Richard Scolyer

Dr. Richard Anthony Scolyer AO (born 16 December 1966^[3]) is an Australian pathologist. He is a senior staff specialist in tissue pathology and diagnostic oncology at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital,^[4][5] co-medical director alongside Georgina Long at the Melanoma Institute Australia,^[6] and Conjoint Professor, Sydney Medical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney.^[7] He was honoured along with Georgina Long as 2024 Australians of the Year.

Richard Scolyer AO
Born	Richard Anthony Scolyer (1966-12-16) 16 December 1966 (age 58) Launceston, Tasmania
Education	University of Tasmania University of Sydney
Occupation(s)	Pathologist, Co-Medical Director and Translational Researcher
Organization	Melanoma Institute Australia
Spouse	Katie Nicoll[1]
Children	3[2]

Career

Scolyer provides a clinical consultation service for the diagnosis of difficult pigmented lesions and receives more than 2000 cases for opinion from Australasia and beyond annually. He integrates his clinical practice with co-leading a translational melanoma research laboratory.^[6]

In February 2019, he was ranked the world's 10th leading publisher on the topic of melanoma and the world's leading publisher in melanoma pathology.^[8] Scolyer has co-authored more than 700 publications and book-chapters on the subject,^[4][6] and was an editor of the 4th Edition of the WHO Classification of Tumours.^[9]

Cancer diagnosis and treatment

in June 2023, Scolyer was diagnosed with a stage 4 glioblastoma IDH wild-type brain tumour.^[10][1] With treatment for glioblastoma mostly unchanged for the last 20 years, Scolyer and Dr Georgina Long worked together to develop a world first treatment for his brain tumour based on their breakthroughs in melanoma research. Scolyer underwent experimental combination immunotherapy before and after surgical excision of the tumour; delaying his surgery to do so. Scolyer was also administered a cancer vaccine personalised to the tumour genetic markers, in order to help the immunotherapy detect the cancer cells. His treatment was documented in the journal Nature Medicine,^[11] paving the way for future clinical trials. While Scolyer and his colleagues have applied these techniques successfully to melanoma, this treatment is non-standard for brain cancer due to concerns about toxicity, whether drugs will reach the brain, and speed of tumour development.^[12]

Eighteen months after surgery, Scolyer's cancer had not returned, a promising result with potentially broader implications due to the pioneering approach taken, with the normal prognosis for this glioblastoma being 6–9 months; though oncologists warned that it was too early to judge the effectiveness of the treatment, compared to standard protocols.^[13]On 10 March 2025, Richard announced the cancer had returned, and he was given a prognosis of 3 months.^[14][15]

Awards and recognition

Scolyer received the New South Wales Premier's Award for Outstanding Cancer Research in 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2020.^[16]

He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for "distinguished service to medicine, particularly in the field of melanoma and skin cancer, and to national and international professional organisations" in the 2021 Queen's Birthday Honours.^[4]

He was named 2024 Australian of the Year alongside Dr Georgina Long by the National Australia Day Council, a not-for-profit Australian Government-owned social enterprise.^[17]