SUDC UK TEAM

Carola Vinuesa obtained a medical degree at the University Autonoma of Madrid (1993), undertook clinical training in the UK, and was awarded a PhD by the University of Birmingham (2000).

As a Wellcome Trust International Research Fellow, she did postdoctoral work at the Australian National University (ANU) where she became a group leader (2006), Professor of Immunology (2010), and Head of Department (2011).

In 2014 she founded and co-directed the Centre for Personalised Immunology, an NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence, as well as a sister Centre in Shanghai Renji Hospital.

In late 2021 she became a Royal Society Wolfson Fellow and Assistant Research Director at The Francis Crick Institute (London, UK). She is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of London (FRS), the Australian Academy of Science (FAA), the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Science (FAHMS) and the UK Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci).

Carola has discovered novel T cell subsets that control B cell responses – follicular helper T cells (Tfh) and follicular regulatory T cells (Tfr cells) – as well as the mechanisms by which they regulate antibody responses and limit autoimmunity. Her recent discoveries are connecting genetic variation in humans to autoimmune diseases like lupus and illuminating disease pathogenesis.

She has been the recipient of several prestigious awards, including the Australian Academy of Science Gottschalk medal, the Australian Science Minister’s prize for Life scientist of the year, the 2023 Lupus Insight Prize (LRA) and Johann Anton Merck Award 2023.

www.crick.ac.uk/research/find-a-researcher/carola-vinuesa