Professor Peter Klinken 
In June 2014 Peter was appointed as the Chief Scientist of Western Australia, after stepping down as Executive Director of the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research (formerly the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research – WAIMR) in March 2014.
Peter obtained his PhD in Biochemistry from The University of Western Australia in 1982 and was a Fogarty International Fellow at the US National Institutes of Health in Washington, between 1984 and 1986. From there he returned to work at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne as an NHMRC Postdoctoral Fellow between 1987 and 1988. In 1989, he became a Lecturer in Biochemistry at the University of Western Australia, then Senior Lecturer before being appointed Professor in Clinical Biochemistry in 1994. Between 2000 and 2002 he was the Director of Research at Royal Perth Hospital.
Peter’s research interests encompass the regulation of red blood cell formation and ability of leukemic cells to develop different features and functions. He also has a long-standing interest in identifying genes which can cause cancer or leukemia.