Chris Goodnow facts for kids

Christopher Carl Goodnow (born 19 September 1959) is a top scientist who studies the immune system. He is currently the leader of the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, which is a big research center. He is also a professor at UNSW in Sydney, Australia. Dr. Goodnow has citizenship in both Australia and the US.

Discovering How Our Bodies Fight Sickness

Early Life and Education

Christopher Goodnow was born in Hong Kong in 1959. He lived in places like Rome and Washington DC when he was young. As a teenager, he moved to Sydney, Australia.

He studied many interesting subjects at university. He learned about veterinary medicine (animal health) and surgery. He also studied immunochemistry and immunology, which are about how our bodies fight off germs and diseases. He even learned about DNA technology at Stanford University.

Important Discoveries in Immunity

After finishing his studies, Dr. Goodnow joined Stanford University School of Medicine in 1990. There, he came up with a big idea called "multiple immune tolerance checkpoints." Think of these as special gates or controls in our immune system. They help make sure our immune cells don't attack our own healthy body parts.

This idea is now super important in treating cancer. Doctors use "checkpoint inhibitors" to help the immune system fight cancer cells better. Dr. Goodnow also found key genes that control these checkpoints.

Leading Research Centers

In 1997, Dr. Goodnow became a professor at the Australian National University. He helped create a major research center there called the Australian Phenomics Facility. This facility studies how genes affect health.

In 2015, he moved to the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. His goal there was to use DNA analysis to understand why people get immune disorders. He wanted to find better, more personalized ways to treat these conditions.

While at Garvan, he helped set up the Garvan-Weizmann Centre for Cellular Genomics. This center is special because it's the only one of its kind in the southern hemisphere. It brings together different types of science to study cells and genes. He also helped create a group called the Clinical Immunogenomics Research Consortium Australia (CIRCA).

In May 2018, Dr. Goodnow became the Executive Director of the Garvan Institute. This means he leads all the important research happening there.

Awards and Recognitions

Dr. Goodnow has received many awards for his amazing work in science:

• 1979: John Gurner and Frederick Ebsworth Prize for Biology
• 1984: Honours Class I with B.V.Sc. degree; Honours Class I and University Medal
• 1992-95: Searle Scholar
• 1998: American Association of Immunologists/Pharmingen Investigator Award
• 2001: Centenary Medal for services to Australian society and science
• 2001: Australian Academy of Science Gottschalk Medal
• 2002: Elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science
• 2005: Australian Health Ministers Award for Excellence in Health and Medical Research
• 2006: Australian Research Council Federation Fellow
• 2007: Ramaciotti Biomedical Research Award
• 2009: Elected a Fellow of The Royal Society (UK and British Commonwealth academy of science)
• 2010: Ramaciotti Medal for Excellence in Biomedical Research
• 2012: Glaxo-Smith-Kline Award for Research Excellence
• 2013: Elected Member of the US National Academy of Sciences
• 2015-2016: President of the Australasian Society for Immunology
• 2025: Crafoord Prize in Polyarthritis

Beyond Science: Surfing Adventures

Besides his scientific work, Dr. Goodnow is also known for something completely different! In 1980, he led an expedition to the remote Mentawai Islands in Indonesia. There, he discovered famous surf breaks, including a wave called Macaronis. Today, Macaronis is considered one of the best surf spots in the world!

External Links

• Biography - Australian National University
• Australian Phenomics Facility