Biography
A recognised international leader in redox biochemistry, Roland Stocker is among Australia’s most esteemed basic scientists and a respected pioneer in his field.
Roland’s seminal achievements span research areas central to redox biology, including – but not limited to – the role of oxidative stress in atherosclerosis and related vascular diseases; pioneering contributions to the discovery of the beneficial activities of bilirubin; the elucidation of the molecular action of vitamin E in lipoproteins; the identification of arterial myeloperoxidase activity as a cause of atherosclerotic plaque destabilization; and the discovery of a novel redox pathway that regulates vascular tone and blood pressure in inflammation. His extensive output spans 312 publications in premier scientific journals, leading to an H-index of 111.
Roland trained as a biochemist at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich Switzerland (Dipl. Natw. ETH, 1981), at the ANU (PhD, 1985), and the University of California, Berkeley USA (post-doc, 1986–1987). He was an independent investigator from 1987-2022, with academic/laboratory head appointments at the University of Berne (Switzerland, 1987-1988), the Heart Research Institute (1988–2002), the University of New South Wales (2002–2006), the University of Sydney (2007–2012), the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute (2012–2020) and again at the Heart Research Institute (2020–2022).
Roland has secured more than 70 competitive grants, including 46 ARC, National Health & Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants. Roland has served on several grant review committees, including for NHMRC and the National Heart Foundation (NHF), and he has served as a member of the Editorial Board of all journals dedicated to free radical research.
Roland has been a Research Fellow of the NHMRC from 1994–2020, including Senior Principal Research Fellow from 2001–2020. He has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for Free Radical Research Australasia and has been recognised as a “Redox Pioneer” by the journal, Antioxidants & Redox Signalling. In 2016, Roland was elected as a member of both the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences and the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.
Though Roland retired in December 2022, he remains active and engaged, contributing to ongoing research projects, and providing support and advocacy, particularly to early career scientists.