Christine Coe Winterbourn


Christine Coe Winterbourn is Professor of Pathology at the University of Otago.
Her research in the biological chemistry of free radicals earned her the 2011 Rutherford Medal and the Marsden Medal, the top awards from each of New Zealand's two top science bodies.

Work

Winterbourn did a PhD in biochemistry before taking up a position at the University of Otago's Christchurch medical school in 1970. She was one of the first scientists to demonstrate that human cells produce free radicals as part of their normal function and to document some of the chemical reactions of free radicals that occur in diseases such as cancer, stroke, coronary heart disease and arthritis.

Honours

She was the first female recipient of the Rutherford Medal. In the 1997 Queen's Birthday Honours, Winterbourn was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to medical research. She was promoted to Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2012 Queen's Birthday and Diamond Jubilee Honours, for services to science.