Biography

Philip O'Connell is a Clinical Professor in Medicine. He is Director of the Centre for Transplant and Renal Research at the Westmead Institute and Director of Transplant Medicine and the Clinical Islet Transplant Program at Westmead Hospital. He is also President of The Transplantation Society.

Philip undertook a PhD in endothelial cell adhesion molecules at the University of Melbourne and had further training in transplant immunology as a postdoctoral research fellow with Professor Terry Strom, Harvard Medical School. His major research interests are in the development of islet transplantation as a main stream treatment for type 1 diabetes and the use of genomics as a marker of renal allograft dysfunction.  He was a principle investigator of the NIH funded GOCAR study. He is director of the Australian Clinical Islet Transplant Consortium, which has undertaken Australia’s first multicentre clinical trial of islet transplantation. 

Keywords

Kidney disease, Nephrology, Transplantation, Diabetes

Themes

Obesity, Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease, Infection and Immunological Conditions

Clinical Specialty

Nephrology

Research Focus

Philip’s main research interest is in islet transplantation and he is director of the Australian Clinical Islet Transplant Consortium.

His laboratory research is focused primarily on the immunobiology of islet xenograft rejection and developing islet xenografts as a clinical therapy. His other focus is the study of kidney graft outcome using new research technologies such as gene-chip microarray technology. This research is funded by the NIH.

He has long-standing collaborations with researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine New York, Harvard Medical School, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne, The Garvan Institute, Adelaide University and The Children's Hospital at Westmead.

Other Affiliations

Sydney Medical School > Westmead Clinical School > Westmead Clinical School|Sydney Medical School > Westmead Institute for Medical Research

Awards and Recognition

  • 1978 - NHMRC Bachelor of Medical Science Scholarship
  • 1986-88 - NHMRC Medical Postgraduate Research Scholarship
  • 1989 - University of Melbourne Gordon-Taylor Scholarship
  • 1989 - TSANZ Janssen-Cilag Travelling Fellowship
  • 1989-90 - Don Jacquot Overseas Travelling Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the Australasian Society of Nephrology
  • 2002 - TJ, Neale Award- Australian and New Zealand Soc. of Nephrology for contributions to Nephrology
  • 2014 - Professor of Distinction Award, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney

Education

  • BSc (Med) Pathology, UNSW Australia                     
  • MBBS Medicine, UNSW Australia                                
  • FRACP, Nephrology, Royal Australasian College of Physicians                                       
  • PhD, Immunology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne