Frank (Bernard Francis Xavier) Gannon (born 1947, Ireland) was the seventh Director of QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Brisbane, Australia (2011 – 2020). He is a molecular biologist and has held high-profile appointments in scientific management and research in Ireland, England, the United States, France, Germany and Australia. Career Education In 1970, Gannon completed a Bachelor of Science with Honours at the National University of Ireland Galway (then known as University College Galway). He then moved to the University of Leicester, where he obtained his PhD in 1973. Early career In 1973, Gannon joined the laboratory of Jack Gorski at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a post-doctoral researcher. There, he worked on the oestrogen receptor and investigated the mechanisms that resulted in the receptor being localised in the nucleus. This work led to a significant paper being published in the Annual Review of Physiology. In 1975, Gannon moved to the University of Strasbourg, France to take up a post-doctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Professor Pierre Chambon. In 1977, while still in this role, Gannon was appointed Chargé de Recherche of the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM). During this time he was involved in a number of DNA cloning experiments which culminated in the isolation of the chicken ovalbumin gene. In 1981 Gannon returned to University College Galway (UCG) in Ireland and took up a position in the Department of Microbiology. EMBO and EMBL From 1994 to 2007, Gannon was the Executive Director (Secretary at the time) of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) and Senior Scientist at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), based in Germany. During this time, Gannon became the founding editor of the journal EMBO Reports and contributed a monthly editorial on a range of topics, including the impact of research on society. During his time at EMBO, Gannon also showed a commitment to female researchers by analysing fellowship application data to conduct an objective assessment of the potential causes for the lower success rate of female applicants for postdoctoral fellowships. During this period, Gannon also maintained an active research group that focussed on the manner in which the oestrogen receptor (ER) controlled gene expression. Outstanding from a series of high-impact studies was the demonstration of the cyclical nature of the binding of the ER to its DNA response element that resulted in the sequential recruitment of chromatin-modifying enzymes and ultimately