Murdoch Children’s researchers make highly cited list

Murdoch Children's Research Institute’s Professor Mimi Tang and Professor George Patton are among the most highly cited researchers in the world in 2022.

The Highly Cited Researchers 2022 list from Clarivate celebrates researchers ranked in the top 1 per cent in the Web of Science citation index, which demonstrates significant influence in their research field.

Professor Tang was highly cited in the immunology field, and Professor Patton in the cross-field category. He has appeared on the list for four consecutive years.

Professor Tang, Group Leader of Allergy Immunology and Director of the Allergy Translation Centre at the Murdoch Children’s, has an international profile in allergic and immune deficiency disorders research. She is considered a leading expert in food oral immunotherapy, having discovered a peanut allergy treatment for children that is highly effective at inducing remission.

Professor Tang has more than 25 years of experience in the investigation of immunological mechanisms underlying allergic disease and more than 15 years of clinical trials experience. She is Professorial Fellow in the University of Melbourne’s Department of Paediatrics and a Consultant Immunologist Allergist at The Royal Children’s Hospital.

Professor Tang is co-Chair of the food allergy stream of the National Allergy Centre of Excellence (NACE) and a key leader within the Centre for Food and Allergy Research (CFAR). CFAR is a collaboration of specialists in children’s food allergy and food-related immune disorders. It uses the latest approaches in epidemiology, immunology, nutrition and biostatistics with the aim of eradicating food allergy through better prevention, management and treatment.

Professor Patton is a Professorial Fellow in adolescent health research at the Murdoch Children’s and the University of Melbourne and a Senior Principal Research Fellow with the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). He has a clinical background in child and adolescent psychiatry and a research background in developmental epidemiology.

Professor Patton chaired the 2016 Lancet Commission on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing, has led two special series on adolescent health for the Lancet and published papers on the global adolescent burden of disease and intergenerational risks. He has held consultancy and advisory roles with the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, United Nations Populations Fund and the World Bank. 

He has also led long-term Australian longitudinal studies on the mental health, growth and development of children and adolescents. His research extends to large-scale early intervention, prevention and mental health promotion trials from primary care, community and school platforms in both high-resource and low-resource settings.