Professor Lin Fung was only starting out at the Australian Red Cross Blood Service when the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) emerged as a serious global health threat.
She was at the coalface.
While much of the world was slow to act, Australia quickly responded to the health crisis.
“The Government actually had a lot of foresight,” Lin says.
“I remember a whole lab being cleared out,” Lin says. “They started bringing in these machines – instruments – to test for HIV in Australia's blood products.
“As a consequence, Australia has one of the safest blood products in the world.”
Lin arrived in Australia from Malaysia in the 1980s, studying Medical Laboratory Science at RMIT, majoring in hematology.
“I was not a brilliant student but there was one lecturer in particular who was very inspirational – Dr Robyn Minchinton.”
That name would become important again later.
It was in the early part of her career that HIV was becoming a global health issue. She witnessed how safety and handling processes changed quickly to adapt to new information about transmission of disease.
Apart from all the new equipment being introduced into the labs, procedures and policies were being overhauled.
Gloves were now mandatory. Commonplace practices from the ‘70s were no longer.
“There was no more mouth pipetting – no more manual sucking up blood into pipettes,” Lin says.
“That was all banned.”
Lin’s front-row seat to this global event may have given her career a unique and powerful trajectory.
Following her undergraduate degree, Lin returned to Malaysia for a few years, then she helped set up a new clinical laboratory to serve a 300-bed hospital in Singapore, before returning to Australia as a medical scientist at the Monash Medical Centre.
It was after this Lin reconnected with her past – moving to Queensland, where she worked under her former lecturer, Dr Robyn Minchinton, who was the Chief Scientist at the Brisbane Australian Red Cross.
Under Robyn’s supervision she completed a PhD to understand why the transfusion of blood may cause adverse lung injuries, and how to minimise this risk.
Through that research, and the dozens of papers, studies and projects she has continued to make meaningful impacts in the lives of Australians.
Lin’s current research continues this tradition. For example, the challenges in blood supply over longer holiday periods such as Christmas is because platelet products, which help stop bleeding, expire after seven days.
Together with her PhD students and in collaboration with Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, Lin is helping address this by studying frozen and refrigerated platelets, ensuring they are safe and functional, and allowing hospitals to store them for much longer and maintain reliable supplies when they’re needed most.
She currently leads a collaboration of more than 10 countries across Asia, working to customise the process of blood donation for Asian people who are often smaller in stature.
These finding are also very applicable to Australian blood donors of Asian origin. The ultimate goal being to ensure that all countries have enough blood supply for their needs.
"I like doing research where I can see we're making a practical difference," Lin says. "That's exciting."
That passion and commitment to her work has seen Lin become a leading authority on blood banking, often presenting at international conferences about her work and knowledge.
Apart from being the leader of the OptiBlood research team, where she’s helping develop breakthroughs in how blood is collected, stored and used, she is on the Board of the International Society of Blood Transfusion – the world’s peak body for transfusion medicine. And in June 2026, she started her term as ISBT’s President.
Lin brings all that knowledge and enthusiasm with her into the classroom at UniSC, where’s she’s the Medical Laboratory Science program coordinator.
“Whenever I give a talk overseas, I always try to visit a local blood bank or a hospital and take photos, which I can bring back to show my students,” Lin says.
“It shows them the differences in working conditions around the world – from places where the labs are packed and the facilities are basic, to countries where a robot serves you refreshments and drones deliver blood.
“What I’m trying to show students is perspective – that Australia has an excellent system but it’s important to understand the challenges other countries face.”
Lin is passionate and driven when she talks about teaching the Medical Lab Science program. She says students can find it tough. But it’s for a purpose.
“We regularly meet with leaders of pathology services in Queensland to discuss our program and to hear their feedback about what they want our students to know and be able to do.
“This is vital so that we can train our students with the skills needed in the industry.
“We have quite high standards.”
For example, Lin says, in the Medical Lab Science classes each student has their own equipment so they can develop skills they need for their pathology career.
This contrasts with other science degrees where equipment and experiments are shared.
“When you're in a real lab, that’s what you do,” Lin says. “You do it by yourself.
“Especially in the blood banking course, what you do can have a direct impact on the patient because if you make a mistake, it could result in a death.”
It’s important, Lin says, that students understand the high stakes involved in blood banking so they graduate with the right training on how to perform under pressure.
“Some of the Medical Laboratory Science courses are difficult and challenging – theoretically and practically.
“Students will struggle but at the end feel fulfilled because they know that they have been trained work in the industry.”
Lin says one of the greatest joys for medical laboratory science academics is knowing their student-graduates are succeeding in their pathology jobs.
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