Professor Sutherland's major contributions to science have been the cytogenetic and molecular genetic characterisation of fragile sites on human chromosomes. He is an active participant in the international Human Genome Project. His group has contributed significantly to the mapping of human chromosome 16 and positional cloning of genes on this chromosome. In clinical cytogenetics he has many publications including a book on genetic counselling for chromosome abnormalities that has become the standard work in this area. He is a pastPresident of the Human Genetics Society of Australasia and is now President-elect of the Human Genome Organisation.