Laura Mackay is a Professor at The University of Melbourne and Immunology Theme Leader at The Peter Doherty Institute. She is currently a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) and Bill & Melinda Gates International Scholar, Dame Kate Campbell Fellow, Sylvia & Charles Viertel Charitable Foundation Senior Medical Research Fellow and NHMRC Leadership Investigator. She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (AAHMS) and recipient of Awards including The Prime Minister’s Prize for The Frank Fenner Life Scientist of the Year, The Gottschalk Medal, Eureka Prize for Outstanding Early Career Researcher, Woodward Medal in Science and Technology, Michelson Prize for Human Immunology and she is the Immediate Past President of The Federation of Immunological Societies of Asia-Oceania (FIMSA). Dr. Mackay has been at the forefront of research on immunological memory, and how memory T cells protect the body against disease. Her work was instrumental in the discovery that a subset of immune cells called tissue-resident memory T cells are critical for the control of infection and cancer. The current focus of her Laboratory is on the molecular signals that govern tissue-resident memory T cell differentiation, with a view to harness these cells for the development of new immunotherapeutic strategies against disease.