Professor Richard Kitching elected AAHMS Fellow

Professor Richard Kitching

Congratulations to Professor Richard Kitching from the Department of Medicine who has been newly elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (AAHMS). Professor Kitching’s Election to Fellowship was announced at the AAHMS annual meeting held in Perth on 10-11 October.

The AAHMS is an independent, interdisciplinary body of health and medicine professionals operating to advance health and medical research in Australia. The announcement of Professor Kitching’s Fellowship recognises his sustained and important contribution to our understanding of kidney disease.

As a nephrologist physician-scientist, Professor Kitching’s research is focussed on immune kidney disease and vasculitis. These conditions can be difficult to treat effectively, with treatments being non-specific and often having unacceptable side effects.  By establishing the role of T lymphocytes and defining the key parts of molecules that cause renal and systemic autoimmune diseases, Professor Kitching’s work has established a framework for more specific therapies. The relevance of his work has recently moved beyond immune kidney disease to address fundamental questions in the biology of HLA and immune recognition in autoimmune diseases, with implications for both the understanding and future treatment of disease.

Professor Kitching is a member of the Centre for Inflammatory Diseases (CID) at Monash University, a broad collaborative centre working across the translational spectrum. He is co-chair of the Infection and Inflammation Theme of the NHMRC accredited Advanced Health Research Translation Centre, Monash Partners, as well as the Chair of the Australia and New Zealand Vasculitis Society (ANZVASC) and the Australia and New Zealand Society of Nephrology (ANZSN) Research Advisory Committee.

Professor Kitching was one of 40 fellows elected, five of whom were from Monash University. Fellows of the AAHMS are elected by their peers, and represent the Academy through contribution of expertise and leadership to address our most pressing health challenges.

Upon receiving the Fellowship, Professor Kitching said, “It is a great honour to be elected to the academy by my peers in Australia. The recognition for my work also belongs to my current and previous colleagues, collaborators and students. As well as advocating for Medical Research in Australia, I am looking forward to helping future researchers as part of the Academy’s role.”