Professor Frank Gannon was the Director and CEO of QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute from 2011 to 2020 and has been the Director General and board member of Science Foundation Ireland (The Irish Research Funding Agency) since 2007.
He obtained his PhD from the University of Leicester, England in 1973 and worked subsequently in the USA, France, Ireland, and Germany where he was Executive Director of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) and Senior Scientist at EMBL from 1994 to 2007.
During that period, he initiated the EMBO Young Investigators Program, The World Workshop Program, The Science and Society Program, The Installation grants and launched the journals EMBO Reports and Systems Molecular Biology.
His major research interest is the regulation (including epigenetic) of gene expression by the estrogen receptor. His work has resulted in 400 publications that have been cited over 18 000 times. In addition, he has been a founder of three start-up companies. He has been a board member or chair of seven companies worldwide.
He is a Fellow, Council member and Chair of the Reports committee of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, Fellow of the Royal Irish Academy, Academia Europea, The European Academy of Cancer Sciences and the Mexican Academy of Medicine.
He has been awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Szeged (Hungary), The University of Queensland (Australia) and Queens University Belfast (Northern Ireland).
Currently he is an Emeritus Fellow at QIMR Berghofer and has Honorary/Adjunct Professor appointments at the University of Queensland and Queensland University of Technology. He is a special advisor to the Brisbane Diamantina Health Partners, consultant to the Springfield City Knowledge Precinct and ad hoc advisor to different universities and institutes.