Charles Mackay’s career involved understanding mechanisms of cell migration, and cytokines and chemokines for immune responses. His research has relevance to applied outcomes for immunological diseases, including new monoclonal antibody treatments for inflammation, fibrosis and cancer. Research findings include pathways by which subsets of T cells recirculate through the body, and the discovery of chemoattractant receptors for inflammatory immune cells such as CCR3 and CCR5. Mackay’s recent work has uncovered molecules and receptors responsible for gut homeostasis, and he is a chief proponent of a ‘diet hypothesis’ to explain the increased incidence of inflammatory diseases in western countries. Charles Mackay did his Ph.D at Melbourne University, and worked at the Basel Institute for Immunology, LeukoSite Inc. and Millennium Therapeutics in Boston USA, and Garvan Institute in Sydney, before moving to Monash University in mid 2009.