Professor Rajiv Khanna obtained his doctorate degree from India and undertook his postdoctoral training at the University of Adelaide and the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR). He is currently Group Leader of the Tumour Immunology Laboratory and also holds a Senior Principal Research Fellowship from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia. Professor Khanna is the founding director of the internationally recognised Australian Centre for Vaccine Development (now the QIMR Centre for Immunotherapy and Vaccine Development).

Professor Khanna has extensive expertise in clinical trial design, vaccine design and cancer immunology/immunotherapy. Over the last decade he has successfully translated his research into the development of novel immune-based therapeutic strategies for the treatment of cancer patients and transplant recipients with viral complications.