Long was the first woman and first Australian to be named president of the US-based Society for Melanoma Research.[2]
Early life and education
Long had five siblings and grew up in Sydney's Inner West in the state of New South Wales, Australia. She also lived in Europe and America as a child.[3] She completed high school at Santa Sabina College in 1988.[4]
Long began studying a combined degree of science and law at the University of Sydney, but gave up law and graduated with a double major in pure maths and chemistry in 1993, before completing a PhD in organic chemistry, also at Sydney University, in 1996.[5][6] She was a postdoctoral researcher at the Scripps Research Institute in California as a Fulbright Fellow, before returning to Australia to undertake her medical degree, graduating with an MBBS in 2001.[5][6]
Career
Long is a medical oncologist specialising in melanoma. She has led numerous clinical trials,[7] focusing on targeted therapies and immuno-oncology in melanoma. She is the chief investigator on research into the molecular biology of melanoma.[8]
Long is co-director of the Melanoma Institute Australia with pathologist Richard Scolyer. Together they have been part of a team pioneering the use of immunotherapy treatment for melanoma, which Long then adapted for brain cancer when Scolyer was diagnosed with it in June 2023.[9][10] He was the first brain cancer patient in the world to have pre-surgery combination immunotherapy.[11]
