Suzanne Cory, 2003-01-15

Item — Box: AV05, Hi8: CSHL1215

Staff Only

Oral History | Suzanne Cory

Scope and Contents

Suzanne Cory, biochemist and molecular oncologist, is interviewed by Mila Pollock on January 15, 2003, at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia. Suzanne Cory discusses the following in her interview: Scene 1. Becoming a scientist -- Scene 2. Influence of Watson and Crick -- Scene 3. Adams-Capecchi PNAS Paper -- Scene 4. Coming to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and meeting Jim Watson -- Scene 5. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory -- Scene 6. Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology -- Scene 7. Jim Watson, writer -- Scene 8. Jim Watson, writer: "The Double Helix" -- Scene 9. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Director: Bruce Stillman -- Scene 10. Women in science: Balancing a family and a career -- Scene 11. Women in science: international differences -- Scene 12. Women in science: is there a double standard? -- Scene 13. Romance and science: marriage to Jerry Adams -- Scene 14. Mentoring -- Scene 15. Advice for young scientists.

Dates

Creation: 2003-01-15

Creator

Cory, Suzanne (Interviewee, Person)
Pollock, Ludmila (Interviewer, Person)
Clark, Clare (Transcriber, Person)
Viteri, Carlos (Videographer, Person)
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Library and Archives (Publisher, Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

Portions of this collection have been digitized and are available online: https://library.cshl.edu/oralhistory/. Select tapes have been digitized thanks to support from CLIR Recordings at Risk Grant awarded in 2021, these tapes are available for research online via our Oral History Website and in person at CSHL Archives. Please contact CSHL Archives archives@cshl.edu with any questions regarding availability.

Biographical / Historical

Suzanne Cory currently holds the position of Laboratory Head in the Blood Cells and Blood Cancer Divison of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI) and a professor of Medical Biology at the University of Melbourne. She was Director of WEHI from 1996-2009. She was also joint head (with Professor Jerry Adams) of the Molecular Genetics of Cancer division at WEHI.

Dr. Cory, a biochemist and molecular oncologist, has focused her research interests in immunology and cancer development. Her current research on the Bcl-2 gene family, and how cells decide to live or die (apoptosis), will lead to the knowledge to develop specific therapeutics for cancer and other diseases.

Dr. Cory earned her PhD in 1968 from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, working on RNA sequencing with Nobelists Fred Sanger and Francis Crick. While at Cambridge, she met and later married scientist Jerry Adams. Following their post-doctoral work and beginning research partnership at the University of Geneva, Cory and Adams moved to Australia and The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in 1971. Their work at WEHI helped introduce gene cloning technology in Australia. In the 1980s they discovered the genetic mutation that leads to Burkett’s Lymphoma.

Suzanne Cory was invited to speak at the 1970 Symposium, and has attended many meetings and Symposia at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory since then. Dr. Cory has received numerous awards and honors, including the Companion of the Order of Australia, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, and Fellow of the Royal Society.

Extent

1 Optical Disks (Talking Science with Suzanne Cory) : DVD ; 18 min

0.5 Cassettes (Camcorder footage. First half of tape contains the second part of the Jerry Adams interview (CSHL1214). Second half of tape contains Suzanne Cory interview.) : Hi-8 - CSHL1215