4 minute read
Medical research scholarship pays it forward
from Impact
These were the words relayed by Helene Matterson to her child that planted the first philanthropic seed in the mind of a young Tasmanian.
Years earlier, Catherine Matterson (LLB Hons 1993) received cutting-edge medical treatment for a burn she suffered as a three-year-old and, thanks to her mother’s determination, she became a “guinea pig for childhood burns research”.
“I was the first child in Australia to receive the skin suits created through medical research in the USA in cooperation with NASA,” Catherine said.
As she grew, Catherine would fly to Sydney to get ‘fitted’ for a new suit and see her main surgeon, an elderly British gentleman, Mr Huston, who visited Australia for half the year.
“When I was older, my mother told me that Mr Huston had never sent her a bill for my surgeries. This act is partly what drives me to pay it forward.”
Dinner table discussions about the importance and impact of giving also played a part in shaping her psyche.
“For all of my childhood I recall my mother supporting the Royal Hobart Hospital, Calvary Hospital, the Royal Society for the Blind and many other Tasmanian charities by volunteering on various committees and by donating funds.
“She and some of her friends were the first active fundraisers for motor neurone disease (MND) in Tasmania.”
Helene (LLB 1967) studied law at the University of Tasmania, one of only two women in her year.
In 2001, Catherine lost her mother and grandmother.
“The family wanted to find ways to honour them and their passion for Tasmania,” Catherine said.
Soon after her death, the family set up the Helene Matterson Medical Research Scholarship.
“Over the past 20 years of supporting the Menzies Institute for Medical Research, we have seen the impact it has had in our State in terms of medical research. “We feel she would be very satisfied with our choice.”
Catherine describes the delight of seeing her various philanthropic endeavours transform people’s lives.
And she delights in meeting the recipients of the scholarship set up in her mother’s honour, students like Grace Russell.
“I met Grace at a morning tea event in 2021 and she told me about her incredible research on Tasmanian devils and cancer markers.
“My father passed away from cancer almost four years ago, so I was very happy her research involved trying to find a cure for this scourge.
“I am so impressed by Grace, her intelligence, confidence and tenacity, and feel grateful that she has chosen to study in Tasmania, a State with an aging population that appears to have a very high incidence of cancer and other debilitating diseases.”
Catherine’s late father, Ian Matterson (LLB 1966), Tasmania’s longest serving Magistrate, also supported Menzies by volunteering to be the fundraising Chair for Menzies.
Catherine is also a successful lawyer, despite her parents warning her against a law career.
Catherine is currently the General Counsel, Head of Legal and Compliance, at a USA-based software corporation.
When her father died in 2018, Catherine established the Ian Matterson Memorial Prize for perseverance in torts.
“I chose a perseverance prize because a) Dad failed torts the first time around! And b) we, as a society, typically already favour the achievements of top students.
“Nonetheless, there are also some less gifted or challenged students who through hard work, effort and perseverance succeed, and while their final grade may not be an A, I wanted to recognise this. And I thought Dad would too.”
Catherine Matterson (left) and Grace Russell (right) Image: Li Lai
Grace Russell always knew she wanted to pursue a higher education, but growing up in regional Victoria meant she needed to be able to afford to leave home to achieve her goals.
She worked full-time in her gap year and, together with money from casual jobs, Grace supported herself throughout her undergraduate veterinary degree in Townsville.
After time travelling the country and working as a veterinarian, Grace felt compelled to continue her studies.
Thanks to the Helene Matterson Medical Research Scholarship, she moved to Tasmania to study at the Menzies Institute for Medical Research.
The scholarship supported her studies in the Devil Research Group.
“My research primarily focused on investigating some of the ways the Devil Facial Tumour 1 and 2 (DFT1 and DFT2) evade detection by the immune system, and therefore contribute to death in infected Tasmanian devils,” Grace said. She used antibodies produced by her supervisor, Dr Andy Flies, to label specific immune evasion molecules in tissue samples of infected and healthy Tasmanian devils.
“I then used a computer program to train a machine learning algorithm to determine if there were any differences between the healthy and infected devils.”
Grace is very thankful for the support she received, as it allowed her to fully focus on her project.
“It gave me the freedom to reduce my hours working as a veterinarian and take periods of unpaid leave during my Honours year without worrying about my finances.”
Grace is now embarking on a PhD at Menzies where she will continue to contribute to their world-leading research projects.
