Fiona Pixley

Fiona Pixley is a Professor at The University of Western Australia, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, where she serves as Head of Discipline for Pharmacology & Toxicology in the School of Biomedical Sciences. She is an accomplished physician scientist with extensive research in macrophage biology and cancer immunology, maintaining an active research profile with publications through 2024.

Dr. Pixley earned her MBBS(Hons) from the University of Western Australia and completed her DPhil in Clinical Medicine/Epidemiology at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. After physician training in Oxford and London hospitals, she became a member of the Royal College of Physicians (UK) before returning to biomedical research. She established her laboratory at UWA in 2007 following postdoctoral work with Richard Stanley at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.

Her research focuses on how tumor-associated macrophages promote cancer progression, particularly in breast cancer. She investigates how macrophages encourage breast cancers to become invasive, characterizes new markers to identify tumor-associated macrophages, and develops drugs targeting migratory tumor-associated macrophages. Her laboratory examines the role of $$ ext{CSF-1}$$ receptor signaling and tyrosine phosphorylation in the activation of downstream signal transduction pathways that regulate macrophage adhesion, motility and matrix degradation.

Dr. Pixley's recent publications (2022-2024) demonstrate continued active research in macrophage biology and cancer immunology, with particular emphasis on the role of $$ ext{CSF-1}$$ receptor signaling in macrophage function and tumor progression, as well as applications in mesothelioma and cardiovascular inflammation.

• Rhodes Scholar
• NIH KO8 award
• NHMRC Project grant
• CCWA Project grants
• Ada Bartholomew grant
• UWA Near Miss award
• UWA Research Collaboration award

As an educator, Dr. Pixley teaches across multiple pharmacology courses including Molecular Pharmacology and Human Pharmacology, and serves as a lecturer in the MD program. She has held leadership positions including Chair of the School of Biomedical Sciences Research Committee, organizer of the School's seminar series, and serves on the Executive Committee of the School of Biomedical Sciences.

Dr. Pixley has also contributed to the community through external roles, serving as Director of the Board for the Western Australian Institute of Sport (2018-2023) and Water Polo Western Australia Inc. (2014-2018).