News release

From: Akin Agency

CANBERRA– When Grace Weekley was 14, she began losing her vision without explanation. For years she cycled through steroid medications that helped, but came with side effects severe enough to end the activities that filled her teenage years.

Now 21, Grace's condition is stable, and she is off multiple medications, thanks to ANU's newly opened Centre for Personalised Medicine (the Centre), the first of its kind in Australia, which identified precisely which treatment her body needed and which it didn't.

“For so long, I was on different steroid medications, which were helping but the side effects were horrible. I had to give up playing sport or doing anything active, and as a teenager, that really affected me. Finally, we were referred to Dr Jiang (Director of the Centre), whose research validated that one of the medications I was on was safe and effective long term, and I could drop off the others. It helped me to recognise myself again – it was a godsend,” Grace said.

“I was so lucky to have been seen by amazing doctors, who did everything they could to treat me (and did provide the medicine I needed to be on), but they could only do so much. The doctors at the Centre for Personalised Medicine were able to go further and determine exactly what I needed based on my genetics,” Ms Weekley said.

To bolster its research capability and help more people from across Australia access personalised medicine like Grace, ANU is encouraging junior clinicians to undertake the Zinkernagel Medical PhD Scholarship.

The scholarship, named in honour of ANU Nobel Laureate Professor Rolf Zinkernagel, who won the 1996 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and completed his own PhD at the John Curtin School in 1975, will award $70,000 a year to a junior clinician undertaking a PhD in the Centre's Personalised Medicine and Autoimmunity Laboratory.

Rather than relying on trial-and-error prescribing, the Centre uses cutting edge science to identify the precise cellular and genetic cause of a patient's illness, then tailors treatment accordingly. It supports patients from across Australia with severe, complex autoimmune and genetic disorders, including rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, lupus and myositis.

“Through the Zinkernagel Scholarship, we are investing directly in junior clinicians who are passionate about research. By training them in advanced genomics and personalised therapies, we are empowering them in these highly specialised, life-saving treatments, thereby transforming patient outcomes nationwide,” Associate Professor Jiang said.

Applications are now open to junior clinicians, and more information is available here.

About the Centre of Personalised Medicine

The Centre for Personalised Medicine (the Centre) is redefining how complex autoimmune diseases are treated. Diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Lupus, and Myositis affect millions, yet conventional treatments often assume every patient is the same, and this approach often leads to ineffective outcomes and significant side effects. The Centre’s approach is different, bringing together experts in genetics, immunology, protein biology and clinical medicine seeking to identify and understand the cellular and genetic basis of an individual's illness to develop personalised treatments.

About the Zinkernagel Medical PhD Scholarship. 

The Zinkernagel Medical PhD Scholarship was established by Nobel Laureate Professor Rolf Zinkernagel in honour of his time at the John Curtin School of Medical Research (JCSMR) at the Australian National University, where he completed his PhD in 1975. The scholarship supports a junior clinician to undertake a PhD within the Personalised Medicine and Autoimmunity Laboratory, led by Associate Professor Simon Jiang, with a focus on clinically oriented immunology research and translating modern research techniques into clinical practice. Applications for the 2027 scholarship close on 31 October 2026.