Professor Richard Kefford AM MB BS PhD FRACP FAHMS is Emeritus Professor  and former Head of Department, Department of Clinical Medicine at Macquarie University, Sydney, Faculty Member at Melanoma Institute Australia, Consultant Emeritus in Medical Oncology at Westmead Hospital, Sydney, and Honorary Professor of Medicine, University of Sydney. He is an internationally acclaimed melanoma researcher and a national leader in academic medicine and medical research with a life-long record of commitment and service to Australian medical research, peer review, professional training and mentoring and community education in oncology. He contributed to the mapping and characterisation of the major melanoma susceptibility genes and the development of international guidelines on genetic testing of those at high melanoma risk. He played a pivotal role in the development of life-extending drug treatments now used as standard-of-care for melanoma, including the first-time in human trial of dabrafenib, the pioneering use of dabrafenib and trametinib for patients with brain metastases, and the Phase 1 clinical trial of pembrolizumab.