James McCluskey was Deputy Vice Chancellor Research at The University of Melbourne from 2011-2023 and was Provost for most of 2021. He now holds the position of Assistant Vice Chancellor working on the Australian Institute for Infectious Disease (AIID). He trained in Perth as a physician and rheumatologist, then carried out immunology research at the National Institutes of Health (USA). He has held academic positions at Monash University and Flinders University. He has consulted for the Australian Red Cross Blood Service for >35 years. He established the SA unrelated bone marrow donor registry and currently advises on transplantation matching for Life Blood (Red Cross Blood Service) in Victoria. He has published widely on immune recognition, cell biology, autoimmunity, Ag presentation and mucosal associated invariant T cells (MAIT cells). He co-developed the FDA-approved Hep2000 diagnostic kit for systemic autoimmunity used in >40 countries. His research has won a number of prizes and he has served on the governing boards of multiple independent medical research institutes in Melbourne. He is a director of the Australian Friends of ASHA (a charity to improve life in Indian slums) and Trinity College Melbourne. He led the development of the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, an institute of 800 scientists created as a joint venture between The University of Melbourne and Royal Melbourne Hospital.