Kuchel, Philip William

Philip William Kuchel BMedSc MB BS Adel., PhD ANU, was appointed Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Sydney in August 1980.

Kuchel, born in Adelaide, received his primary, secondary and tertiary undergraduate education in South Australia, with the exception of one year (1958) in Cyprus during his father's secondment to the British Colonial Service as a "Vine Industry Consultant". His primary schooling was at Kangaroo Flat (1952-54) and Roseworthy (1954-57); his secondary schooling at Unley (1962-63) and Gawler (1959-62) High Schools. (Kuchel's father, Rex Harold Kuchel, held positions at Roseworthy Agricultural College and the South Australian Botanic Gardens where he was appointed superintendent in 1962.) 

In 1971, Kuchel was Resident Medical Officer at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. The same year he married Merilyn Gwynneth Jessup BA, ALAA (Hons. in Politics). After completing his PhD at the Australian National University, Kuchel carried out research in the Biochemistry Department of the University of Oxford (England) Medical School. The Kuchels’ first 3 children were born before they went to Oxford. (A fourth child was born in the mid-1980s).

In 1978, Kuchel took up a foundation senior lectureship at the University of Newcastle’s Division of Clinical Investigation within the Faculty of Medicine. Several grants from the University of Newcastle and the NH & MRC helped him to develop his research in the field of erythrocyte (red blood cell) metabolism.

Kuchel was invited to apply for the Chair of Biochemistry at the University of Sydney. He applied for, and received, exceptionally large grants, enabling him to develop research techniques based on nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and computer technologies to study metabolic events in living red blood cells without disturbing their metabolism.

Membership of the Mathematical Association of the UK, publications in mathematical journals, and associate membership of the Australian Computing Society reflect skills in computing and mathematics which Kuchel utilized to construct theoretical models, especially computer simulations, to assist his understanding of the metabolism of red blood cells.

In 1983, the Australian Biochemical Society awarded Kuchel the Boehringer Mannheim Medal - a recognition of research by young Australian biochemists.

On his retirement Kuchel, was made Professor Emeritus of the University of Sydney in 2012. [https://www.sydney.edu.au/archives/our-people/professors-emerita-and-emeritus.html#k]

Reference: P.W. Kuchel (personal communication) and P126, series 6.

The Gazette (University of Sydney) June 1985 pp. 3-4; and September 1980, P.22.
Research Report, Department of Biochemistry University of Sydney, 1980-81 and 1982-83.