Merilyn Hibma

Merilyn Hibma is a New Zealand viral immunologist, and is a full professor at the University of Otago, specialising in immune regulation by viruses, especially human papillomavirus, the causative agent of cervical cancer.

Academic career
Hibma completed Master of Science in microbiology at Otago, followed by a PhD titled Humoral immunity in farmed deer also at Otago in 1989. Hibma completed her postdoctoral research at the University of Cambridge, working with Lionel Crawford at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund laboratory. Hibma was awarded a Health Research Council Repatriation Fellowship, which allowed her to return to take up a faculty position in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Otago. Hibma transferred to the Department of Pathology in 2014, the same year she was appointed research associate professor. She was promoted to full professor in 2021.  Hibma is an associate researcher in the Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery.

Hibma's research focuses on immune regulation by viruses, and she has a particular interest in human papillomavirus, the causative agent of cervical cancer. Hibma's team identified a viral protein, named E7, that appeared to be responsible for suppressing the immune response to the virus. The presence of this protein in patients was correlated with the later development of cervical cancer. Hibma works on understanding the biology of human papillomavirus, as well as the development of new immunotherapeutics.

Hibma has led efforts to get effective screening and treatment programmes for cervical cancer in the Pacific.