Professor Dawson is a clinician-scientist at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Centre for Cancer Research University of Melbourne. He is the program head of the Translational Haematology Program, Group leader of the Cancer Epigenetics Laboratory and Consultant Haematologist in the Department of Haematology. His research interest is studying the role of epigenetic regulators in the initiation, maintenance and progression of cancer. He is a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia. After completing his clinical training in Melbourne, Australia he was awarded the prestigious General Sir John Monash Fellowship and Cambridge Commonwealth Trust Fellowship, which he used to complete his PhD at the University of Cambridge.
Following his PhD, he was awarded the inaugural Wellcome Trust Beit Prize Fellowship to pursue his research into epigenetic regulation of leukaemia stem cells. His research has identified new therapeutic strategies for a range of cancers and has helped set the platform for clinical trials with first in class epigenetic therapies. He is currently a Professor in the Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology and Centre of Cancer Research at the University of Melbourne. He is the Sir Edward Dunlop Fellow for the Cancer Council of Victoria and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute International Research Scholar. In recognition of his research achievements, he has been elected to the Australian Academy of Science, Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences and as an EMBO member. He has received several prestigious awards including the McCulloch & Till Award from the International Society of Experimental Haematology, the Jacques Miller Medal from the Australian Academy of Science and the Prime Minister’s Prize as Life Scientist of the year in 2020.
