Marie Ranson

Professor Marie Ranson is a Senior Professor at the University of Wollongong (UOW), holding academic appointments since 1999. She transitioned to Honorary Professor in 2025 while remaining active in research and leadership roles. Her primary affiliation is with the School of Chemistry and Molecular Bioscience within the Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health.

Education: PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Sydney (1990), followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the NIH, USA. Academic career highlights include becoming a full Professor in 2014 and leading the CONCERT Translational Cancer Research Centre (2015–2021). Current roles include Deputy Director (Clinical Partnerships) at the Molecular Horizons Institute and Chief Investigator on a Cancer Institute NSW grant addressing head and neck cancer treatment outcomes.

Research focuses on molecular biomarkers of cancer metastasis, particularly the urokinase plasminogen activation system (uPA) in solid tumors. She has pioneered drug development projects, published over 137 peer-reviewed articles, and attracted $21M in research funding. Notable achievements include supervising 31 PhD students and winning the 2007 UOW Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research Supervision.

Leadership roles include Deputy Director of CONCERT, Cancer Council NSW Research Committee membership, and directorship of FivepHusion. She holds grants spanning pancreatic cancer therapies, biomarker discovery, and imaging technologies. Research interests extend to drug delivery systems, immunotherapy, and genomic analysis of metastatic cancers.

Awards include the NIH Fogarty Fellowship and Cancer Institute NSW Fellowship. Her work bridges academia, clinical practice, and industry, emphasizing translational cancer research. Current projects include spatial transcriptome analysis of pancreatic cancer and drug efficacy testing using novel formulations.