Class of 1991
Professor Michelle McIntosh
STEAM and Innovation Excellence Inductee 2021
Professor Michelle McIntosh is a pharmaceutical scientist with an international reputation in the fields of pulmonary delivery and global health. Her research is aimed at improving drug delivery systems with an emphasis on translational research projects aiming to improve patient healthcare outcomes.
Michelle completed her undergraduate and PhD studies at Monash University before moving in 1999 to the University of Kansas, Center for Drug Delivery Research. In 2006, Michelle returned to the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS), to lead a major research program in pulmonary drug delivery. This program has evolved to focus on developing inhaled delivery systems as an alternative to injectable medicines for low resource settings. Most recently this has seen the development of inhaled delivery of oxytocin, designed to prevent unnecessary deaths in the developing world due excessive blood loss in child birth.
Michelle's work has been recognised by former US Secretary of State and Presidential Candidate, Hilary Clinton, as having the potential to be transformational in the field of maternal healthcare. Michelle's work won the 2013 Australian Innovation Challenge Award and in 2014 she presented her work on inhaled oxytocin at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York. In 2015 Michelle became the Course Director of the Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Monash's Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and in 2016 she and her team received a Vice Chancellor's Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning.
Michelle was acknowledged at the highest level of the University when she was awarded the Vice-Chancellor's award for Excellence in Research Impact (Economic and Social Impact) and in 2017 she was awarded the National Foundation for Medical Research Innovation John Dixon Hughes Medal.
Since 2014 Michelle has been the founding Director of the HMSTrust Laboratory, an open access analytical laboratory at Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences. She is also the Director of the newly formed Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre (MMIC) which is a joint initiative of the Victorian State Government, Monash University and industry partners to advance manufacturing innovations in Victorian based pharmaceutical and allied industries. Through both the HMS Trust Laboratory and the MMIC, she maintains a strong focus on cultivating the next generation talent by providing opportunities for emerging scientist to develop highly valued specialist skills.
Current as at 03/02/2021