Professor Leslie Burnett
MBBS BSc(Med) MSc(Bioinf) PhD
DBA
FRCPA FHGSA FCAP
Professor Leslie Burnett is Visiting Scientist and Genetic Pathologist to the Clinical Immunology Research Consortium of Australasia (CIRCA), based at Garvan Institute of Medical Research.
Dr Burnett is a Consultant Pathologist, with scope of practice in both Genetic Pathology and Chemical Pathology (Clinical Chemistry). He is Conjoint Professor in the School of Clinical Medicine at the St Vincent’s Clinical Campus, UNSW Sydney, Honorary Professor in Genomic Medicine in the Northern Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, and has been an Honorary Associate of the School of Information Technologies at the University of Sydney.
He pioneered the development of a number of pathology and genetics initiatives, which are today mainstream clinical services. These include founding Australia’s first Community Genetics program, being Medical Director of Australasia’s first clinically accredited whole genome sequencing laboratory, developing the world’s first pre-analytical quality assurance programs in pathology, and founding Australia’s national peak body for public pathology (now Public Pathology Australia). He has served as Ministerial appointee, Chairman, or President of a number of National and International bodies in pathology and genetics.
In 2022, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia within the Australian honours system, for “significant service to pathology, to medical research, and to professional societies”.
His current interests are in the areas of genetic pathology and genomics (especially in modelling of genomic population screening, and applying AI and machine learning automation to clinical genomic diagnosis) and computational biology (especially in mechanisms of genomic regulation). He is a passionate teacher and communicator about the genetics and genomics revolution.
- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
Allergy and Immunology Foundation of Australia (2019) (“Using machine-learning to improve the diagnostic accuracy and genotype-phenotype correlations in Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases” - co-Investigator)
Medical Research Commercialisation Fund CUREator grant (2022-23)(“Platform for RNA-based therapeutic modulation of alternative splicing” - co-Chief Investigator)
Medical Research Futures Fund (MRFF 2023-27)(“An integrated multi-omics approach to expedite diagnosis and management of inborn errors of immunity” - Associate Investigator)
In 2022, Professor Burnett was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia within the Australian honours system, for “significant service to pathology, to medical research, and to professional societies”.
Public Health genomics (optimisation of health outcomes using genomic testing and screening)
Clinical genomics (Machine Learning optimisation of clinical diagnoses)
Bioinformatics (Mechanisms of genomic regulation)