Dr Tait has worked in the field of histocompatibility genetics and its application in clinical transplantation for over 50 years. As Director of the Tissue Typing laboratory located at the Royal Melbourne Hospital from 1975-1999) and co-director of the merged Victorian Transplantation and Immunogenetic Service in Melbourne (1999-2008) he directed a busy HLA matching laboratory programme which provided a service to all the solid organ and haematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplant units in Victoria and Tasmania, including six major renal transplant centres, the heart and lung transplant unit at the Alfred Hospital, the Liver Transplant unit located at the Austin Hospital and several units providing an HSC transplant service. In addition to his interest in the genetics of transplantation. He is the author and co-author of over 250 scientific papers and ran an active research programme at RMH.
Dr Tait recently compiled and edited a book entitled “More than a footnote” which is the story of the history of solid organ transplantation in Australia and New Zealand and has another book Self or Non- Self, on the discovery of the MHC, about to go to press as of October 2024.
