Duncan Maskell

Maskell grew up in north London, in a working-class household. He was educated at Queen Elizabeth's School for Boys, then a comprehensive school in Barnet.[1] At 11, he performed at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, to celebrate the 60th birthday of the composer Benjamin Britten, and has played and performed music in several bands.[2]

He was the first in his family to go to university. He studied Natural Sciences at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree.[1][3] He undertook a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in Cambridge's Department of Pathology on Salmonella infections and graduated in 1986.[4] His doctoral thesis was titled "Mechanisms of resistance and immunity to salmonella infections" and was submitted in 1985.[5]

After doctoral work, Maskell worked as a research scientist for Wellcome Biotech from 1985 to 1988, then as a research fellow at the Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, from 1988 to 1992. In 1992, he joined Imperial College, London as a lecturer in its Department of Biochemistry.[3]

In 1996, he appointed Marks & Spencer Professor of Farm Animal Health, Food Science and Food Safety at the University of Cambridge.[3] He was elected a fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge in 1998.[3] He also served as Head of the Department of Veterinary Medicine from 2004 to 2013, and Head of the School of Biological Sciences from 2013 to 2015, and the university's Senior Pro-Vice Chancellor from 2015 to 2018.[6][7][8][9]

In October 2017, it was announced that Maskell would be the next Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, succeeding Glyn Davis.[10] He took up the role on 1 October 2018.[11] In May 2022, Maskell was reappointed for a second term.[12]

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 saw severe lockdown measures and travel bans in Melbourne from March–November, meaning the university was particularly hard hit because of its reliance on international student revenues. Maskell announced widespread staff redundancies and early retirement schemes (450 people) to reduce university expenditure against a forecast drop in student numbers, in August 2020.[13]

In 2011, Maskell was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci).[14]

• Maskell, Duncan J.; Sweeney, Kathy J.; O'Callaghan, David; Hormaeche, Carlos E.; Liew, Foo Y.; Dougan, Gordon (March 1987). "Salmonella typhimuriumaroA mutants as carriers of the Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin B subunit to the murine secretory and systemic immune systems". Microbial Pathogenesis. 2 (3): 211–221. doi:10.1016/0882-4010(87)90022-2. PMID 3333799.
• O'Callaghan, D.; Maskell, D.; Liew, F. Y.; Easmon, C. S.; Dougan, G. (1 February 1988). "Characterization of aromatic- and purine-dependent Salmonella typhimurium: attention, persistence, and ability to induce protective immunity in BALB/c mice". Infection and Immunity. 56 (2): 419–423. doi:10.1128/IAI.56.2.419-423.1988. ISSN 0019-9567. PMC 259298. PMID 3276625.
• Reeves, Peter R.; Hobbs, Matthew; Valvano, Miguel A.; Skurnik, Mikael; Whitfield, Chris; Coplin, David; Kido, Nobuo; Klena, John; Maskell, Duncan; Raetz, Christian R.H.; Rick, Paul D. (December 1996). "Bacterial polysaccharide synthesis and gene nomenclature". Trends in Microbiology. 4 (12): 495–503. doi:10.1016/S0966-842X(97)82912-5. PMID 9004408.
• Parkhill, Julian; Sebaihia, Mohammed; Preston, Andrew; Murphy, Lee D; Thomson, Nicholas; Harris, David E; Holden, Matthew T G; Churcher, Carol M; Bentley, Stephen D; Mungall, Karen L; Cerdeño-Tárraga, Ana M; Temple, Louise; James, Keith; Harris, Barbara; Quail, Michael A; Achtman, Mark; Atkin, Rebecca; Baker, Steven; Basham, David; Bason, Nathalie; Cherevach, Inna; Chillingworth, Tracey; Collins, Matthew; Cronin, Anne; Davis, Paul; Doggett, Jonathan; Feltwell, Theresa; Goble, Arlette; Hamlin, Nancy; Hauser, Heidi; Holroyd, Simon; Jagels, Kay; Leather, Sampsa; Moule, Sharon; Norberczak, Halina; O'Neil, Susan; Ormond, Doug; Price, Claire; Rabbinowitsch, Ester; Rutter, Simon; Sanders, Mandy; Saunders, David; Seeger, Katherine; Sharp, Sarah; Simmonds, Mark; Skelton, Jason; Squares, Robert; Squares, Steven; Stevens, Kim; Unwin, Louise; Whitehead, Sally; Barrell, Bart G; Maskell, Duncan J (10 August 2003). "Comparative analysis of the genome sequences of Bordetella pertussis, Bordetella parapertussis and Bordetella bronchiseptica". Nature Genetics. 35 (1): 32–40. doi:10.1038/ng1227. PMID 12910271.
• Holt, Kathryn E; Parkhill, Julian; Mazzoni, Camila J; Roumagnac, Philippe; Weill, François-Xavier; Goodhead, Ian; Rance, Richard; Baker, Stephen; Maskell, Duncan J; Wain, John; Dolecek, Christiane; Achtman, Mark; Dougan, Gordon (27 July 2008). "High-throughput sequencing provides insights into genome variation and evolution in Salmonella Typhi". Nature Genetics. 40 (8): 987–993. doi:10.1038/ng.195. PMC 2652037. PMID 18660809.
• Mastroeni, P. and D. Maskell (eds.). 2006. Salmonella infections: clinical, immunological, and molecular aspects. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• García-Álvarez, Laura; Holden, Matthew TG; Lindsay, Heather; Webb, Cerian R; Brown, Derek FJ; Curran, Martin D; Walpole, Enid; Brooks, Karen; Pickard, Derek J; Teale, Christopher; Parkhill, Julian; Bentley, Stephen D; Edwards, Giles F; Girvan, E Kirsty; Kearns, Angela M; Pichon, Bruno; Hill, Robert LR; Larsen, Anders Rhod; Skov, Robert L; Peacock, Sharon J; Maskell, Duncan J; Holmes, Mark A (August 2011). "Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus with a novel mecA homologue in human and bovine populations in the UK and Denmark: a descriptive study". The Lancet Infectious Diseases. 11 (8): 595–603. doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(11)70126-8. PMC 3829197. PMID 21641281.
• Mather, A. E.; Reid, S. W. J.; Maskell, D. J.; Parkhill, J.; Fookes, M. C.; Harris, S. R.; Brown, D. J.; Coia, J. E.; Mulvey, M. R.; Gilmour, M. W.; Petrovska, L.; de Pinna, E.; Kuroda, M.; Akiba, M.; Izumiya, H.; Connor, T. R.; Suchard, M. A.; Lemey, P.; Mellor, D. J.; Haydon, D. T.; Thomson, N. R. (12 September 2013). "Distinguishable Epidemics of Multidrug-Resistant Salmonella Typhimurium DT104 in Different Hosts". Science. 341 (6153): 1514–1517. Bibcode:2013Sci...341.1514M. doi:10.1126/science.1240578. PMC 4012302. PMID 24030491.