Professor Frazer, of The University of Queensland, is a humble recipient of the nation's top honour.

"It's a marvellous honour, especially as I follow in the footsteps of distinguished medical scientists who are recent Australians of the Year: Professor Peter Doherty, Sir Gus Nossal and Professor Fiona Wood," Professor Frazer said.

"Gus, Fiona and I all chose to be Australians and to make this country the cradle of research that aims to improve the lives of millions of people.

"It's a great privilege to be recognised by Australia as the 2006 Australian of the Year.

"But it's an even greater privilege to be able to do something tangible for the health of Australian women, and for women throughout the world," Professor Frazer said.

Professor Frazer and the late Dr Jian Zhou made a discovery at UQ more than 15 years ago that has led to the development of a vaccine for cervical cancer. The vaccine, known as Gardasil and Cervarix, is expected to become available in the developed world in mid-2006.

On Saturday (January 21) Professor Frazer was also named 2005 Australian of the Year by The Australian.

Professor Frazer said Australia and other developed nations had effective Pap smear programs to reduce the incidence of cervical cancer.

"Despite this, cervical cancer continues to be a shocking disease for women in the developed world.

"Women living in poverty in the developing world, where Pap smears are not widely available, account for most of the 275,000 deaths from cervical cancer each year.

"So this vaccine has the potential to do most good in the developing world, where it could help lift women out of poverty by relieving the burden of disease.

"Women in China, birthplace of my late colleague Dr Jian Zhou,
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Contact: Fiona Kennedy
61-733-651-088
Research Australia
25-Jan-2006