist with broad research interests in pharmacology, pharmaceutical biotechnology and oncology. I am a co-inventor of patents relating to cancer chemoprevention (PharmaQest) and the discovery of novel anti-inflammatory compounds. I am a Board Member of Therapeutic Innovation Australia,having provided the original vision for its facilitated therapeutic development pathways (now an NCRIS capability). I am a former Vice-President of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) (two terms), which represents more than four million pharmacists and Pharmaceutical Scientists globally. I was elected to the position of Chair, FIP Board of Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2020. I am a Fellow of both the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences and the International Pharmaceutical Federation.

Qualifications

B Pharm (UniSA)
B Sc (Hons) (Flinders)
PhD (Flinders)

Honours, awards and grants

Selected Awards/Honours

Chair, International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), Board of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Flinders University Distinguished Alumni Award
Australasian Pharmceutical Sciences Association (APSA) Medallist
APSA Distinguished Service Award
Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor
Fellow, Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences
Barrie L. Reed Distinguished Lecturer, Monash University
Vice-President, International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) (Two terms)
Fellow, International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP)
Chair, 5th FIP Pharmaceutical Sciences World Congress 2014
AusBiotech Millis Orator
CSIRO Flagship Fellow
National Facilitator, Translating Health Discovery into Clinical Applications SuperScience Project
UniSA Chancellor's Community Engagement Award (with Chuulangun Aboriginal Corporation)
President, Australasian Pharmaceutical Science Association (APSA)
Fellow, Governor's Leadership Foundation (Leaders Institute of SA)
Australian Institute of Political Science Tall Poppy Award

Key responsibilities

Current Appointments

Chair, International Pharmaceutical Fedration (FIP) Board of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Board Director, Therapeutic Innovation Australia
Chair, Pankind Scientific Advisory Committee
Adjunct Professor, Monash University Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Co-Chair, IUPHAR World Congress of Pharmacology 2026 Program Committee

Teaching interests
  • Medical Biotechnology
  • Legal and Social Issues in Biotechnology
  • Molecular Biotechnology
Supervisory interests
Cancer treatment
Clinical pharmacology
Drug metabolising enzymes, cytochrome P450 and UDP-glucuronosyltransferase
Mutagenesis/carcinogenesis, molecular basis of mutation
Pharmaceutical biotechnology and natural product drug discovery
Pharmaceuticals
Higher degree by research supervision
Current
Principal supervisor: Pharmacy (1), Oncology (1)
Associate supervisor: Biochemistry (1), Pharmacology (1)
Completion
Principal supervisor: Exotoxicology (UniSA) (4), Carcinogenesis (UniSA) (2), Pharmacy (UniSA) (1), Medicinal Chemistry (UniSA) (1), Cancer prevention (UniSA) (2), Pharmacology (UniSA) (3), Pharmacy (1), Oncology (2)
Associate supervisor: Cancer prevention (UniSA) (1), Autism (UniSA) (1), Biochemistry (UniSA) (1), Ecotoxicology (UniSA) (2), Drug Discovery (UniSA) (2), Genetics (UniSA) (1), Pharmacology (4), Cancer prevention (2), Cardiology (1), Oncology (Flinders) (1), Medicinal Chemistry (UniSA) (2)
Higher degree by research student achievements
Michael Ward

APSA Oral Prize -

Michael Ward

APSA Poster Award -

Bradley Simpson

Finalist, Channel 9 Young Achiever Awards - DEC 2009

Sasja Beetstra

Sansom Medal - DEC 2009

Michael Sorich

Tall Poppy Award - DEC 2009

Phil Gregory

Tall Poppy Award - DEC 2009

Michael Sorich

PE Biosystems Prize in Drug Metabolism, Delivery and Pharmacokinetics - DEC 2001

Michael Sorich

APSA Young Investigator Award - DEC 2003

Mafalda Dias

ASCEPT Pharmacogenomics Prize - DEC 2012

Michael Sorich

NHMRC CJ Martin Fellowship -

Bradley Simpson

NHMRC Early Career Fellowship -

Bradley Simpson

Tall Poppy Award - AUG 2014

Madele Van Dyk

Vice-Chancellor's Early Career Researcher Award - AUG 2020

Sasja Beetstra

Sansom Institute High Impact Paper Award - AUG 2006

Nuy Chau

ASCEPT Poster Prize in Drug Disposition - DEC 2012

Nuy Chau

PSWC 2014 Student Award – International Pharmaceutical Federation - APR 2014

Madele Van Dyk

Beat Cancer Early Career Fellow - DEC 2020

Ayla Orang

Flinders University 3 Minute Thesis winner - AUG 2017

Ayla Orang

ComBio Poster Award 2018 - SEP 2018

Sylvie Callegari

ASBMB Poster Prize - JUL 2008