Associate Professor Paul Baird

After completing a Bachelor of Science and subsequent PhD at the University of London, A/Professor Baird, a molecular geneticist, began his professional career as a Research Fellow at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London. During his tenure, A/Professor Baird was involved in groundbreaking events in children's cancer genetics. A/Professor Baird then worked for three years as an Anti Cancer Council Research Associate at the Hanson Centre for Cancer Research in Adelaide. There, A/Professor Baird described for the first time, the role of the Wilms' tumour (WT1) gene in normal haemopeiosis through the characterisation of blood stem cells.

He later became a Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, where he introduced a number of novel high throughput genetic analysis techniques and equipment into Australia.

A/Professor Baird joined the Centre for Eye Research Australia as head of the Ocular Genetics Unit in 2000. With more than 40 published papers, A/Professor Baird is a leading expert in genetics in ophthalmology and vision science. Socio-economic objectives of A/Professor Baird's work include prevention and diagnostics related to genetics of complex eye diseases. His valuable research focuses on identifying disease genes and disease determinants in some of the most common eye diseases in our society. These diseases include glaucoma, macular degeneration and myopia. A/Professor Baird leads a group investigating the genetic basis of myopia as part of the Vision Co-operative Research Centre - the largest vision correction research centre in the world, with over 30 Australian and international partners. Findings from A/Professor Baird's research improve both services and economics of patient healthcare.