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Leanne Sakzewski is an Associate Professor at the Queensland Cerebral Palsy and Rehabilitation Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland. Leanne completed her undergraduate training in the field of occupational therapy at the University of Queensland. Prior to entering research, she practiced as a senior occupational therapist for eighteen years in paediatric rehabilitation and child development. She completed her PhD in 2010 from The University of Queensland in the field of upper limb rehabilitation for children with cerebral palsy, and achieved a Dean's Commendation for outstanding Research Higher Degree.

Research interests

Leanne's research interests are in the conduct of randomised clinical trials in the field of cerebral palsy and childhood onset acquired brain injuries. In particular, she has focused on randomised controlled trials of:

* upper limb training approaches for infants and children with unilateral cerebral palsy;

* intensive models of motor training to improve gross motor and manual abilities for children with bilateral cerebral palsy;

* participation-focused intervention to increase physically active leisure for children with cerebral palsy;

* social skills group-based program for adolescents with brain injuries.

I am Professor, NHMRC Investigator Fellow (EL2) and group leader (Exosome Biology Laboratory) at UQ Centre for Clinical Research. I am nationally and internationally (>20 invitations to international meetings in the last 5 years) acknowledged key opinion leader on Extracellular Vesicle (rated 3th worldwide (Top 0.015%) and 1st in Australia in expertise for “Extracellular Vesicles and Exosomes” on Expertscape) and biomarker discovery (140 publications, and >8000 citations in the last 7 year). I have made a major conceptual contribution to EV biology with diagnostic and therapeutic implications. In the last 8 years, my primary research and commercialisation activities have focused on the identification and validation of biomarkers, and development of In Vitro Multivariate Index Assays for clinically relevant complications (including ovarian cancers, and obstetrical syndromes) and their translation into clinical applications. In Academia, I have pursued these objectives through the development and leadership of clinical translation research teams and facilities, both in Australia and overseas. For example, I had a leadership role in established the Centre for Clinical Diagnostics (CCD). Within the UQCCR, I established an exosome research team to evaluate the clinical utility of extracellular vesicles as liquid biopsies, IVDs and therapeutics. Much of our effort in this field of endeavour has involved optimising isolation methods for extracellular vesicles and their analytical analysis - including the use of protein solution array (e.g. Luminex), mass spectrometry profiling (using MS/MS SWATH) and more recently miRNA analysis.

Hemamali Samaratunga MBBS (Hons) LRCP (London) MRCS (UK) FRCPA, FRCPath

• Specialist Anatomical Pathologist, Managing Director, Aquesta Specialised Uropathology
• Full Professor, University of Queensland Faculty of Medicine
• Visiting Medical Officer, Greenslopes Private Hospital

Hemamali graduated with honours from the University of Sri Lanka, Colombo Medical School and completed Pathology specialty training in Queensland. She held a number of consultant posts in both hospital and private practice. In 2008 she established Aquesta Uropathology which now provides diagnostic uropathology services to the majority of urologists in Queensland and Northern New South Wales. In addition to this she maintains a large second opinion consultation practice with requests obtained from throughout Australia and from overseas.

She is active in Genitourinary Pathology research with collaborators in Australia, USA, Canada, Karolinska Institute in Sweden and the Wellington School of Medicine in New Zealand. She held the position of Secretary of the International Society of Urological Pathology from 2015 to 2019.

She was a contributor to the 2004, 2015 and 2022 World Health Organization (WHO) books on Classification of Tumours: Pathology and Genetics of Tumours of the Urinary and Male Reproductive System. She participated in the 2015 revision of the WHO Tumour Classification in Zurich, Switzerland (4th edition) as member, Prostate Tumour Panel. She was a representative of the Expert Groups formulating structured reporting protocols for the Royal College Pathologists of Australasia on kidney, testis and prostate cancer and is currently chairperson of the structured reporting protocols for Genitourinary cancer. She is also currently the Convener for the RCPA Uropathology Quality Assurance Program.

Qualifications

MBBS (HONS) LRCP (London) MRCS (UK) FRCPA FRCPath

Current UQ Appointments

Academic Title-Professor

Non-UQ Appointments

2008 - current: Specialist Anatomical Pathologist & Managing Director, Aquesta Specialized Uropathology

2015 - Current: Visiting Medical Officer, Greenslopes Private Hospital

2003 - 2021: Visiting Medical Officer, Princess Alexandra Hospital

June 2001 - Oct 2008: Specialist Anatomical Pathologist, Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology, Brisbane

1993 - 1997: Specialist Anatomical Pathologist, Royal Brisbane Hospital

1998 - 2001: Senior Anatomical Pathologist, North Brisbane Hospitals Board

Research Interests

• Granular tumour necrosis
• Diagnosis of limited adenocarcinoma on prostate needle biopsy
• Ductal adenocarcinoma of prostate
• Mucinous adenocarcinoma of prostate
• Radical prostatectomy handling and reporting
• Micropapillary urothelial cancer
• Mimics of bladder cancer

Awards and other Esteem Indicators

2017 Admitted to Fellowship of the Royal College of Pathologists, London (FRC Path) for sustained excellence in published works

2022 Awarded the Grawitz Medal of the International Society of Urological Pathology for distinguished service to the discipline of Urological Pathology

2023 Author of the publication Percentage grade 4 tumour predicts outcome for prostate adenocarcinoma in needle biopsies from patients with advanced disease: Ten year data from the TROG 03.04 RADAR Trial. Pathology 54: 49- 54, awarded the prize of

Article of the Year by the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia.

2024 Distinguished Fellowship Award of the Royal College Pathologists of Australasia

For distinguished service to the discipline of Urological Pathology

Keywords

Pathology, Genitourinary cancer, Prostate, Kidney, Urinary tract, Testis, Penis

Lay detail

• Professor of Cognitive Engineering and Human Factors (Joint appointment: School of Psychology, School of ITEE, School of Clinical Medicine)
• Leader, Cognitive Engineering Research Group (CERG).
• Leader, Cognitive Systems Engineering Group, School of ITEE.
• Responsible for development and operation of the University of Queensland Usability Laboratory (UQUL).
• Director of ARC Key Centre for Human Factors and Applied Cognitive Psychology, 2004-2007.
• Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA).
• Fellow of the USA-based Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES).
• Fellow of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA)

Background:

• Adjunct Professor, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1997-2006.
• Professor of Computer Science (HCI), Swinburne University of Technology, 1997-2001.
• Assistant and then tenured Associate Professor of Psychology, M&IE, and Aviation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1985-1996.

Editorial responsibilities

• Associate Editor, Human Factors in Healthcare, 2021-present
• Regional Editor, Cognition Technology and Work, 2000-present.
• Consulting Editor, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 2005-2011, 2013-present
• Editorial Board, Journal of Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making, 2005-present.
• Editorial Board, Human Factors, 1986-1997, 2005-2013, 2016-present.
• Associate Editor, Human Factors, 2014-2015.
• Associate Editor, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied: 2012-2013.
• Associate Editor, International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 2002-2005.

Dr Jodi Saunus is a senior fellow who specialises in translational research on metastatic breast cancer. Based at Brisbane’s Translational Research Institute, she was recruited by Mater Research in 2022 to help facilitate patient-focused research at the interface of biomedical R&D and clinical practice.

Dr Saunus has an honours degree in biochemistry and biomedical science, a PhD in breast cancer molecular genetics, and broad post-doctoral experience in immunology, molecular cell biology, pathology informatics, and early-phase investigator-initiated clinical trials. Her current portfolio focuses finding new ways to improve the clinical management of aggressive breast cancer, with a focus on triple-negative breast cancer, and the prevention and treatment of brain metastases. This work spans across multiple disciplines and capabilities, and broadly involves:

• Molecular profiling of patient-donated blood and tumour tissue samples to identify features that can predict treatment response, or represent previously uncharacterised therapeutic targets.
• Using experimental models of breast cancer metastasis to learn about the molecular mechanisms exploited by cancer cells to survive and grow in brain tissue.
• Developing innovative treatment strategies that work differently to conventional cancer drugs, including alpha-particle endoradiotherapy and in-situ vaccination.

With an outstanding network of collaborators from academia and clinical practice, she has secured more than $6M to fund this work and has a track record of publishing in prominent biomedical research journals (e.g., Cancer Research, Nature, Science Translational Medicine, Nature Communications and The Journal of Pathology).

Peripherally, Jodi is a strong proponent of biospecimen banking, and clinician and consumer engagement in translational research.

Jessica is a paediatric critical care nurse and researcher with more than 15 years of clinical experience and expertise. Her research themes to date have focused on ventilation strategies to reduce ventilator associated pneumonia and interventions to improve the safety and quality of care related to invasive medical devices. Jessica's developing research themes focus on enhancing health service surveillance using electronic health information in two major spheres: hospital-level surveillance for hospital-acquired complications and unit level surveillance for vascular access device complications and ventilator associated events. She is particularly interested in advances in infectious disease surveillance and tracking, using a combination of mature platforms and new electronic platforms. Jessica has experience leading international consensus studies using Delphi methods and is interested in clinical trials which embed hybrid strategies to enable the rapid and sustainable translation of research findings upon study completion. Jessica is passionate about growing clinician researchers and nurses’ capacity to lead and undertake research which contributes to practice change and better outcomes in our vulnerable patient groups including paediatrics and minority groups.

I graduated with a degree in Chemical Engineering and Science in 2000 from The University of Queensland, after which I joined Proteome Systems, an Australian biotechnology company. In 2004 I moved to the ETH Zurich in Switzerland for my doctoral studies. I joined the School of Chemistry & Molecular Biosciences as a University of Queensland Postdoctoral Research Fellow in 2008 and NHMRC Career Development Fellow in 2012. I am now Associate Professor in Biochemistry.

Ian Scott is the Director of Internal Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology at the Princess Alexandra Hospital and a Professor with the Faculty of Medicine. He is a consultant general physician with clinical interests in in health services evaluation and improvement, clinical guidelines, clinical decision-making, evidence-based medicine, low value care, quality use of medicines, non-invasive cardiology, advance care planning, and older patient care. He chaired the Queensland Clinical Networks Executive 2022-2024, is the inaugural chair of the Australian Deprescribing Network (2014-2023), Metro South Clinical AI Working Group, and Queensland Health Sepsis AI Working Group (both ongoing) and is a founding member of the Australian and New Zealand Affiliate of the US Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (ANZA-SIDM). He was also a member of Queensland Health System Quality, Safety and Performance Management Committee (2022-2024) and the Quality and Safety Committee (2015-2020) and the Digital Health Advisory Group of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP - ongoing). He is a past President of the Internal Medicine Society of Australia and New Zealand (2003-2005) and past member of the MBS Review Taskforce for Cardiac Services (2017-2019). He has led multi-site quality improvement collaboratives in acute cardiac care including both hospitals and Divisions of General Practice. He has been involved at senior level on various high-level committees in establishing policies for Queensland Health and/or RACP on electronic discharge summaries, clinical handover, clinical indicators, evaluation of physician performance, chronic disease management, perioperative medicine, medical assessment and planning units, and patient flow through emergency departments. He has published over 300 peer-reviewed articles, presented to over 170 national and international meetings, and is a recipient of several NHMRC and government research grants.

Dr Shakti Shrestha is a Research Fellow/Senior Research Officer with an academic role at the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Queensland (UQ). His research role mainly involves conducting and supporting an Australian Government funded (Dementia Ageing and Aged Care Mission Medical Research Future Fund) research on improving the Quality Use of Medicine in Australian Residential Aged Care via the role of knowledge broker pharmacist (the EMBRACE project). His academic role involves course coordination and teaching UQ's Quality Use of Medicines courses for Bachelor of Pharmacy degree.

Shakti obtained his PhD at UQ School of Pharmacy, which focused on optimising medication use in older adults with limited life expectancy, drawing his extensive experience working and researching in a clinical medicine and aged care environment. He was a recipient of the 2018 Australian Research Training Scholarship at UQ for his doctoral degree. He also received the 2022 Career Development Scholarship from UQ that allowed him to develop clinical trial skills at Queensland Health, Sunshine Coast University Hospital, Townsville University Hospital and Gold Coast Private Hospital.

Shakti received his Master's degree in Clinical Pharmacology from the University of Aberdeen (UK) in 2010 and had an opportunity to work with the International Stroke Registry data called SITS-ISTR (Safe Implementation of Thrombolysis in Stroke-International Stroke Thrombolysis Registry) in the National Health Service (NHS) Grampian Hospital, UK. He received his undergraduate Pharmacy degree from Pokhara University (Nepal) in 2007 and is registered as a Pharmacist both in Nepal and Australia.

Shakti has supervised nine pharmacy undergraduate thesis (4-years BPharm program) to completion in Nepal, and supervised several undergraduate and masters research project students. He continues to supervise a number of independent research projects mainly with the intention to support the capacity building of health professionals in research; these research often make into publications.

Shakti has research expertise in the field of geriatric and palliative medication use and safety, quality use of medicine, pharmacy practice and health services. He has research methodology expertise on systematic review, clinical research design, predictive model development, meta-analysis, medical statistics and qualitative research. He has more than 10 years of experience working in research, academic and clinical roles nationally and internationally.

PLEASE NOTE THAT ANY AUTHORSHIP ALTERATIONS LISTING ME AS SIMPSON-FRASER BELOW ARE INCORRECT. ALL PUBLICATIONS ARE FIONA SIMPSON. MY PROFESSIONAL NAME IS FIONA SIMPSON.

https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/ockhamsrazor/the-tricky-business-of-cancer-research/9498246

Our laboratory is involved in cross-discipline research studying endocytosis, cancer, pharmacology and immunology to improve therapies used in cancer treatment.

Peter holds a BSc Honours degree and a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Liverpool in the UK. His first postdoctoral research position was at the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre at the Institute of Cancer Research, London UK. He moved to Australia in 2005 and helped Professor Lakhani establish the Molecular Breast Pathology group. He is a member of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (Breast Cancer group) and the Queensland Genomics Health Alliance; he is a Fellow of the Faculty of Science in the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia. He holds a joint teaching and research position at UQ, teaching for the Discipline of Pathology on the Faculty of Medicine MD Program and is a Research Group Leader at the UQCCR.

Professor Peter Sly is the Director, Children's Health and Environment Program. Professor Sly is a NHMRC Leadership Fellow (L3) and an emeritus paediatric respiratory physician with extensive research experience in respiratory physiology, developmental immunology and children's environmental health. Professor Sly’s research aims to understand the mechanisms underlying chronic childhood lung diseases in order to improve clinical management and to delay or prevent their onset, with consequent reductions in adult lung diseases. A combination of basic science, longitudinal cohort studies and translation of research findings into clinical practice, including clinical trials, are included in three main areas: asthma, cystic fibrosis and children’s environmental health

Professor Sly is an advisor to the World Health Organisation Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Disease and currently serves on International Advisory Boards and committees, including: WHO network of Collaborating Centres in Children’s Environmental Health; Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) Study, Canada; the Infant Lung Health Study, Paarl, South Africa; and A SHARED Future: Achieving Strength, Health, and Autonomy, through Renewable Energy Development for the Future.

Dr Smith is an early career researcher and unaccredited Registrar in Intensive Care Medicine at Redcliffe Hospital. Despite being at an early stage in his medical and research career, Sam has already gained valuable experience and enthusiasm in medical education and research, crossing clinical and methodological domains.

Dr Smith gained his primary medical qualification at James Cook University, graduating in 2019 with Honours and awards in research/ Evidence Based Medicine, rural medicine, and with the Dr D. Graham Prize for the highest marks in surgical examinations. His Honours research, supervised by Professor Jonathan Golledge, focussed on the economic impacts of readmission after surgery for peripheral artery disease (PAD). For this research, he was awarded the Professor Philip Walker Scholarship in Vascular Research, allowing him to present his findings internationally. He has co-authored papers in vascular and cardiothoracic surgery, tropical infectious diseases, and care of critically unwell and trauma patients. After completing residency at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Sam moved to Redcliffe Hospital where he now works in intensive care medicine full time.

Aside from clinical duties, Sam is also active in teaching, guest lecturing at James Cook University and the University of Queensland, as well as teaching medical students in the clinical setting. In his clinical practice, Sam has developing interests in critical care medicine, vascular access, POCUS and incorporating best evidence into daily practice. His committment to teaching, research and governance led to Dr Smith being awarded the CPMEC QLD Junior Doctor of the Year Award in 2021. Sam is always very keen to share his enthusiasm for all things evidence-based with students or really anyone who will listen.

Qualifications

• MBBS (Hons.)
• MPH&TM

Michelle Smith is a Associate Professor in Physiotherapy and a Titled Sports and Exercise Physiotherapist. She is Program Director for the Masters of Sports Physiotherapy and Masters of Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy programs at UQ, Co-director of the International Ankle Consortium, Co-director of the Sports Injury Rehabilitation and Prevention for Health (SIRPH) research unit and Associate Editor of Physical Therapy and Sport.

The overarching theme of Michelle's research is lower limb joint health. Her research focuses on the prevention and management of lower limb joint injuries and pathologies across the lifespan to enable unrestricted participation in sport, physical activity and work. There are three key areas of her research:

1. To improve understanding of ankle injuries and osteoarthritis across the lifespan: Ankle sprains are the most common injury seen in emergency departments and are a primary cause of ankle osteoarthritis, which in light of its post-traumatic nature, often affects young adults. To optimise outcomes and participation for people with ankle pathologies, my research characterises impairments and participation restrictions in the continuum from ankle injury to osteoarthritis and establishes the efficacy of interventions to manage these conditions.
2. To understand the effectiveness and implementation of injury prevention strategies: While neuromuscular exercise program and taping/bracing have been shown to decrease injury risk, translation of research into practice is limited. My research investigates the implementation of injury prevention initiatives in adolescent athletes and involves stakeholders to better understand barriers and facilitators.
3. To evaluate the implementation of lower limb osteoarthritis interventions: Exercise and education for hip and knee osteoarthritis have been shown to improve quality of life and functional outcomes. My research investigates the implementation of such programs in public hospitals and private physiotherapy practices on patient outcomes and service delivery.

Michelle has presented her research and delivered keynote and invited presentations at national and international multi-disciplinary conferences. She teaches across the undergraduate and postgraduate physiotherapy curriculum in the areas of musculoskeletal health and sports injuries. She has been recognised for her high teaching quality and impact at both School and Faculty levels through receipt of Teaching Excellence Awards. She is the Chair of the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences External Engagement Committee and Deputy Chair of the Sports and Exercise Physiotherapy Group of the Austrailan Physiotherapy Association. She is a member of the Outcome Measures in Rheumatology (OMERACT) Foot and Ankle Working Group, International Foot and Ankle Osteoarthritis Consortium, and Australian Foot and Ankle Research Network.

My group works to understand and improve sleep for children and families. Sleep is a key ‘pillar of health’ alongside nutrition and activity. It is critical for healthy development, growth, learning, social and emotional functioning, and community participation.

I am the UQ Node Director for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course (the Life Course Centre). The Life Course Centre is committed to understanding and overcoming the problems of disadvantage, and to helping improve the lives of disadvantaged children and families. The Centre brings together researchers across multiple disciplines in four leading Universities, and significant government and non-government agencies to address these questions.

I am also the UQ Node director for the ARC centre of Excellence for the Digital Child. The Digital Child aims to support children growing up in the rapidly changing digital world, and provide strong evidence and guidance for children, families, educators, government and other concerned with children’s wellbeing.

We collaborate with many other groups around broader issues of sleep and technology, sleep and the environment (including disasters), mental health and wellbeing, pain, disability, and new technologies and approaches. Our work has been supported by the ARC, NHMRC, the MRFF, the NIH, and the DSTG. We use a wide range of methods and measures, including direct physiological and behavioural measurement (inc. ECG, EEG, EMG, actigraphy, computerized tests, simulations, environmental monitoring etc.), quantitative methods (inc. experimental and secondary data approaches), and qualitative methods including co-design and co-conduct approaches.

My team has additional expertise in evaluation of health and other services for government and other agencies, the design of complex interventions, and community consultation and engagement.

https://lifecoursecentre.org.au

https://digitalchild.org.au

Professor Soyer is an academic dermatologist with over 30 years experience in the field. He was appointed as the inaugural Chair in Dermatology by The University of Queensland (UQ) in 2007 and was Director of the Princess Alexandra Hospital (PAH) Dermatology Department from 2008-2023. His clinical background drives a strong focus on translational skin cancer research.

Professor Soyer is internationally recognised in the field of dermatology with particular expertise in the areas of preventative dermatooncology, dermatopathology and dermatologic imaging (dermoscopy and reflectance confocal microscopy). Within the dermatology discipline he is a pioneer and world leader in the field of dermoscopy of pigmented skin lesions, a non-invasive diagnostic method. He has led the development of the morphologic classification system currently used worldwide.

His main research focus is skin cancer (both melanoma and keratinocyte skin cancer), with a particular interest in technological innovations and their ability to impact early detection strategies and expand the concept and applications of teledermatology and teledermoscopy. A $9.9M infrastructure grant awarded in 2018 by the Australian Cancer Research Foundation (ACRF) has enabled establishment of the collaborative Australian Centre of Excellence in Melanoma Imaging and Diagnosis (ACEMID); installing 15 3D total body imaging systems, linked by a research network, across Australia’s east cost to facilitate research in the early detection of melanoma. ACRF ACEMID is currently conducting Australia’s largest melanoma cohort study targeting 15,000 participants, with the multi-modal research data being collected and stored in a national research repository. This unprecedented data resource will allow many unanswered research questions in the field to be addressed and will facilitate advancements in artificial intelligence, resulting in the development of reliable, evidence-based solutions to transform melanoma early detection.

Professor Soyer has an extensive publication record with over 680 publications to date, with more than 700 citations per year (in the last 5 years) and an h-index of 96 (Google Scholar). His textbook entitled "Dermoscopy - The Essentials 3rd Edition", co-authored with G Argenziano, R Hofmann-Wellenhof and I Zalaudek is considered a world-leading textbook in the field.

Professor Soyer has been awarded two competitive fellowships while at UQ: a Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Next Generation Clinical Researchers Program Practitioner Fellowship (2018-2022) and an NHMRC Practitioner Fellowship (2012-2016). The NHMRC Practitioner Fellowship was acknowledged in the NHMRC ‘10 of the Best NHMRC research projects 2016’ publication. He has also been awarded 1 NHMRC European Union Collaborative Research Grant (CIA), 1 NHMRC Synergy Grant (CIC), 1 NHMRC Clinical Trials and Cohort Studies Grant (CIC), 1 MRFF Targeted Health System and Community Organisation Research Grant (CIC), 3 NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence Grants (CIA, CIB, CIE), 4 NHMRC Project Grants (CIA, CIA, CIB, CID), 2 NHMRC Partnership Grants (CIA, CIB), 2 ARC Discovery Project Grants (CIB, CID), and a Queensland Genomic Health Alliance (QGHA) Demonstration Project Grant (CIA), with many additional projects funded through other competitive, industry and philanthropic funding sources. In total, through his involvement as an investigator, he has achieved over $43M in research funding for UQ since 2014.

Associate Professor Spurling works at The University of Queensland General Practice Clinical Unit (0.4 FTE) and at the Southern Queensland Centre of Excellence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander primary health care (Inala COE – 0.6 FTE). He has research interests in social determinants of health and access to primary health care, especially where his research skills can be of service to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. His other research interests are quality use of medicines and respiratory infections, with particular methodological interests in systematic reviews and mixed-methods research in general practice. His most recent research interest concerns access to opioid dependence treatment in general practice.

He completed medical training at the University of Queensland, did his junior doctor years in regional Queensland and completed a Diploma of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in London in 1998. In 2001, he spent 12 months working on a project in Central America with Médecins Sans Frontières. He completed general practice specialty training with the RACGP in 2004, which included an academic registrar term. In 2004, he was fortunate to meet Professor Noel Hayman, one of Queensland’s first Aboriginal medical graduates and Clinical Director of the Inala COE, who offered him a GP position in 2004. He has shared his full-time work as a GP academic at the Inala COE and UQ GPCU ever since.

Associate Professor Spurling has developed clinical interests in serving the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community in Inala, serving Spanish-speaking refugees, diabetic retinopathy, and, most recently, addiction medicine. He has been mentoring GP registrars and medical students at the Inala COE since 2004. As a member of the UQ GPCU academic staff, he regularly takes tutorial groups and lectures in cardiovascular medicine, respiratory infections, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and social determinants of health for medical students doing their general practice rotation.

Associate Professor Spurling supervises five postgraduate students (PhD students). He has been awarded over A$18M in research grants and has published over 80 peer-reviewed papers.

Christine graduated with a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree (honours class 1) from the University of Queensland in 1996.

She registered as a pharmacist in Australia in 1997 and in the United Kingdom in 2003 and has worked at the Redlands, Princess Alexandra and Wesley Hospitals in Brisbane and the Western Infirmary in Glasgow. In 2002 she was awarded a PhD from the University of Queensland, with a thesis focusing on improving usage of the immunosuppressant agent tacrolimus in solid organ transplant recipients.

In 2004 she was the recipient of a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Neil Hamilton Fairley fellowship. This award enabled her to training overseas in the field of Pharmacometrics within the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics at the University of Glasgow (Scotland) and the Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences at Uppsala University (Sweden).

On her return to Brisbane, Christine was the recipient of a Lions Medical Research Fellowship and was the chief investigator on a three year NHMRC Project Grant. She has also been a team member on an Amgen-Transplant Society of Australia and New Zealand Research Grant and a Cellcept Australia Research Grant. Over her research career Christine has attracted grants and awards totaling more than 2 million AUD from various funding agencies.

Research Interests

Christine has a wide range of interests in the fields of Quality Use of Medicine and Pharmacometrics. Her work to date has primarily been directed towards optimising usage of immunosuppressant drugs in solid organ transplant recipients and antibiotics in patients with life-threatening infections.

Christine has published over 75 peer reviewed papers and 90 conference abstracts on these topics. Her publications have been cited on more than 3200 occasions, with twelve cited more than 50 times.

Christine has successfully supervised to completion fourteen higher research degree students and enjoys helping students meet their career goals.

Christine’s current projects include:

• Individualising immunosuppressant therapy in autoimmune disease to improve patient outcomes
• Comparing the efficacy and safety of continuous versus intermittent administration of beta-lactams in critically ill patients
• Examining the relationship between immunosuppression and non-melanoma skin cancer in renal transplant recipients
• Improving individualisation of immunosuppressant therapy in adult kidney transplant recipients
• Improving gentamycin dosing in paediatric oncology patients
• Examining tobramycin monitoring in cystic fibrosis patients in Australia and the United Kingdom
• Investigating the relationship between prednisolone exposure and drug-related toxicity in paediatric and adult kidney transplant recipients
• Comparing different therapeutic drug monitoring methods for dosage adjustment of once daily intravenous tobramycin treatment in children with cystic fibrosis

Projects currently available for interested research higher degree students include:

• Dose optimisation of busulfan in paediatric bone marrow transplant recipients
• Investigating the relationship between immunosupressant exposure and drug-related toxicity in transplant recipients
• Examining Bayesian forecasting methods to predict immunosuppressant exposure
• Examining the international use of immunosuppressant and anti-rheumatic drugs
• Examining the influence of plasma exchange on immunosuppressant drug exposure

Christine invites potential honours and post-graduate students to contact her via email to discuss research opportunities.

Teaching interests

Co-ordinates:

• PHRM3052- Biological Fate of Drugs

Teaches in:

• PHRM3052- Biological Fate of Drugs
• PHRM3011- Quality Use of Medicines

Assoc. Prof. Stephan is an anatomist and forensic anthropologist with research interests in skeletal analysis and identification in the medicolegal setting. Specifcally these research interests include: craniofacial identification, radiographic comparison, trauma, unmingling of skeletons, biological profile estimations and standards of practice. Carl heads the Laboratory for Human Craniofacial and Skeletal Identification (HuCS-ID Lab), and is Chief Anatomist at The University of Queensland (UQ) School of Anatomy.

Carl is a Fellow of The American Academy of Forensic Sciences and recent past President of the International Association of Craniofacial Identification. Carl served as Special Issue Managing Guest Editor for Forensic Science International, Latest Progress in Craniofacial Identification, 2018. He has been Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Forensic Sciences (2013-23) and Associate Editor of Forensic Anthropology (2016-20). Carl founded the SBMS Skeletal Collection and Skeletisation Program at UQ in late 2014, re-energising forensic osteology within the UQ School of Anatomy and more broadly within the School of Biomedical Sciences.

Carl's prior appointments include forensic anthropology analyst with the Iraq Mass Graves Investigation Team (USA Army Corps of Engineers on behalf of the USA Department of Justice) and ORISE researcher at the USA Department of Defence Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii. He often now serves as an external consultant to the USA Defence POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). At UQ and as Chief Anatomist and School of Anatomy manager, Carl works very closely with the SBMS Gross Anatomy Facility, in all matters of anatomy teaching, research and governance management.

Working in joint with the GAF Manager, Carl has cross adapted ISO17025 style practices and auditing procedures to the UQ School of Anatomy space and introduced the first Code-of-Practice for Use of Human Tissues within the UQ School of Anatomy since its inauguration (1927). These accreditation-style policies and procedures are further implemented and expanded in the HuCS-ID Lab, providing vital learning experiences and skill sets for Honours and Higher Research Degree students wanting to pursue careers in forensic science. New data analytic, casework and research tools developed by the HuCS-ID Lab and in the statistical environment of R, are freely and routinely released for others to use at the website: CRANIOFACIALidentification.com.

Carl's research outputs currently exceed 100 total scientific publications, including more than 85 full-length research articles..

Michele Sterling is a NHMRC Leadership Fellow (leadership level 2), Professor in the Recover Injury Research Centre, Program Lead of the Musculoskeletal Injury research program and Director of the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence (CRE) in Better Health Outcomes for Compensable Injury. She is a Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist and a Fellow of the Australian College of Physiotherapists. She is internationally recognised for her research on whiplash-associated disorders. Michele’s research focusses on the mechanisms underlying the development of chronic pain after injury, predictive algorithms for outcomes and developing effective interventions for musculoskeletal injury and pain. She has received over $50M in research funding from the NHMRC, MRFF, ARC and industry partners, including 7 NHMRC project grants, and 2 Centres of Research Excellence. Michele holds editorial roles with several leading journals and textbooks, including being a Section Editor of PAIN and co-editors of the 4th and 5th editions of the seminal physiotherapy textbook 'Grieve's Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy). Michele has published over 325 scientific works and has received numerous awards for her research including the Research Australia Research Translation award in 2023. Examples of recognition as a national and international leader in the field include:

2024- Secretary of the Executive Council - International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP)

2022-2024 Chair Scientific Program Committee World Pain Congress, Amsterdam 2024

2023-2027 NHMRC Leadership Fellow (Level 2) for research of road traffic injury.

2023 Research Australia Research Translation award

2016-2022 Council member International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP)