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Dr Clare Bradley is a Senior Research Fellow with the UQ Poche Centre and the Program Manager for the ATLAS Indigenous Primary Care Surveillance Network. She has a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Adelaide and has been working in the health surveillance and health services research sectors for nearly two decades.

Before joining Professor Ward’s team in 2017 as the Study Coordinator for the NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence in Aboriginal Sexual Health and Blood-Borne Viruses (which established the ATLAS network), Clare spent 14 years at Flinders University; first with the Research Centre for Injury Studies (2003–2014) where she led the AIHW National Injury Surveillance Unit’s falls and older people’s injury research program, and then with the NHMRC Cognitive Decline Partnership Centre as the Senior Research Fellow for the Understanding long-term care services for older people with cognitive decline in Australia project. Clare has extensive project coordination, health surveillance and data linkage skills and wide-ranging research interests, now focused on Indigenous health.

Clare is the Chief Investigator for the recently awarded Improving surveillance infrastructure for Indigenous primary health care project, receiving $1.99m through the Medical Research Future Fund (PHRDI000054). She is also a CI on two current NHMRC Ideas grants: Leaving no-one behind: Informing Indigenous aged care policy with big data (GNT2004089, CI-C), and Implementing a precision public health approach to eliminate STIs and control HIV in regional Australia (GNT1185073, CI-D). Through these and her ongoing involvement in the maintenance and development of the ATLAS network and research infrastructure, Clare is committed to excellence and innovation in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health services research and passionate about strengthening research capacity and supporting Indigenous Data Sovereignty in all aspects her research activity.

Clare has successfully co-supervised one PhD and two honours students to completion and is available for collaboration or supervision across a range of topics, including Indigenous primary care and infectious disease surveillance; health services research; dementia and aged care services research; falls injury; suicide and self-harm; use of linked administrative datasets; development of disease classification structures; and descriptive epidemiology for public health purposes.

Research to improve balance and gait in older adults and those with Neurological Disorders.

Impaired postural control, or poor balance, can have devastating effects on the lives of individuals, resulting in falls, dependence, and reduced quality of life. Prof Brauer leads a number of studies to better understand the underlying motor control mechanisms contributing to altered postural control, particularly in populations with neurological disorders or advanced age, and use this information to better develop physiotherapy assessment techniques and rehabilitation strategies. This research has subsequently developed to encompass prevention strategies and the investigation of the cost-effectiveness of intervention, to better facilitate the translation of research evidence into clinical practice.

Current research themes include:

Improving physical activity after stroke

Training dual tasking when walking in people with Parkinson’s Disease.

Community mobility in older adults, particularly in people with Parkinson’s Disease and stroke.

Retraining reaching following stroke, using the SMART Arm device.

The prevention of falls, particularly in hospitals.

Dr Kim Bridle is currently Senior Research Officer within the Greenslopes Clinical Unit, Faculty of Medicine. Her current research focuses on liver disease treatment and pathogenesis with a focus on hepatic fibrosis, metabolic fatty liver disease and liver cancer. Dr Bridle has made important contributions to the understanding of diseases associated with altered iron metabolism and mechanisms of hepatic fibrosis.

Dr Bridle currently serves on the Research and Grants Committee of the Gastroenterological Society of Australia and is a member of the Ramsay Health Care Human Research Ethics Committee. Dr Bridle is a Section Editor for the journal, BioMed Research International.

Dr Sandra Brosda is a Research Fellow within the Surgical Oncology group led by Professor Andrew Barbour.

Dr Brosda was awarded a PhD in bioinformatics and cancer genetics from the University of Queensland in November 2020. Her research focused on biomarker discovery and intra-tumour heterogeneity and tumour evolution in oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC). In 2021, Dr Brosda was awarded a Cure Cancer Australia PdCCRS grant and an MSH project grant to further investigate tumour evolution to improve precision medicine in OAC.

She has been involved in research projects covering genetics, epigenetics, spatial transcriptomics, radiomics, ctDNA and quality of life assessments in the context of cancer. Overall, her research applies bioinformatics tools and approaches to cancer genomics to improve precision medicine and health outcomes for patients with melanoma, oesophago-gastric cancer and pancreatic cancer.

Professor Philip Burgess is a researcher in the field of mental health services research and evaluation. He is a Professor with the School of Public Health at the University of Queensland, based at the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research.

Philip holds qualifications in clinical psychology and has over 30 years of experience in the design, analysis and reporting of research projects, including systematic literature reviews, cross-sectional and longitudinal studies, studies based on routinely collected administrative health and mental health data, epidemiological survey data, and evaluations of health programs and interventions using observational and quasi-experimental research designs.

Philip’s current role is with the Analysis and Reporting Component of the Australian Mental Health Outcomes and Classification Network (AMHOCN), which leads the design, analysis and reporting of the National Outcomes and Casemix Collection (http://www.amhocn.org/). In this role, he is leading a range of projects designed to improve the measurement of patient- and service-level outcomes in Australia's specialised public sector mental health services.

Professor Burne is a leading Australian researcher in the field of biological psychiatry. Prof. Burne has >150 peer reviewed publications, which have attracted over 8500 citations (H-index 50). His research impact is evident by his 11 papers with >200 citations, with two recognised as Web of Science ‘Highly Cited Papers’. Together with collaborators he has been awarded >$8 million in research funding. Since 2003 he has supervised 17 PhD students, and 28 honours students Prof. Burne has a broad background in behavioural neuroscience, with specific training and expertise in animal models. As a Professorial Research Fellow with the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research and Group Leader at the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) the focus of his research includes cognitive testing in rodent models of neuropsychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, as well as psychopharmacological studies and research on clinical populations. As a CI on several university- and NHMRC-funded grants, he has helped establish infrastructure at QBI for behavioural assessment and methods of automated operant-based cognitive tests in rodents. Prof. Burne is a past president of Biological Psychiatry Australia, he is the Queensland representative for the Australasian Neuroscience Society, and he is a member of the NHMRC Animal Welfare Committee.

Prof. Burne’s group studies brain development and behaviour in animal models to learn more about neuropsychiatric diseases, such as schizophrenia. Research is focused on investigating the underlying biological basis for schizophrenia, with the goal of finding public health interventions that will alleviate the burden of this disease. The group has been exploring the impact of developmental vitamin D (DVD) deficiency on brain development, the impact of adult vitamin D deficiency on brain function and behaviour, and the neurobiological affects of having an older father. More recently his group has been focussed on assessing cognitive function in rodents. Prof. Burne’s research is carried out in close collaboration with Professors John McGrath and Darryl Eyles, in a multidisciplinary team. Together they have an integrated research program using a broad range of neuroscientific techniques to explore potential causes of schizophrenia. There is a particular focus on early life, nongenetic risk factors and the team has skills in epidemiology, psychiatry, neuroanatomy, molecular biology, developmental biology and behavioural neuroscience. The Burne group is currently developing animal models related to risk factors for schizophrenia and autism.

A/Prof Lucy Burr is an experienced respiratory physician, training supervisor and clinical trials researcher at Mater Health and Mater Research – University of Queensland (UQ). She has a PhD (2017) in bronchiectasis microbiology and is an Associate Professor at the School of Medicine, UQ. She is the Director of Respiratory, Sleep and Cystic Fibrosis medicine at the Mater Hospital, Brisbane.

As well as directing the respiratory clinical service at the Mater, Lucy has an active role in teaching both specialist trainees and medical students. She is a RACP college supervisor and trains one advanced trainee and four basic trainees per year. She directly supervises four medical students in her clinical team per year. Lucy is also currently supervising 5 PhD students, researching diverse fields such as glucose control in cystic fibrosis, asthma, fatigue, IL-22 and the effect of sleep on social cognition.

Lucy is recognised nationally for her clinical work on respiratory infections. She is the chair of the Acute and Critical Care panel for the National COVID-19 clinical evidence taskforce and a member of the guideline leadership group. Additionally, she is the recent chair (2020-2022) of the expert reference group on COVID-19 for the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. She is a recent (2019- 2021) convenor of the respiratory infectious disease special interest group of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand, the Queensland TSANZ branch president and past president (2017-2020), a recent board director of the TSANZ national body and current Chair of the Australian Bronchiectasis Consortium. Lucy is currently serving on the TSANZ annual scientific meeting and World Bronchiectasis conference steering committees. She is recognised internationally for her work on Cystic Fibrosis (top 1.8% expertscape February 2024) and Bronchiectasis (top 2.2% expertscape February 2024) and has published in high impact clinical journals including the New England Journal of Medicine and the Lancet Respiratory Medicine, across a range of respiratory and infectious disease subjects, with >1500 citations in the past 5 years.

In addition to her clinical work, Lucy is the custodian and manager of the David Serisier Research biobank at Mater Research, a clinical repository of human samples from patients living with respiratory diseases. Lucy is also an experienced principal investigator on many pharmaceutical studies ranging from phase 1b to phase 4 studies investigating therapeutics for CF, IPF, COPD, COVID, influenza pulmonary hypertension and bronchiectasis. She has designed and lead non-pharmaceutical interventional studies investigating the role of macrolide in modulating inflammation in healthy adults. She is the group leader of the respiratory clinical trials unit at Mater Research, and the program lead for the chronic and integrated care program at Mater Research.

Lucy has a proven track record in collaborative and translational research. She is currently a consultant on 2 peer reviewed external grants totalling $1,306,000, including one involving biobanked samples, and is a chief investigator on a 2021 Ideas grant and a 2021 MRFF grant totalling more than $3 million dollars.

Gerard Byrne is the Mayne Professor and Head of the Academy of Psychiatry within the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Queensland and Director of the Older Persons' Mental Health Service at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital. His primary research interests include Alzheimer's disease (particularly the neuropsychiatric symptoms associated with AD), and personality, anxiety and depression in older people. Recent published work has included papers on generalised anxiety disorder in older people, dementia and delirium in the general hospital setting, and the role of lifestyle factors in predicting cognitive trajectory in middle age and later life.

Biography:

Gerard completed his medical degree and an intercalated science degree in Sydney at the University of New South Wales and the Prince of Wales and Prince Henry Hospitals. Following an internship at the Royal Newcastle Hospital, he undertook two further years of general medical training at The Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane. He subsequently completed his five years of psychiatry training at The Prince Charles and Wolston Park Hospitals. His PhD in psychiatric epidemiology was undertaken at the University of Queensland under the supervision of Beverley Raphael AM. He has been Head of the UQ Discipline (now Academy) of Psychiatry since 2001 and Director of Geriatric Psychiatry (now the Older Persons' Mental Health Service) at the Royal Brisbane & Women’s Hospital since 1995.

He a member of the Repatriation Medical Authority and chairs the Research Advisory Committee of the Royal Brisbane & Women's Hospital. He is a member of the advisory board of the Clem Jones Centre for Ageing Dementia Research at the Queensland Brain Institute. He is a former member of the board of directors of the International Psychogeriatric Association.

He is a past chairman of the Faculty of Psychiatry of Old Age (FPOA) of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) and a former member of the RANZCP General Council. He is a former chair of the RANZCP Sub-committee for Advanced Training in Psychiatry of Old Age and member of the RANZCP Committee for Training. He is a member of the RANZCP Foundation Committee and a member of the Queensland Brain Bank Scientific Advisory Committee.

Gerard also serves as a member of NHMRC GRPs and reviews research grant applications for NHMRC, ARC, Hong Kong MRC, New Zealand RC, Netherlands Organisation for Health Research & Development (ZonMw), U.S. Alzheimer's Association, Alzheimer's Australia Research Fund, and Pfizer Neuroscience Research Grants, amongst others.

He is a member of the editorial board of the journal, Clinical Gerontologist.

He reviews manuscripts for Molecular Psychiatry, British Journal of Psychiatry, Biological Psychiatry, Brain and Cognition, Journal of Affective Disorders, Journal of the American Geriatrics Association (JAGS), Journal of Psychiatric Research, Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, Age and Ageing, Aging and Mental Health, American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, Australasian Journal on Ageing, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, BMC Psychiatry, Depression and Anxiety, International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and International Psychogeriatrics, amongst others.

In 2012 he won the Senior Research Award of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists.

In 2013 he delivered the Bostock Oration of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists.

In 2016 he was awarded a Meritorious Service Award by the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists.

Peter Cabot is the Professor and Head of School in the School of Pharmacy. He joined the School staff in this position in 1999 after completing postdoctoral positions at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore USA, The NIH, Baltimore USA and within the School of Pharmacy at UQ.

The primary focus of my research is on the elucidation of the peripheral mechanisms involved in analgesia associated with inflammation. Key discoveries were made in this field that highlighted the importance of the immune system in inflammatory pain. The results of which were published in the notable journals; JBC, PAIN, Nature Medicine and The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Professor John Cairney is the Head of School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences. He is an academic leader in the field of paediatric exercise medicine and child health research and is particularly well-known for his work on developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and its impact on the health and well-being of children. Prof John Cairney started at UQ in January 2020.

Until the end of 2019, he was the Director of Graduate Studies in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education at the University of Toronto and Director of the Infant and Child Health (INCH) Research Laboratory at both the University of Toronto and McMaster University. He is also an Adjunct Professor in the Departments of Public Health Sciences and Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University and a core scientist with the Offord Centre for Child Studies, CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research at McMaster University, and the independent Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences.

Professor Cairney completed his PhD studies at the University of Western Ontario and has held academic appointments at Brock University, the University of Toronto and McMaster University before his current UQ role. He has held, among other research leadership positions, a Canada Research Chair in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, and a Professorship in Child Health, and subsequently a Research Chair, in the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University.

Professor Cairney has been the recipient of ~$A17 million in research grants as a principal investigator and has some 310 published works with a Scopus h index of 51 (Aug 2022).

Professor Cairney is a former President of the North American Society of Pediatric Exercise Medicine.

Dr Fernanda Cardoso is a Brazil-born Australian dual-citizen researcher interested in venom peptide-based biodiscovery and therapeutics development. Cardoso was awarded an MSc in Molecular Pharmacology and a PhD with an emphasis in Biochemistry and Immunology and is part of the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, where she develops novel therapies for complex neurological diseases. Cardoso has interdisciplinary training in the fields of neuropharmacology, medicinal chemistry and chemical biology and a strong background in drug discovery, which provides the skills to identify naturally occurring or synthetic bioactive molecules and to study their effects in human physiology with applications in neurologic disorders such as chronic pain, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and motor neuron disease (MND). Please see Dr Cardoso’s Grants and Publications list for more details.

Before joining the University of Queensland, Dr Cardoso was part of the Queensland Institute for Medical Research, holding a prestigious CAPES Postdoctoral Fellowship. During this period, Cardoso developed unique high-throughput screen platforms for discovering protein and peptide targets of novel therapies to combat infectious diseases and novel helminth-derived bioactives with anti-inflammatory properties. Please see Dr Cardoso’s Publications list for more details.

Dr Cardoso is currently part of the Centre for Drug Discovery and manages several industry and academic projects studying ion channel modulators derived from natural repertoires, particularly venoms, and developing novel, effective drugs to treat neurological disorders.

Associate Professor David Cavallucci is an Hepato-pancreatico-biliary surgical oncologist. He is a graduate of the two-year ANZHPBA post-fellowship program in HPB surgery as well as the surgical oncology and abdominal transplantation Fellowship at the University of Toronto.

He has a special interest in minimally invasive pancreatic and liver surgery with a broad experience of laparoscopic surgery and developing robotic surgery. Outside of oncology, he manages benign biliary disease including the laparoscopic management of bile duct stones and the surgical management of acute and chronic pancreatitis.

Having completed a Masters degree in Biostatistics, he has published on the use of Propensity Scores and novel weighting techniques in observational surgical research and is an editor for HPB Journal. He is active in teaching and maintains a strong interest in clinical and translational research. A/Prof Cavallucci is the Past-President of the Australian and New Zealand Hepatic pancreatic and biliary association (ANZHPBA).

Professor Anders Cervin has a longstanding interest in sino-nasal disorders, endoscopic sinus surgery as well as endoscopic anterior skull base surgery. His research interests includes mucociliary function in the upper airways, the role of Nitric Oxide in chronic sinusitis, the use of macrolide antibiotics as a immune modulator in chronic sinusitis and health economic perspectives on sino-nasal disease. Recent research addresses the role of probiotics in airway infection and inflammation. He has authored several book chapters and over 50 peer reviewed articles.

Alternate email address: Daniel.Chambers@health.qld.gov.au

Professor Dan Chambers is a thoracic transplant physician, interstitial lung disease expert, and translational clinician researcher. He is an internationally recognised authority in the fields of lung fibrosis, cell therapy for lung disease and lung transplantation. His research focuses on the mechanisms and treatments for lung fibrosis, silicosis, transplant rejection and post-transplant complications.

Graduating from UQ in 1993 with the William Nathaniel Robertson Medal and a University Medal, Dan’s career has continued to be recognised by being named one of Australia’s top 200 researchers in all fields and the most highly cited in the field of transplantation for the last three years. Dan was the immediate past Director of the International Lung and Heart-Lung Transplant Registry, the first Australian to be appointed to that role. The Registry remains the most important source of evidence to guide the practice of transplantation globally.

Dan is Executive Director of Research at Australia’s’ largest health service, Metro North Hospital and Health, and heads one of the world’s largest clinical trials programs in lung fibrosis. He is Chair of the Pulmonary Fibrosis Australiasian Clinical Trials Network (PACT). His research program, located at UQ Thoracic Research Centre at Prince Charles Hospital, has attracted over $20 million. He has authored over 150 original papers and book chapters. He is a regular reviewer for all the highest ranked journals in respiratory and transplantation medicine and is Deputy Editor of the Journal for Heart and Lung Transplantation, the highest impact journal in the field.

Qualifications

MBBS(Hons1) UQ, 1993

MED University of Birmingham, UK

Dr Kirat Chand is a Research Fellow at the Perinatal Research Centre at The University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research (UQCCR). His field of expertise include the establishment of synaptic connections, neurodevelopment and cellular changes associated with injury in the neonatal brain. His current work investigates the evolution of brain injury in fetal growth restricted newborns (FGR) with a particular interest in understanding mechanisms to develop better detection and treatment strategies for FGR newborns. FGR is the second leading cause of perinatal morbidity and mortality, with around 32 million babies born FGR globally each year. FGR is commonly caused by placental insufficiency, resulting in an inadequate supply of oxygen and nutrients to the foetus. The brain is particularly vulnerable to FGR conditions and adverse outcomes in these children range from mild learning difficulties, to neurobehavioral issues, and in some cases cerebral palsy. Currently there are no interventions available to protect the FGR brain. Using the pre-clinical pig model of FGR, we are able to examine perturbations to white and grey matter regions of the newborn brain, with the aim of developing appropriate therapeutic strategies to aid this vulnerable population.

• My academic qualifications include a PhD in Neurosciences, an MSc in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and a Bachelor of Medicine.
• I have initiated and managed multiple projects to develop novel therapeutics for neurological disorders, including: 1) Developing a nanoparticle-based siRNA delivery system for the treatment of Huntington’s disease (ARC project; as Postdoctoral Research Fellow). 2) Examining the treatment effects of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) on epilepsy (Advance Queensland Women’s Academic Fund; as Sole Investigator). 2) Examining the effectiveness of three neuroinflammation modulatory agents on traumatic brain injury and epilepsy through randomised controlled preclinical trials (Seed projects sponsored by industry partners: VivaZome Therapeutics, Implicit Bioscience, and Innate Immunotherapeutics; as Co-investigator). 3) Developing treatment strategies to prevent the development of epilepsy after severe traumatic brain injury and identifying medical imaging biomarkers to evaluate the risk of epilepsy post-injury (two U.S. Department of Defense, Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs; as Co-investigator). 4) Developing exosomal therapy for traumatic brain injury (Cooperative Research Centres Projects (CRC-P) Grant with two research groups from academic institutions and three pharmaceutical companies; as Principal Investigator).

Dr Kai-Hsiang Chuang received his Ph.D. degree in electrical and biomedical engineering from the National Taiwan University, Taiwan, in 2001. During his graduate study, he developed methods for improving the detection of brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). He undertook postdoctoral research at the National Institutes of Health, USA, from 2003 to 2007, where he focused on understanding brain connectivity using novel functional and molecular imaging. He developed manganese-enhanced MRI for high-resolution imaging functional neural pathways in the rodent brain and cerebral blood flow imaging for mapping the resting-state network of the human brain. He joined the Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, in 2008 as the head of MRI Group in the Singapore Bioimaging Consortium (a national research institute). He established the first preclinical imaging facility in Singapore and facilitated research collaboration across academia, clinic and industry. His lab pioneered functional connectivity imaging of the rodent brain to understand the neural basis and function of resting-state brain network, and the development and application of MRI biomarkers for treatment development. In late 2015, he moved to the University of Queensland, Australia, as an Associate Professor with the Queensland Brain Institute and the Centre for Advanced Imaging. His current research focuses on understanding the structure and function of brain network that underlies cognition and behavior, such as learning, memory and dementia. He is developing multimodal techniques, including fMRI, calcium recording, electrophysiology and optogenetic/chemogenetic neuromodulation, to test hypothesis in transgenic mouse models and then translating to humans to improve the diagnosis and intervention of disorders. The imaging and analysis techniques he developed have been widely used in the research community and some in clinical trials. He is serving on the editorial boards of Frontiers in Neuroscience: Brain Imaging Methods, Imaging Neuroscience and Scientific Reports.

Julie Cichero, PhD is a clinician (SLP), researcher and research professional with more than 25 years clinical and research experience into eating, drinking and swallowing problems (dysphagia). She has made significant contributions to the evidence base for standardised terminology for texture modified food and thick liquids, diagnostic use of swallow-respiratory sounds, characterisation of thick fluids and complexities associated with medication management in dysphagia. Recognised nationally and internationally, Julie is a consultant to professional societies, government organisations, academia, boards and healthcare organisations. As Foundation Co-Chair of IDDSI (Global) for a decade, Julie co-led development of the IDDSI Framework, an initiative to reduce food-related choking risk in vulnerable populations. The IDDSI Framework is used in more than 50 countries around the world.

Professor David A Clark

Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, and University of Queensland, Australia

Prof Clark is a visiting colorectal surgeon at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. He qualified from the University of QLD in 1991, trained in surgery in Brisbane, and undertook colorectal fellowships in the United Kingdom. He was admitted as a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons at Edinburgh in January 2002.

He is a Professor for the University of QLD and runs a busy clinical practice at the St Vincent's Private Hospital Northside. He has a strong interest in inflammatory bowel disease and the IBD Unit at the RBWH has an active academic program. Prof Clark has presented internationally in the field of IBD and minimally invasive colorectal surgery.

The colorectal unit based at the RBWH has a commitment to education and runs a regular laparoscopic colorectal training course and now supports 3 colorectal fellows and a research co-ordinator. He is a board member of the ANZ Training Board in Colorectal Surgery (ANZTBCRS) and the recent convenor for the Society and Section scientific meetings.

Prof Clark heads the Brisbane Colorectal Reseacrh Unit (CRU) and completed a PhD at the University of Sydney in June 2022. He concurrently supervised 4 PhD candidates through UQ. He is widely published in the fields of minimally invasive surgery and inflammaory bowel disease.

Brisbane is renowned for minimally invasive colorectal surgery and training and teaching are a passion.