Dr Andrew Roberts

Professor Andrew Roberts AM is a Clinical Haematologist. He is a past president of the Haematology Society of Australia and New Zealand and past Chair of the board of Cancer Council Victoria. Professor Roberts is currently a Director of the Australasian Leukaemia and Lymphoma Group and the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre Alliance, and chairs the Life Saving Drug Program Expert Panel.

Professor Roberts' laboratory and clinical research pioneered the way for venetoclax, a new class of targeted anti-cancer drug, to become a routine treatment for selected leukaemias. He has received multiple awards for this work, including the Prime Minister's Prize for Innovation. Since 2020, Professor Roberts has served as Deputy Editor of Blood, the leading haematology journal. He continues to lead laboratory and clinical trials research into new treatments.

Professor Roberts studied for their PhD with Professor Donald Metcalf at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, then completed a post-doctoral fellowship with Dr David Williams in the USA before returning to the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and The Royal Melbourne Hospital. Professor Roberts has been an academic leader in the clinical development of venetoclax, from concept through preclinical development and clinical trials to registration.

Professor Roberts is the incoming Editor-in-Chief of Blood, the most cited journal in haematology. His long-term research interests are the development of new treatments for haematological malignancies, focusing especially on those blood cancers that are currently incurable.