Dr Ebony Monson is an NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow (EL1) within the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Sciences in the Department of Microbiology, Anatomy, Physiology and Pharmacology at La Trobe University. She is currently under the mentorship of Professor Karla Helbig within the Antiviral Innate Immunology laboratory.

Dr Monson completed her PhD in 2021 in the field of virology, with a focus on immune responses to viruses by cells. Her research focuses on uncovering novel mechanisms by which our bodies respond to viral infections via the upregulation of lipid droplets. Her current research is looking at translating this knowledge towards new antiviral treatments. Dr Monson has been successful in securing research funding for this work (NHMRC EL1, CASS Foundation Science grant, Jack Brockhoff and Edwin Flack Early Career Research Grant as well as internal LTU grants). In 2022 Dr Monson was awarded the Australasian Virology Society "Rising Star" Award; a prestigious award for an outstanding virology early career researcher who has made important contributions to the virology discipline and who demonstrates a strong potential to become a future leader in virology research.

Ebony is the Outreach Program Lead at the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Sciences. She is passionate about science communication and outreach, evidenced through the promotion of her research through several media outlets (podcast, radio, blogs, and social media), and her mentoring of school aged kids into STEM. Ebony also runs a not-for-profit organization; Nerd Nite which allows her to not only promote her own research to the community, but other research in Melbourne of interest to the general public.