While Biochemistry has a short history at James Cook University, it has a much longer connection with Townsville through the Australian Institute of Tropical Medicine which was founded in 1907-08. This was pointed out by E.C. (Bill) Slater in an interesting article in one of the early volumes of Trends in Biochemical Sciences (1979). Professor Slater, whose family has strong links with Townsville, related that the then Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sydney proposed that there should be a Department of Tropical Medicine associated with the Medical School. At the instigation of the then Bishop of North Queensland the Institute was established in Townsville. In addition to Sydney the Universities of Melbourne and Adelaide were also involved in the Institute's management. Two of the demonstrators who taught in the Diploma of Tropical medicine program were Henry Priestley and William John Young. The latter, a graduate of Manchester, discovered the glycolysis intermediate, fructose 1,6-bisphosphate, which became known as the "Harden and Young ester". Both Young and Priestley left the Institute in 1918-19 to take up lectureships in Biochemistry in Melbourne and Sydney respectively. Both moved on to Chairs in 1938 in their respective Universities.

The first director of the Australian Institute of Tropical Medicine was Dr Anton Breinl. The current School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at James Cook University is today housed in the building that the AITM occupied on the site of the Townsville General Hospital. The teaching of Biochemistry was initiated within the Department of Chemistry in 1968 by the then Nevitt Professor of Chemistry, Geoffrey Richards. Dr Robert Logan, who arrived from the late Ivan Oliver's laboratory at UWA, was the first staff member. With the arrival of Dr David Yellowlees in 1971, a full 2nd year program was established and the first cohort of four third year students passed through the Department in 1972 and graduated with a BSc in Biochemistry the following year.

With the growing student numbers and teaching commitments further staff were appointed, but their arrival was preceded by the untimely death of Bob Logan from a heart attack in 1973. The growing status of the discipline was recognised that same year when the Division of Biochemistry was created and the following year the name of the Department changed to Chemistry and Biochemistry. While the 1980s saw little change within Biochemistry, the early 1990s was a time of rapid change. The Department, through Mike McCabe, established the teaching of biomedical science to nursing students. This resulted in the development of Physiology as an adjunct to Biochemistry. A number of staff were appointed to teach these disciplines and in 1993 the Division name was changed to Biochemistry and Human Physiology to reflect the academic activities. Because of the multi-disciplinary nature of the teaching and research within the Department the name was changed to Molecular Sciences. This was short lived as the Department evolved into the School of Molecular Sciences with three independent Departments.

The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology was established in 1995 so establishing for the first time an independent academic entity for Biochemistry at JCU. Jim Burnell joined the Department as a Reader in early 1995 and in 1996 was appointed to the first Chair in Biochemistry at James Cook University. For the moment, the Department is presently part of the School of Pharmacy and Molecular Sciences - one of five Schools within the Faculty of Medicine, Health, and Molecular Sciences.

The Department has been lucky to have associated with it a number of eminent Australian biochemists. Professor John Morrison (John Curtin School of Medical Research) was until his retirement, an annual contributor to the Department's teaching and research program and held the position of Honorary Research Fellow. Emeritus Professor Edwin Webb, formerly Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Queensland and later Vice-Chancellor of Macquarie University, retired to Townsville and has been a valuable contributor to the Department. More recently, Professor Adrian Gibbs (Research School of Biological Sciences) has been given a conjoint appointment and David Ollis (Research School of Chemistry, ANU) and Eldon Ball (Research School of Biological Sciences) have been appointed Honorary Research Fellows. This year we have gained another addition with the appointment of Professor Norman Palmer to the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and International) at JCU. Norman, who comes to JCU from the Chair in Biochemistry at UWA, has signalled his wish to participate in the Departmental teaching and research effort following his arrival in August.

Biochemistry Staff Members - past and present

Dr Robert Logan 1968-73
Dr David Yellowlees 1971-
Dr Roland Gregory 1972-76 Flinders University
Dr Ken Watson 1973-85 University of New England
Dr Michael McCabe 1974-91 University of Kuwait
Dr Eddie McEvoy-Bowe 1975-92
Dr Margaret Streamer 1977-83
Dr David Maguire 1977-83 Griffith University
Dr David Miller 1985-
Dr Subhash Vasudevan 1993-2002
Dr Vimal Kapoor 1993-1996 University of New South Wales
Dr Josephine Hermans 1993-2003
Dr James Burnell 1995-
Dr Alan Baxter 2002-
Dr Bill Warren 2002-
Dr Gerald Munch 2004-
Dr Heinrich Korner 2004-