Georgina V. Long

Georgina Venetia Long is an Australian oncologist, clinical trialist and translational researcher, and works in drug therapy development. Long was the first woman and first Australian to be named president of the US-based Society for Melanoma Research.

She was the joint recipient of the National Australia Day Council's 2024 Australian of the Year Award.

Early life and education Long had five siblings and grew up in Sydney's inner west. She also lived in Europe and America as a child. She completed high school at Santa Sabina College in 1988.

Long began studying a combined degree of science and law at the University of Sydney, but gave up law and graduated with a double major in pure maths and chemistry in 1993, before completing a PhD in organic chemistry, also at Sydney University, in 1996. She was a postdoctoral researcher at the Scripps Research Institute in California as a Fulbright Fellow, before returning to Australia to undertake her medical degree, graduating with an MBBS in 2001. focusing on targeted therapies and immuno-oncology in melanoma. She is the chief investigator on research into the molecular biology of melanoma.

Long is Director of the Melanoma Institute Australia. Together with pathologist Richard Scolyer, they have been part of a team pioneering the use of immunotherapy treatment for melanoma, which Long then adapted for brain cancer when Scolyer was diagnosed with it in June 2023. He was the first brain cancer patient in the world to have pre-surgery combination immunotherapy. He died in June 2026.

In June 2024, Long was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.

Awards and honours University Medal in Organic Chemistry, University of Sydney, 1993 New South Wales Cancer Institute Awards Outstanding Cancer Research Fellow of the Year, 2013 New South Wales Cancer Institute Awards The Wildfire Highly Cited Publication Award, 2014 New South Wales Cancer Institute Awards Outstanding Cancer Researcher of the Year, 2018 Officer of the Order of Australia, 2020 Ramaciotti Medal for Biomedical Research, 2021 Medal for Outstanding Female Researcher, Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, 2021 New South Wales Cancer Institute Awards The Wildfire Highly Cited Publication Award, 2021 Novartis Oncology Cancer Achievement Award, Medical Oncology Group of Australia, 2023 Australian of the Year, 2024 In December 2024, Georgina Long was included on the BBC's 100 Women list.

Selected publications