Professor Andrew Lawrence
PhD, FBPhS
Deputy Director and Group Head
Location
Parkville Campus
30 Royal Parade
Parkville Victoria 3052
Research group
Addiction Neuroscience Group
Biography
Professor Andrew Lawrence is a Senior Principal Research Fellow and Deputy Director at The Florey where he runs the Addiction Neuroscience Group. His research interests focus around identifying novel therapeutic targets for alcohol and substance use disorders, stemming from basic discovery science through to clinical trials. His research into the motivation to seek and consume alcohol has consistently combined neuroscience and pharmacology to identify circuits, neurotransmitters and novel therapeutic targets.
Andrew has published over 300 original articles and reviews and has been cited >13,000 times (H index 61). Andrew was Treasurer of the Australian Neuroscience Society (2002–2008) and is an Honorary Fellow of the British Pharmacological Society. He was Senior Editor of the British Journal of Pharmacology (2007–2014) and is currently Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Neurochemistry. Andrew was President of the Asian-Pacific Society for Neurochemistry (2014–2016) and is currently Senior Vice-President of the International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism. In 2017 Andrew delivered the Lawrie Austin Plenary lecture at the Australasian Neuroscience Society annual meeting and in 2021 gave the opening Plenary lecture at the Japanese Society for Neurochemistry annual conference.
Key collaborators:
Leigh Walker, Phil Ryan, Lucy Palmer, Gavan McNally, Bernard Balleine, Dan Lubman, Yvonne Bonomo, Paul Haber, Chris Langmead, Robyn Brown, Rainer Spanagel, Kirsten Morley, Erin Campbell, Zayra Millan, Chris Dayas, Zane Andrews.
Career highlights
Current roles
- Deputy Director, The Florey
- Head, Addition Neuroscience Group, The Florey
- Honorary Fellow of the British Pharmacological Society
- Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Neurochemistry
- Advisory editor Psychopharmacology
- Reviews editor with the British Journal of Pharmacology
- Senior Vice-President of the International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism
Past roles
- 2002–2008 Treasurer of the Australian Neuroscience Society
- 2007–2008 Member of the NSW Health Ministerial Committee on Drug Strategy Cost Funding
- Model Project on research of the Neuroscience of Addiction
- 2007–2014 Senior Editor of the British Journal of Pharmacology
- 2014–2016 President of the Asia-Pacific Society for Neurochemistry
- 2017–2020 Council member of the International Society of Neurochemistry
- 2017 Innovators in Science Award, New York Academy of Sciences, Jury Member
- 2017 Assessor for the Brain Prize founded by the Lundbeck Foundation
Research projects
Awards and achievements
- 2000 – Neural Control of Autonomic Regulation Travel Award (American Physiological Society)
- 2001 – Neural Control of Autonomic Regulation Young Investigator Award (American Physiological Society)
- 2001 – The Levitt Visiting Professorship for 2001–2002 at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Iowa, USA.
- 2003 – Young Investigator Award, International Society for Neurochemistry.
- 2005 – Young Investigator Award, International Society for Neurochemistry.
- 2005 – Fellowship of the British Pharmacological Society.
- 2006 – Young Investigator Award, Asian-Pacific Society for Neurochemistry.
- 2007 – Honorary Personal Chair, Centre for Neuroscience, University of Melbourne.
- 2008 – Research Society on Alcoholism, Lecture Series award
- 2009 – Australian Neuroscience Society medallion for services to the society.
- 2014 – Cass Memorial Lecture, Dundee University Medical Research Institute
- 2017 – Lawrie Austin Award, Australasian Neuroscience Society