Professor John Rasko AO

Professor John Rasko is an Australian pioneer in the clinical application of adult stem cells and gene therapies. Since 1999 he has directed the Department of Cell & Molecular Therapies at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and the Gene and Stem Cell Therapy Program, Centenary Institute, University of Sydney. He was appointed Deputy Director of Research Development & Partnerships at the Centenary Institute in 2023.

He is a clinical haematologist, pathologist and scientist with an international reputation in gene and stem cell therapy, experimental haematology and molecular biology. In over 220 publications he has contributed to the understanding of stem cells and blood cell development, gene therapy technologies, cancer causation and treatment, human genetic diseases and molecular biology. He has delivered the Australian Broadcasting Commission’s prestigious Boyer Lectures for 2018, Life Re-engineered. With historian Carl Power, he published Flesh Made New: the unnatural history and broken promise of stem cell research.

He serves on Hospital, state and national bodies including the longest-serving Chair of The Gene Technology Technical Advisory Committee, OGTR, and past inaugural Chair of the TGA Advisory Committee on Biologicals. He co-founded and was past-President of the ANZ regional division of the International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy and served as ISCT’s President and Board member 2016-2022.

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