Elizabeth P. Rakoczy (née Piroska E. Szepessy) is a Hungarian-born molecular ophthalmologist. She is a Emerita Professor at the

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

. She started the molecular ophthalmology department at the

Lions Eye Institute The Lions Eye Institute (LEI) is an Australian medical research institute affiliated with the University of Western Australia. It was established in 1983 with support of the Lions Clubs of Western Australia and headquartered in the suburb of ...

. In 2017, Rakoczy was awarded the

Florey Medal The Florey Medal, also known as the CSL Florey Medal and the Florey Medal for Lifetime Achievement, is an Australian award for biomedical research named in honour of Australian Nobel Laureate Howard Florey. The medal is awarded biennially and the ...

for her human gene therapy trial to modify viruses for the treatment of wet age-related

macular degeneration Macular degeneration, also known as age-related macular degeneration (AMD or ARMD), is a medical condition which may result in blurred vision, blurred or vision loss, no vision in the center of the visual field. Early on there are often no sym ...

Career

Rakoczy was born is

Miskolc Miskolc ( , ; ; Czech language, Czech and ; ; ; ) is a city in northeastern Hungary, known for its heavy industry. With a population of 161,265 as of 1 January 2014, Miskolc is the List of cities and towns in Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. She started the Department of Molecular Ophthalmology at the

and Professor of Molecular Ophthalmology at the

. She was the Research Director of the Lions Eye Institute and the Centre of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences between 1999-2009. Rakoczy's research focuses on gene therapy and animal model development. Her laboratory developed and sold the ’Kimba’ and ‘Akimba’ mouse models for advanced retinal neovascularization. She pioneered secretion gene therapy or ‘biofactory’ for the treatment of wet age related macular degeneration. In 2011 it was licensed to Avalanche Biotechnologies Inc., (now Adverum Biotechnologies), which used the technology to raise ~$300 Million. Rakoczy has published more than 180 scientific papers in academic journals and several patents.

Awards and honors

Rakoczy was a Bede Morris fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 1998 and the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia ‘Ten of the Best’ award winner in 2005 and winner of the CSL

in 2017 for her human gene therapy trial modifying viruses to treat wet age-related

Personal life

She is married and has two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rakoczy, Elizabeth 20th-century Australian scientists 21st-century Australian scientists Academic staff of the University of Western Australia People from Miskolc Hungarian emigrants to Australia Year of birth missing (living people) Living people