Winner of 2014 Zonta Science Award

Dr Laura Green, who is part of a Victoria University of Wellington team researching better ways of treating the debilitating symptoms of multiple sclerosis, has won the 2014 Zonta Women in Science Award.

Laura Green standing in front of a computer.

His Excellency, Lt Gen The Rt Hon Sir Jerry Mateparae, GNZM, QSO, Governor-General of New Zealand presented Dr Green her prize at a special reception hosted at Government House.

The Zonta Science Award provides Dr Green with $15,000 prize money, and $3,000 to be put towards overseas travel. She will use the funding to travel to Switzerland to work with an eminent researcher who has developed a new imaging technique that can visualise individual immune cells trying to gain entry to the central nervous system.

“I will then bring this specialist knowledge back to New Zealand,” says Dr Green who

is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Immunology at the Centre for Biodiscovery, School of Biological Sciences. She held her first research position at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the United States at the age of 17, and has been involved in biomedical research ever since.

In 2003, Dr Green came to New Zealand and has held research positions at Massey University, and the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research based at Victoria.

She obtained her PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology at Victoria in 2012.

Dame Margaret Sparrow, Convener of the Zonta Science Award, says the judges were impressed not only with Dr Green’s commitment to science but also her community involvement, notably her enjoyment of public speaking and her enthusiasm for competitive road cycling, which includes assisting with cycle safety programmes and cycling skill clinics.

“Laura is passionate about making science accessible to the wider public and is involved in a number of projects including the use of cartoons and film to make science more exciting.”