Professor Cornish leads the Bone/Joint Research Laboratory in Department of Medicine, establishing many in vitro and in vivo models in cell and molecular biology to discover international patented novel growth-active factors. She has established a national centre of excellence of translational research and enabled a regenerative medicine programme in skeletal as well as cardiac valve tissue engineering working closely with clinicians and scientists supported by grants nationally and internationally from public-good and commercial sources. Dr Cornish is responsible for the strategic development of the lab, staff management and development. She facilitates the education and academic development of colleagues: basic scientists, academic endocrinologists and orthopaedic surgeons having supervised many BScHons, BMedSci, Masters & >30 Doctoral students. Her innovative research has influenced the commercial community, contributing to Fonterra and Tatua dairy companies establishing major lactoferrin plants for markets, particularly in Asia. Dr Cornish’s work has also influenced policy decisions within NZ in osteoporosis management and education. She has received many prestigious awards and has served on numerous boards for academic societies. She has a Scopus h-index of 51 with >9360 citations.