Some of the most important breakthroughs in science happen when exceptional researchers are given the time, support and freedom to pursue their ideas. The Alice Baker and Eleanor Shaw Gender Equity Fellowship exists to make that possible — for the women who need it most.
About the Fellowship
The Alice Baker and Eleanor Shaw Gender Equity Fellowship supports outstanding senior female scientists at the Baker Institute, providing a five-year fellowship at Laboratory Head level. It is designed to advance and retain women in science by addressing some of the structural and career barriers they face — from funding gaps and career disruptions to the challenges of establishing independent research programs.
Fellowships are made possible through the generous support of the Baker Foundation, which funds the first two years of each five-year award. We are enormously grateful to the Baker Foundation for their long-standing commitment to gender equity in research.
Fellowship recipients
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Dr Richart's fellowship supported her research into treatments that could reduce heart injury immediately following a heart attack — work with particular significance for people with type 2 diabetes, who face a significantly higher risk of secondary complications including heart failure. Her research was personal as well as scientific: she had witnessed a close friend with type 2 diabetes suffer a heart attack and, with few treatment options available, progress to heart failure. The fellowship gave her the independence to pursue this work and helped her overcome the career disruptions that come with an international research move.
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Dr Yiallourou's fellowship supported her research into how sleep patterns affect cardiovascular health — a growing field given that almost 40 per cent of Australians experience sleep problems. Her work focused on understanding the underlying links between inadequate sleep and increased risk of hypertension and cardiovascular disease, with particular attention to vulnerable populations including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and those living in regional communities. The fellowship was pivotal in helping her establish herself as an independent researcher, providing not only salary support but funding for pilot studies and conference travel.
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About Alice Baker and Eleanor Shaw
The Fellowship is named in honour of two remarkable women whose generosity helped establish the Baker Institute — and whose legacy continues to shape it a century later.
Alice Baker was a quiet but formidable force in Melbourne's philanthropic and civic life. Alongside her husband Thomas Baker, she played a central role in the founding of what would become the Baker Institute. Together they pledged their ongoing support following the opening of the new laboratory building in 1926, naming it the Thomas Baker, Alice Baker and Eleanor Shaw Medical Research Institute in honour of the Bakers and Alice's sister Eleanor Shaw.
Though the Bakers had no children, they were known for their generous — and often anonymous — philanthropy. They supported the Red Cross, the Big Brotherhood, Toc H and the Limbless Soldiers, but their greatest legacy was their commitment to medical research at the Alfred Hospital. Thomas Baker's death in 1928 did not end that commitment:
Alice and Eleanor, together with the Rouse family, continued to support the Institute. The wills of Thomas, Alice and Eleanor established a trust that would support research at the Institute for decades to come — providing nearly $4 million by 1974.
Alice was also an active civic leader in her own right. A prominent figure in the National Council of Women, she represented Australia at the Toronto meeting of the International Council of Women and was appointed CBE in 1933, two years before her death.
It is fitting that a fellowship advancing women in science bears their names. Their belief in the power of research to change lives is exactly what the Fellowship honours.
Information sourced from The Australian Women's Register.
