Main description:

The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute is one of Australia's foremost medical research centres. Over the past ninety years, its research into the areas of cancer, the immune system and autoimmune diseases has led to significant advances and discoveries that have brought untold benefits to patients worldwide. Between 1965 and 1996, the Institute underwent great, sometimes tumultuous, development and grew significantly in size and research scope. The then director, Sir Gustav Nossal, who at the outrageously young age of thirty-four became Director of the Institute, relates the story of these years in "Diversity and Discovery: The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute 1965-1996." Under his directorship, scientists at the Institute have made impressive progress in their research into the onset of leukemia and advanced the understanding of combating malaria. As both a participant and a keen observer, Nossal brings to life the exhilaration - and the frustration of this revolutionary era in medical research.