Mary Garson

Mary Garson is a chemist and academic in Australia.

Mary Jean Garson was born in Rugby, England, the daughter of an engineer and botanist. She took her B.A with Honours from the University of Cambridge, Newnham College in 1974. Garson’s focus was the natural sciences, specializing in chemistry. She took her PhD in organic chemistry from Cambridge in 1977.

Garson won a Royal Society postdoctoral fellowship after her PhD, undertaking research in Rome, Italy from 1977-1978. She continued her research at New Hall at Cambridge on a college research fellowship from 1978-1981, taking a M.A with honours in Education in 1978. She worked as a medicinal chemist from 1981-1983 at Smith Kline and French Research Ltd in Welwyn, England, researching the bioactive organic chemicals in marine organisms, and decided to travel to Australia to study these in situ.

Garson won a Queen Elizabeth II Research Fellowship from James Cook University (1983–1986), based in the Townsville region and emigrated to Australia. In Townsville, she undertook dive training to study on the Great Barrier Reef. Garson then took a teaching position as the first female academic in chemistry at the University of Woollongong, before moving to the University of Queensland as a lecturer in 1990. She was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1992 and Reader in 1998. She researches and publishes on the structure, biosynthesis and function of natural products, especially those from marine invertebrates and other microorganisms. She also researches the chemistry of South East Asian medicinal plants.

Garson was promoted to Professor in the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences in 2006, and has served as Deputy Head of the School from 2005-2009.

2009 – Our Women, Our State (Queensland Government) – Highly Commended

2011 – Leighton Medal of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, in recognition of her contributions and leadership to the chemistry community, within Australia and overseas.

A species of marine flatworm, discovered at Heron Island, is named for her Maritigrella marygarsonae.

President-Royal Australian Chemical Institute (Queensland Division)

Chair, International Relations Committee of RACI

Member, National Committee for Chemistry

Executive Secretary, World Chemistry Congress/IUPAC General Assembly (2001)

Chair, Board of Australian Science Innovations

Organiser, Chemistry-Biotechnology Symposium at World Chemistry Congress (Torino, 2007)

Member, International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC)

Secretary of Division III, IUPAC (2008–2011)

Organiser, Women sharing a Chemical Moment in Time, International Year of Chemistry (2011)

President, IUPAC (2012–2013) and Division Presidency and Bureau Position (2014–2015)