John Wilcox Stocker (born 23 April 1945)
''Bright Sparcs'' (

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

), 7 September 2006. is an Australian immunologist and the former chairman of the board of the

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency that is responsible for scientific research and its commercial and industrial applications. CSIRO works with leading organisations arou ...

(CSIRO), the national government body for scientific research in Australia. Stocker is a former

chief scientist of Australia The Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) is part of the Department of Industry, Science and Resources. Its primary responsibilities are to enable growth and productivity for globally competitive industries. To help realise this vision, the depart ...

Education

Stocker's undergraduate studies were at the

, completing his Bachelor of Medical Science in 1969, and his Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery in 1970. In 1976, he completed his Ph.D. at the

Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research Walter may refer to: People and fictional characters * Walter (name), including a list of people and fictional and mythical characters with the given name or surname * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1 ...

in Melbourne.

Career

On completion of his studies, Stocker joined the

Basel Institute for Immunology The Basel Institute for Immunology (BII) was founded in 1969 as a basic research institute in immunology located at 487 Grenzacherstrasse, Basel, Switzerland on the Rhine River down the street from the main Hoffmann-La Roche campus near the Swiss-G ...

in Switzerland and in 1979 he took a position with

Hoffmann–La Roche F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, commonly known as Roche (), is a Swiss multinational holding healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, Roche Holding AG, has shares listed on ...

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

. At Hoffmann–La Roche, his first role involved the study of

monoclonal antibodies A monoclonal antibody (mAb, more rarely called moAb) is an antibody produced from a Lineage (evolution), cell lineage made by cloning a unique white blood cell. All subsequent antibodies derived this way trace back to a unique parent cell. Mon ...

and leading a task force investigating opportunities for scientific and commercial development of

biotechnology Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and Engineering Science, engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists ...

-based

vaccine A vaccine is a biological Dosage form, preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious disease, infectious or cancer, malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verifi ...

s. While with Hoffmann–La Roche, he would later serve as Director of Pharmaceutical Research. In 1987, Stocker returned to Australia as the founding Managing Director of the commercial

biomedical Biomedicine (also referred to as Western medicine, mainstream medicine or conventional medicine)

company, AMRAD Corporation Ltd.

CSIRO

Stocker was appointed the chief executive officer of the CSIRO in 1990 and held the role until 1995. In 1996, Stocker was appointed by the Minister for Science and Technology,

Peter McGauran Peter John McGauran (born 16 November 1955) is an Australian former politician who served as a National Party member of the Australian House of Representatives. He represented the Division of Gippsland in Victoria from 5 March 1983 to 9 April ...

, to the position of

Chief Scientist of Australia The Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) is part of the Department of Industry, Science and Resources. Its primary responsibilities are to enable growth and productivity for globally competitive industries. To help realise this vision, the depart ...

. The role was a part-time position, Stocker working one day a week. He left the position in 1999. Stocker returned to the CSIRO in June 2007, this time as chairman. He completed his term at CSIRO chairman on 27 June 2010 and was succeeded by Mr Simon McKeon. He is the chair of

Sigma Pharmaceuticals Sigma Healthcare Limited is an Australian, ASX-listed company with a focus on the pharmacy industry. The company has pharmacy operations in retail, wholesale and distribution. From its head office in Clayton, Victoria, Sigma manages over 1,20 ...

and a non-executive director of the Australian telecommunications company,

Telstra Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets related products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 stock index, and is Australia's largest telecomm ...

Other appointments

Stocker is a Fellow of the

Royal Australasian College of Physicians The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) is a not-for-profit professional organisation responsible for training and educating physicians and paediatricians across Australia and New Zealand. The RACP is responsible for training both ...

and the

Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering The Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE) is an independent learned academy that helps Australians understand and use technology to solve complex problems. History The Australian Academy of Technological Sciences was foun ...

. In 1992, ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...

'' newspaper named Stocker as its Australian of the Year. He was made an Officer in the Order of Australia (AO) in 1999 for services to Australian scientific and technological research and in 2001 was awarded the

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or g ...

for outstanding service to science and technology. He is currently Chair of the Science and Engineering Advisory Committee for EPA Victoria.

References

External links

The Chief Scientist

Office of the Chief Scientist
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stocker, Jim Living people 1945 births Chief Scientists of Australia Scientists from Melbourne Melbourne Medical School alumni Australian immunologists Officers of the Order of Australia Australian corporate directors Australian chief executives WEHI alumni CSIRO people Fellows of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering