Rate My Professor Wendy Erber

Professor Wendy Erber is Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Western Australia and a consultant haematologist at PathWest Laboratory Medicine WA. She graduated in Medicine with first class honours from the University of Sydney, completed haematology training at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney and the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, earning a Doctor of Philosophy for her leukaemia research and later a Doctor of Medicine from Sydney. Her career includes serving as Clinical Director of the WA Centre for Pathology and Medical Research (PathCentre) from 1997 to 2004, and as Head of Department and Lecturer at the University of Cambridge from 2004 to 2011. Upon returning to Australia in 2011, she became Chair and Head of the School of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at UWA, and from 2015 to 2019 served as Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, the first woman in that role, during which time UWA rose to number 8 globally in Clinical Medicine rankings.

Professor Erber's major research interests centre on diagnostic haematology, particularly the adoption of new technologies like imaging flow cytometry (Immuno-flowFISH) for detecting chromosomal abnormalities in haematological malignancies, a patented invention that won the Eureka Prize for Innovative Use of Technologies in 2018. Other focuses include the pathological basis of fibrosis in myeloproliferative neoplasms, translation of discoveries to clinical pathology practice, patient blood management, leukaemia, lymphoma, myelodysplasia, and bone marrow pathology. She has published more than 250 peer-reviewed articles, four books, and 20 book chapters, with one book receiving high commendation from the British Medical Association. A Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences since 2015, her honours include the University of Sydney Alumni Award for Professional Achievement (2021), multiple finalist positions in the Premier's Science Awards Scientist of the Year category (2019, 2020, 2023), and leadership as Chair of the International Council for Standardization in Haematology. Professor Erber teaches undergraduates on blood diseases, masters students on blood film morphology, supervises postgraduates, and established the Indian Ocean Rim Laboratory Haematology Congress.