Richard Scolyer

Richard Anthony Scolyer AO was born on 16 December 1966 in Launceston, Tasmania, the son of Jenny, a primary school teacher, and Maurice, an auto electrician. From boyhood he possessed a fierce, cheerful determination — building forts, completing a 65-kilometre walk along Tasmania's Overland Track at age ten, and throwing himself into football and sport with the same energy he would one day bring to the laboratory. Watching his mother endure a series of strokes and psychiatric hospitalisation during his early childhood planted the seed of his life's purpose: medicine and the relief of suffering. He earned his Bachelor of Medical Science (1987) and Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (1990) from the University of Tasmania, then began specialist pathology training in Canberra before moving to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, where he would spend the core of his career. Guided by Professor Stan McCarthy and Professor John Thompson, he became a senior staff specialist in tissue pathology and diagnostic oncology — and, by age 39, a conjoint professor at the University of Sydney. By 2022 he was ranked the world's leading melanoma pathologist, having co-authored over 1,000 peer-reviewed publications in journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, Nature, and Cell. His greatest achievement came through his partnership with Professor Georgina Long as Co-Medical Director of the Melanoma Institute Australia from 2017. Together they transformed melanoma from a near-death sentence into a potentially curable disease, lifting five-year survival rates in advanced cases from less than 5 per cent to over 50 per cent through pioneering immunotherapy research. Their contribution was recognised in January 2024 when they were jointly named Australian of the Year. In June 2023, Richard was diagnosed with grade 4 glioblastoma following a seizure at a medical conference in Poland. Rather than accepting the standard prognosis of six to nine months, he chose courage: he became the first patient in the world to receive neoadjuvant combination immunotherapy for glioblastoma — a protocol designed by Professor Long using the very science they had built together. He survived nearly three years, triple the typical expectation, while continuing to run, cycle, mentor colleagues, and publicly document his journey to inspire hope and accelerate research. He died peacefully on 7 June 2026, aged 59, surrounded by his wife Dr Katie Nicholl and their three children, Emily, Matthew, and Lucy. He leaves behind a legacy that will save countless lives.