Climate and Health Alliance is proud to have Nobel Laureate for Medicine Professor Peter Doherty as our Ambassador.

In a health crisis, we look to health and medical experts for guidance on how to respond. The climate crisis is a health crisis, and the path forward can seem complicated. We are fortunate then, that in Australia, and around the world, we have health and medical experts and health stakeholders speaking with one voice about how to respond. 

Professor Peter Doherty

Professor Doherty is an immunologist with a long and distinguished career. In 1996, he received the Nobel Medicine Prize, together with his colleague Rolf Zinkernagel, for their discoveries on transplantation and “killer” T cell-mediated immunity. That work is currently translating into new cancer treatments.

As a believer in evidence-based solutions, Professor Doherty is a passionate advocate for action to limit the threat that climate change poses to the health of humans and the planet. Professor Doherty sees the health sector as playing a crucial role in finding solutions to climate change. 

He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, among numerous other fellowships. In 1997, Professor Doherty was Australian of the Year and was made a Companion of the Order of Australia. He has been awarded more than 20 Honorary Doctorates and has published some 500 research papers and reviews. He is the patron of the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, a joint venture between the University of Melbourne and Melbourne Health.

Professor Doherty is the author of several books, including A Light History of Hot Air, The Beginners Guide to Winning the Nobel Prize, Sentinel Chickens: What Birds Tell Us About our Health and our World, and Pandemics: What Everyone Needs to Know.