Mark Polizzotto is Professor of Medicine at The Australian National University College of Health and Medicine, where he leads the Clinical Hub in Interventional Research (CHOIR) and is a group leader at the John Curtin School of Medical Research, and Senior Staff Haematologist at The Canberra Region Cancer Centre, Canberra Hospital.

Mark is a clinical triallist whose work sits a the intersection of immunity, infection and cancer. He has a focus on developing new therapies to prevent and treat malignancy, particularly infection-related cancers. Mark's work on viral and HIV-associated cancers has influenced guidelines globally, including co-leading development of an oral immunomodulator for Kaposi sarcoma which led to the first new drug approval for KS in over 20 years. During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, at the invitation of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, he led international randomised trials of immunotherapies for COVID-19.

Mark's work in clinical trials and therapeutic development has led to new therapy registrations and influenced treatment guidelines in Australia and internationally, while his contributions to translational science have led to paradigmatic shifts in our understanding of the pathogenesis of key viral malignancies and complications of HIV infection. He has published in the most influential journals in his areas of interest, including Blood, Clinical Infectious Diseases, the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lancet journals, Nature Medicine and the New England Journal of Medicine.

Mark has a commitment to translation of research into practice and policy, and leads clinical guideline development in several areas, including the Australian guidelines for cancer treatment for people living with HIV. He is also strong advocate for equity and diversity in clinical reseach, including inclusion of historically marginalised groups in clinical trials to ensure broad applicability of their findings in practice. He has a particular focus on inclusion of people with HIV and other chronic viral infections in clinical trials of novel cancer therapies, and has advised the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on clinical trial equity, diversity and inclusion. 

He also has a long-standing dedication to sustainable clinical trial conduct in resource limited settings, and to this end has led trial capacity building efforts in West Africa and Indonesia for the U.S. National Institutes of Health. As a leader of the INSIGHT group from 2016-2021 he led trials in HIV, influenza and COVID-19 across the Asia-Pacific and West Africa.

Mark has a strong commitment to community engagement and advocacy, and serves as a non-executive board member of the WAAC, the Western Australian AIDS council.

MB BS BMedSc PhD FRACP FRCPA