Mary Garson

Mary Jean Garson (born 6 November 1953) is a British-Australian organic chemist and academic. She is an Emerita Professor in the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences at the University of Queensland.

Early life Garson was born in Rugby, England, the daughter of an engineer and botanist. She took her B.A with Honours from the University of Cambridge, Newnham College in 1974. Garson's focus was the natural sciences, specializing in chemistry. She obtained an MA in Natural Sciences and she took her PhD in organic chemistry from Cambridge in 1977. She worked as a medicinal chemist from 1981 to 1983 at Smith Kline and French Research Ltd in Welwyn, England. She also researches the chemistry of South East Asian medicinal plants. 2011 – Leighton Medal of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, in recognition of her contributions and leadership to the chemistry community, within Australia and overseas. 2013 – Distinguished Woman in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering award of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry 2014 – named as one of "175 Faces of Chemistry" by the Royal Society of Chemistry, UK 2017 – inaugural Margaret Sheil Women in Chemistry Leadership award of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute 2018 - Royal Society of Chemistry, Australasian lecturer (by invitation) 2019 – Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the Australia Day Honours for "significant service to education, particularly to organic chemistry, and as an advocate for women in science". 2023 – named as a Distinguished Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute 2024 – elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science

A species of marine flatworm, discovered at Heron Island, is named for her Maritigrella marygarsonae.

Memberships President-Royal Australian Chemical Institute (Queensland Division) Chair, International Relations Committee of RACI Member, National Committee for Chemistry Executive Secretary, World Chemistry Congress/IUPAC General Assembly (2001) Chair, Board of Australian Science Innovations Organiser, Chemistry-Biotechnology Symposium at World Chemistry Congress (Torino, 2007); 27th International Symposium on the Chemistry of Natural Products (Brisbane, 2011) Organiser, Women sharing a Chemical Moment in Time, International Year of Chemistry (2011) Leadership roles in Division III (organic and biomolecular) of International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) as Titular Member (2006-2007), Secretary (2008-2011), President-elect (2012–2013), Division President and Bureau Member (2014–2015), then as Past-President (2016-2017) Elected to Membership of the Bureau of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (2018-2021) Co-chair IUPAC100 (centennial) Management Committee (2016-2019) Co-convenor of Women's Global Breakfast networking event held in over 100 countries since 2019; the theme for the 2024 breakfast event on February 27 is "Catalyzing Change in Chemistry" Incoming Vice-President/President-elect, and Chair of the Science Board, of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry for 2024-2025