Josephine Forbes

Josephine Forbes (born 20 August 1970) is an Australian scientist listed in the Stanford University most influential scientists across all disciplines globally both over her career and annually for many years. This Wikipaedia page was posted as part of a "Wiki bomb" by the Australian Academy of Science of the top 100 women scientists in Australia of the time in 2014.
Research
One of the most striking things about COVID-19 is that millions of people have lost their lives to COVID-19 since we first saw this disease emerge in late 2019. What you may not know about is the other silent pandemic which is killing approximately 4 million people every year. You may not think that diabetes is very serious, but these startling numbers are the reality of health care professionals and individuals with diabetes globally. Diabetes is bursting health care budgets in most nations. These are the numbers that keep Professor Josephine Forbes awake at night......
As of 2023, diabetes, a global pandemic, affects ~570 million individuals, costing ~US$950b (IDF Atlas, 9th Edition), where 50% of these individuals will develop kidney disease, having a profound effect on their lives. Despite the use of best practice therapies, the absolute numbers of affected individuals continues to grow, highlighting the urgent ongoing and unmet need for the development/translation of novel therapies. Dr Forbes’ innovative and health outcome focussed research program has enabled (a) better understanding of disease development/progression; (b) identified therapeutic targets and timepoints to use them and (c) translated these novel intervention therapies into clinical trials via clinical/industry collaboration with >10 biotech companies. This program now extends to vulnerable populations including youth with diabetes and First Nations Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples who are disproportionately affected by diabetes and kidney disease.
Biography
Professor Forbes currently leads a team of researchers and supervises numerous students, in addition to being a Professor of Medicine at the University of Queensland and a principal research fellow in the Department of Medicine at the University of Melbourne. Her team are based at Mater Research which is a world-class medical research institute based at South Brisbane, and the Translational Research Institute, Australia and part of the Mater Group. Josephine is program leader for Mater's Chronic and Integrated Care Program, building greater understanding of the biological basis of a broad range of chronic diseases, and developing preventative strategies and innovative treatments to improve patient outcomes. Josephine is also the President-elect of the Australian Diabetes Society and on teh Steering Committee of the Australian Centre for Accelerating Diabetes Innovation (ACADI).
Education
Forbes was awarded her PhD in Nephrology in 1999 from the University of Melbourne, for research carried out at the Royal Children's Hospital. She is currently an NHMRC Leadership Fellow and has held research grants from the NHMRC of Australia, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) and the National Institutes of Health (USA).
Awards
Forbes has received many awards in recognition of her research:
2002: Young Researcher Award, International Diabetes Federation
2006: Millennium Award for T1 Diabetes, Diabetes Australia Research Trust (DART)
2008: Young Tall Poppy Award, Australia Institute of Policy and Science
2010: The Commonwealth Health Minister's Award for Excellence in Health and Medical Research
2010: NHMRC Achievement Award for highest ranked Career Development Award
2014: Women in Technology Life Science Award
2016: World Science Festival - Women in STEM Prize; Judges Choice, http://www.chiefscientist.qld.gov.au/science-comms/programs-events/partner-up-queensland/2016-events
2017: TJ Neale Award for Outstanding Contribution to Nephrological Science, Australian And New Zealand Society of Nephrology https://www.nephrology.edu.au/awardsfellowshipsandgrants/award-recipients.asp
2017: Sr Regis Mary Dunne Medal for Outstanding Research Contribution to Mater Group. https://www.materresearch.org.au/News-and-events/Research-News/October-2017/Mater-Research-2017-Awards-for-Research-Excellence
2021: Women in Technology. Outstanding Achiever in Science Award. Australia. https://wit.org.au/awards/2021-wit-awards-winners/
Fellowships
JDRF Post Doctoral Research Fellowship, 2002-2004
JDRF Career Development Award, 2005-2009
NHMRC, RD Wright Career Development Award, 2005-2009
NHMRC, Career Development Award level 2, 2010
NHMRC Senior Research Fellowship, 2011-2015
NHMRC Senior Research Fellowship, 2016-2020
NHMRC Leadership Award/Fellowship Level 2, 2022-2026
References
External links
Mater Research staff profile
The Translational Research Institute staff profile
The Conversation profile
Environmental Determinants of Islet Autoimmunity ENDIA website
Living people
Australian women scientists
1970 births