Nossal has written five books and 530 scientific articles on immunology and similar fields. From 1959 to 1961, he was the assistant professor of genetics at Stanford University. He began serving as director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research from 1965. At the same time, he was Professor of Medical Biology at the University of Melbourne. He retired from both of these roles in 1996. Nossal was president of the Australian Academy of Science from 1994 to 1998. He was the chairman of the comittee running the World Health Organization's Vaccines and Biologicals Program from 1993 to 2002. He also served as Chairman of the Strategic Advisory Council of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Children's Vaccine Program from 1998 to 2003.