Vasso Apostolopoulos

Vasso is the Head of the Healthy Lifespan and Chronic Diseases Program within the School of Health and Biomedical Sciences at RMIT University, Australia. She is a Distinguished Professor and is a Professor of Immunology. Her expertise spans multiple disciplines, with extensive experience in immunology, x-ray crystallography, medicinal chemistry, cellular biology, and clinical & translational research. She has contributed significantly to the development of drugs and vaccines, with a focus on improving human health and longevity.

Before joining RMIT University, Vasso worked and/or visited several universities and medical research institutes worldwide, including University of Melbourne (Australia), Oxford University (UK), the Scripps Research Institute (USA), Mater Research Institute (Qld), John Curtin School or Medical Research ANU (Canberra) and Victoria University (Australia). She led the Immunology and Vaccine Unit at the Austin Research Institute, the Immunology and Vaccine Group at the Burnet Institute and was the Immunology Program Leader at the Centre for Chronic Disease VU. Additionally, she was the Program Leader for the Mechanisms and Interventions in Health and Disease Program at Victoria University. From 2018 to 2022, she was part of the senior executive team at Victoria University, serving as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research, Associate Provost, and Pro Vice-Chancellor Research Partnerships. Vasso also led the Immunology and Translational Research Group at Victoria University and is currently the Program Director for Immunology at the Australian Institute for Musculoskeletal Science. She has also held the role of Chief Scientific Officer at 4Gvaccines and serves on multiple boards, including the Committee for Wyndham, the Greek Australian Society, and several journal editorial boards. Additionally, she is the Director of VAConsulting Services.

A world-renowned researcher, Vasso has been recognized with over 100 awards, including, Commander of the Phoenix Battalian, the Premier’s Award for Medical Research, Young Australian of the Year (Victoria), Greek Australian of the Year, and Woman of the Year. She was named one of the most successful Greeks abroad by the prestigious Times magazine. Vasso is also credited with developing the first immunotherapy method to stimulate the immune system in the early 1990s, a technique that is now utilized by hundreds of laboratories worldwide. This groundbreaking work led to over 25 Phase I, II, and III human trials of vaccine formulations for breast and ovarian cancer, attracting significant investment from pharmaceutical companies.

Vasso is deeply committed to the advancement of immunotherapy and has applied her research to various diseases, including diabetes, drug addiction, and Alzheimer’s disease. Her research is dedicated to understanding disease mechanisms and developing novel interventions for cancer, mental health disorders, diabetes, chronic diseases, infectious diseases, and autoimmunity, using vaccines, drugs, and natural bioactive compounds. She is particularly focused on improving healthy aging and strives to advance her research programs to improve the quality of life for aging populations.

In response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, Vasso co-developed the global ELPanvir consortium (pan anti-virals) of researchers from Europe, the USA, Canada, and Australia to investigate the development of pan-anti-virals and improve pandemic preparedness.

With over 500 research papers published and 20 patents to her name, Vasso has supervised more than 70 Honours, MSc, and PhD students. A sought-after speaker at international conferences, she is ranked in the top 0.13% of researchers globally. Her remarkable career continues to shape the fields of immunology, translational medicine, and public health.