Dean, School of Science

Professor Eileen McLaughlin

Eileen McLaughlin graduated from The University of Bristol UK in 1994 with a PhD in assisted reproduction and reproductive cryobiology, after which she was awarded a Wellcome Trust Fellowship in reproductive biology to work on the development of human male contraceptive targets at the School of Biochemistry. In 2000, she took up a post-doctoral fellowship to expand her work to female virally vectored immunocontraceptives in wildlife feral animal control with CSIRO and the Invasive Animal CRC in Canberra. In 2002, she obtained a lectureship at the University of Newcastle NSW, where she established an internationally recognised and highly productive lab working on ovarian follicular development, female and male germ cell development, chlamydial infection in the male testis and the effects of reproductive toxicants in multigenerational fertility. Eileen has published over 170 peer reviewed chapters and journal articles and been awarded over $35 million in research funding since arriving “Down Under”.

Eileen has received research-based awards from the British Fertility Society, Fertility Society of Australia and the Society for Reproductive Biology. In 2013, she was awarded the Brian Setchell Medal by the British Andrology Society for contributions to Andrology and was the 2018 inaugural recipient of the Society for Reproductive Biology Founders Medal and Oration.

Eileen has a strong commitment to the support of reproductive and developmental biology as past chair of the British Andrology Society and past president of the Society for Reproductive Biology. She has served as a member of the ARC College of Experts and is currently chair and panel member of scientific advisory committees for ARC, NHMRC and the Irish Research Council. She was the University of Auckland lead for the newly established national Advanced Genomics Platform “Genomics Aotearoa” and in 2018 was appointed to the board of Science and Technology Australia.

She was appointed to a personal chair in Reproductive Biology in 2010 and interim Pro Vice Chancellor of the Faculty of Science and IT at the University of Newcastle in 2013. Eileen migrated to NZ in 2015 and took up the position of Director of the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Auckland before returning to Australia to University of Canberra and then Dean School of Science Western Sydney University in 2019.

Social media links

Twitter account @eileenamcl (opens in a new window)

Google Scholar https://scholar.google.co.nz/citations?user=tcmQ0gIAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao (opens in a new window)