Emeritus Professor Maree Smith AC

I am very humbled at being honoured with this UQ Fellowship. I thank all of the wonderful staff and research students that I have had the privilege to work with and mentor at UQ over more than three decades.

Emeritus Professor Maree Smith AC is a leading figure recognised both in Australia and internationally for her work in the pharmacology of pain therapeutics.

Her relationship with UQ began with her undergraduate studies, when she completed a Bachelor of Pharmacy (Honours) and a PhD and postdoctoral training in clinical pharmacology, pain management and pain pharmacology. In 1989, Emeritus Smith joined the School of Pharmacy as a lecturer, rising to the rank of professor in 2004.

Throughout her career, Emeritus Professor Smith has combined her research with a strong sense of responsibility to guide and teach the next generation. For 15 years, she taught in the Drug Discovery stream of the undergraduate pharmacy program, helping develop innovative final-year courses to ensure students are equipped with the skills and learnings to excel in their careers. Across her career, she has successfully supervised (or co-supervised) 32 PhD students, two masters students and more than 50 honours students to completion, as well as helping establish the Quality Systems in Biotechnology Course as part of the Master of Biotechnology program at UQ. She continues to be an advocate for gender equity and correcting gender imbalances, including the small minority of female university professors in Australia.

In her research career, Emeritus Professor smith has published 179 peer-reviewed papers and seven book chapters. She has a strong track record in translation and impact, recognising – even early in her career – the critical importance of industry collaboration in translating discoveries into the community. She has collaborated with industry partners since the early 1990s, and in 2005, Spinifex Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Novartis in 2015) was formed to commercialise Emeritus Professor Smith’s intellectual property on angiotensin II type 2 receptor antagonists technology for neuropathic pain and chronic inflammatory pain.

Emeritus Professor Smith’s contributions have been recognised through numerous awards across her career, and in 2019, she became a Companion of the Order of Australia. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Technology and Engineering, Fellow of the Academy of Health and Medical Sciences and Honorary Fellow of the Faculty of Pain Medicine, Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists.

Today, she continues to give dedicated service as Director of the Centre for Integrated Preclinical Drug Development in the School of Biomedical Sciences in UQ’s Faculty of Medicine. Her UQ Fellowship recognises her outstanding contributions to her field, as well as her commitment to creating impact with her work.

Media

https://stories.uq.edu.au/contact-magazine/2021/meet-uq-2021-honorary-award-recipients/index.html

Awards

UQ Fellowship
2021
Emeritus Professor Maree Smith AC

Qualifications

Bachelor of Pharmacy (Honours)
1976
Doctor of Philosophy
1983