Founder AEpiA

Professor Susan Clark, PhD, FAA, FAHMS, is a globally renowned researcher in cancer epigenetics.  Susan is a molecular biologist by training, where she completed a BSc (Hons1) degree at the Australian National University, ACT, followed by a PhD (1982) in Biochemistry at University of Adelaide, South Australia, under the supervision of Dr Julian Wells. Prof Clark is currently a NHMRC Senior Investigator (L3) and Research Director, Epigenetics Laboratory, at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, Australia.

The techniques Susan developed in the early 1990s and 2000s, including bisulphite single molecule methylation sequencing and bisulphite-based PCR methods, helped to revolutionise the impact of epigenetic research in embryonic development and human disease and led to commercialisation of methylation tests for cancer management. Using and adding to the growing suite of epigenomic sequencing technologies and bioinformatic analyses, her laboratory has made ground-breaking discoveries relating to alterations of epigenomic patterns in cancer genomes, including the concept of long-range epigenetic deregulation spanning large-scale 3D domains associated with changes in replication timing and co-ordinate gene silencing and activation.

Her labs current research is focused on 1) deciphering the molecular mechanisms that drive epigenetic alterations in the 3D cancer genome and 2) associated epigenetic alterations to the tumour microenvironment; 3) development of therapy resistance and 4) liquid biopsy epigenetic cancer biomarkers.

Prof Clark was an inaugural member of the NIH steering committee that established the Epigenome Roadmap and was a member of the management committee of the International Human Epigenome Consortium (IHEC) and on the advisory board of the European “BluePrint” IHEC consortium. To globally recognize Australia’s epigenetics research expertise across our country she spearheaded the AEpiA (Australian Epigenetics Alliance) and resided as the inaugural president for 15 years from 2008-2023.       

During her career, Prof Clark has authored >160 peer-reviewed research articles, including 30 reviews and 9 book chapters. Her publications have received >24,000 citations. She has received a number of National and International Awards including the RPAH Research Medal (2002); Julian Wells Medal (2003); the German “Biochemisch Analytik Preis” for outstanding contribution for Methylation analysis (2004); Fellow of the World Technology Network for Biotechnology (2006); Australia’s "Top Ten" NHMRC Project Scientists (2009) and Rotary Award for Vocational Excellence (2012). In 2015 she was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy (FAA) and received a Cancer Institute NSW “Make a difference award”; in 2017 Ramaciotti Foundation National Medal of Excellence; in 2019 NSW Premiers Prize for Excellence in Medical Biological Sciences and in 2020 she was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, (FAHMS).

2024 Susan Clark Medalist

Professor Nir Eynon is a Group Leader at the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI), Monash University, Australia. He earned his PhD degree with high distinction in 2010 from Porto University, Portugal. His areas of expertise is epigenetics, ageing and exercise, an area for which he won the Young Tall Poppy 2021 award. His expertise has been recognised by being selected to the ARC College of Experts in 2023. He is a NHMRC Investigator Fellow (2021-2025), a former NHMRC Career Development Fellow (2018-2021), and ARC DECRA Fellow (2014-2016). He was recently awarded Hevolution/American Federation of Aging Research (AFAR) New Investigator Fellowship in Aging Biology. He published over 120 papers, and his research is published in high-impact journals and focuses on the discovery of sex-specific molecular markers associated with exercise & healthy ageing. The Eynon lab uses a combination of wet-lab and bioinformatics analyses, with a particular focus on ‘omics’ datasets including DNA methylation, transcriptomics and proteomics.

Professor Nir Eynon was awarded the inaugural AEpiA Susan Clark Medal in 2024 in recognition of his scientific achievements and commitment to the Australasian epigenetics community.