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Associate Professor Steyn is a leading expert in neurodegenerative disease research, specializing in the metabolic and physiological aspects of Motor Neurone Disease (MND). He currently directs a comprehensive translational research program at the University of Queensland, focusing on the interplay between metabolism and disease progression in MND, and leads key projects investigating the impact of metabolic dysfunction, appetite dysregulation, and hypermetabolism on patient outcomes. His work prioritizes the integration of pre-clinical models, clinical studies, and innovative digital health technologies to advance understanding of the heterogeneity in MND, patient care and therapeutic development.

Associate Professor Steyn’s career began with detailed investigations into the hypothalamic regulation of energy homeostasis, growth, and reproduction. He developed industry-standard methodologies for evaluating hormone release patterns in rodent models, particularly concerning growth hormone regulation. In 2015, he transitioned to focus on neurodegenerative diseases, establishing a research platform at UQ that has significantly advanced the analysis of metabolic phenotypes in MND.

His current research projects include the MEND-MND study, which explores how altered energy metabolism influences disease progression, and the EATT4MND study, which examines the consequences of appetite loss and impaired body weight regulation on disease outcomes. Through collaboration with industry partners, he is also developing novel therapeutic strategies and refining wearable digital health technologies for precise, real-time monitoring of disease progression, including the validation of actigraphy-based measures as clinical trial biomarkers.

Professor Jennifer Stow is a molecular cell biologist, an NHMRC Leadership Fellow and head of the Protein Trafficking and Inflammation research laboratory in The University of Queensland’s Institute of Molecular Bioscience (IMB). Her previous leadership appointments include as Division Head and Deputy Director (Research) at IMB (12 years) and she currently serves on national and international advisory boards, editorial boards and steering committees, and as an elected Associate Member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO).

Jenny Stow received her undergraduate and PhD qualifications at Melbourne’s Monash University before undertaking postdoctoral training in the Department of Cell Biology at Yale University School of Medicine, USA. With training as a microscopist in kidney research, she gained further experience at Yale as a postdoc in the lab of eminent cell biologist and microscopist, Dr Marilyn Farquhar, where protein trafficking was both a theme and a passion. Jenny then took up her first faculty appointment as an Assistant Professor in the Renal Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School in Boston USA, where her research uncovered new roles for a class of enzymes, GTPases, in regulating trafficking within cells. At MGH her research also formed part of a highly successful NIH Renal Cell Biology Program. In late 1994, Jenny moved her research lab back to Australia, to The University of Queensland, in late 1994 as a Wellcome Trust International Medical Research Fellow. As part of IMB since, the Stow lab has continued a focus on protein trafficking, including pioneering live-cell imaging, to spearhead their work on trafficking in inflammation, cancer and chronic disease. Major discoveries include identifying new proteins and pathways for recycling adhesion proteins in epithelial cells, inflammatory cytokine secretion in macrophages and immune signalling through Toll-like receptors in inflammation and infection. Small GTPases of the Rab family, signalling adaptors and kinases feature among the molecules studied in the Stow lab for their functional roles and their potential as drug targets in inflammation and cancer. A keen focus is to understand the role of the fluid uptake pathway, macropinocytosis, in controlling inflammation, cancer and mucosal absorption.

Professor Stow has been awarded multiple career fellowships including from American Heart Association, Wellcome Trust and NHMRC. She has published >200 papers, cited over 15,500 times and she is the recipient of awards and honours, most recently including the 2019 President's Medal from the Australia and New Zealand Society for Cell and Developmental Biology. She is also academic head of IMB Microscopy, a world-class fluorescence microscopy and image analysis facility. Her research is funded by a variety of agencies and industry partnerships, in addition to NHMRC and ARC, including through the ARC Centre of Excellence in Quantum Biotechnology, QUBIC. The Stow lab work with national and international collaborators and welcome students and postdoctoral trainees to participate in their research. We value having a diverse, inclusive and supportive culture for research and celebrate the many diverse and wonderful successes of Stow lab alumni.

MS has >30 years of clinical research experience in pathogenesis and management of hypertension (HT) and especially of endocrine varieties including primary aldosteronism (PA). Working within the Greenslopes Hospital Hypertension Unit (GHHU), he played a significant role in the demonstration that PA is much more common than previously thought, and in the description of a new familial form (FH-II). MS has made key contributions to understanding of steroid and BP regulation in another familial form (FH-I). The combined GHHU/Princess Alexandra Hospital HT Unit (PAHHU, which MS set up in 2000) has the largest series (>2000) worldwide of patients with PA who have been thoroughly documented and meticulously studied, helping MS to become internationally recognized as an authority on pathogenesis (including genetics), diagnostic workup and management of PA, including its familial forms. In 2006, he was invited to be a member of an international Task Force sponsored by the US Endocrine Society to develop clinical guidelines for the diagnosis and management of PA.

As at October 2018, MS had published or in press 205 full papers in peer-reviewed journals, 15 chapters for textbooks of medicine (including DeGroot's Endocrinology) and four on-line chapters (including one for Harrison's Online). According to ISI Web of Knowledge, MS’s journal publications have been cited >7000 times. Fifteen have been cited >100 times, one of these >900 (“h” index 44). He has been invited to speak at major meetings 120 times (84 international, 36 national) since 1998 including a debate with Norman Kaplan on the prevalence of PA (ISH, Prague 2002). He was invited by the University of WA to give the Robert Vandongen Memorial Lecture for 2002 and by the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand to deliver the Gaston-Bauer Lecture in 2012. MS has collaborated with researchers in 14 international Units and all Australian states. In 2002, he was named as a Chief Investigator within a newly established Clinical Centre of Research Excellence (CCRE) in Cardiovascular Disease and Metabolic Disorders at Princess Alexandra Hospital, funding for which was renewed by the NHMRC in 2006 for 2007-11. In 2018 he became one of six international investigators to head a Transatlantic Network of Excellence investigating Potassium and Hypertension funded by the Leducq Foundation. Has served on Editorial Boards for J Hypertens, Clin Exper Physiol Pharmacol, Nephrology (Subject Editor), J Clin Endocrinol Metab and J Hum Hypertens (Co-Editor) and assessed manuscripts for >20 major international journals. Has served as written grant application assessor for six major international and five major national funding bodies, on NHF Grant Interviewing Committees in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2002, and on NHMRC GRPs in 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011. MS is a member of the International Society of Hypertension (ISH), American Society of Hypertension and US Endocrine Society. He was elected into the Executive Committee of the High BP Research Council of Australia in 1998, as Secretary in 2001 and as President in 2017. He also served as President of the Asia-Pacific Society of Hypertension in 2019. He was a Member of the NHF BP and Vascular Disease Advisory Committee from 1998 until 2012.

Other Awards and Honours:

NHMRC Postgraduate Medical Research Scholarship, 1992-94 John W.H. Tyrer Prize for Research in Internal Medicine, 1992 NHF Clinical Research Fellowship, 1995-97 NHF Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1998-99 Honorary Professor to the Xinjiang Institute of Hypertension, 2005 Member, Primary Aldosteronism Guidelines Task Force, US Endocrine Society, 2006 Visiting Professor, Tung Wah Eastern Hospital, Hong Kong, 2008 Honorary Professor of the Hypertension Department at Henan Provincial People’s Hospital, the Hypertension Control and Research Center of Henan Province, and the Hypertension Diagnosis and Treatment Center of Henan Province, 2009 Gaston Bauer Lecturer, Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand, 2012

Jenny was appointed Professor of Occupational Therapy in 1997. At the end of 2015, Jenny took early retirement from UQ. In January 2016, she was awarded the title of Emeritus Professor of The University of Queensland. Jenny is now using her time to facilitate and enable a new generation of clinical occupational therapists to appraise and utilise research evidence in their practice, and to conduct clinical research and generate new evidence to inform practice. In addition, she continues to guide a growing group of research higher degree students, while focusing more time upon her own research in the area of chronic pain.

Her research has primarily focused upon the impact which chronic pain has upon a person's life; the attendant measurement of that pain, and the efficacy of different treatment approaches. Jenny was recognised as a Distinguished Member of the Australian Pain Society in 2014, for her contribution to pain management education and research in Australia.

Professor David Sturgess is the Deputy Director of Anaesthesia (Professional Development) at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane, Australia. He is also a Councillor (Non-executive Director) of the Australia and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA), as well as Medical lead & Co-chair of the Queensland Health Statewide Anaesthesia and Perioperative Network (SWAPNet).

Professor Sturgess' doctoral thesis focused upon the non-invasive evaluation of heart function during life threatening infection. This culminated in award of a Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD), in the Discipline of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care, from The University of Queensland. Professor Sturgess maintains a keen interest in haemodynamic monitoring and echocardiography.

The scope of his current research interests has broadened and is best collated under the theme of Perioperative Medicine. Professor Sturgess' research brings together elements of the inflammatory response, critical care equipment and inter-professional collaboration.

Postgraduate research student supervision and published collaborations include exploration of the interactions between opioids, regional anaesthesia and cancer recurrance; perioperative nutrition and hyperglycaemia; analysis and interpretation of large observational perioperative datasets; risk stratification of acute coronary syndromes using echocardiography; neuraxial anatomy and haemodynamics relevent to peripartum anaesthesia; implementation science and perioperative temperature monitoring and management.

Critical Care Medicine focuses on supporting patients, often with one or multiple organ failures. Based at the largest Australian cardiac hospital, our research investigates better ways to support patients with heart and/or lung failure. We explore technological, pharmacological and engineering advances that could help our patients to live longer and better. Our group is world-renowned for clinically relevant large animal models, including heart failure, respiratory failure (ARDS), heart transplantation, sepsis, cardiogenic shock, and more. All our studies use hospital-grade equipment and follow the same clinical guideline to maximise translation. We actively take on honours, MPhil and PhD students from multi-disciplinary backgrounds (science, engineering, medicine, allied health), with a successful track record in supporting our students to secure their own grants and funding. Students are expected to contribute to other studies of the group. For more information about the group, please visit ccrg.org.au, and email if you are interested to join us.

Professor Clair Sullivan is an internationally-recognised leading practising and academic clinical informatician who helps drive digital health transformation in Queensland and globally.

Clair is the Director of the new Queensland Digital Health Centre within the Centre for Health Research at The University of Queensland.

A specialist endocrinologist, Clair graduated with Honours in Medicine from The University of Queensland and earned a Research Doctorate in Medicine from the University of Leeds. In 2014, Clair began a parallel career in the emerging field of digital health and has held significant leadership roles in digital health practice and governance across government and academia. Her work is regularly translated into practice and informs policy in Australia and globally.

Clair was appointed Associate Professor of Medicine in Clinical Informatics at UQ and is an Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology and an Adjunct Professor, School of Health and Biomedical Sciences at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

She is a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, the Australian College of Health Informatics and the Australasian Institute of Digital Health.

Clair serves on several national advisory boards for digital health. She is the recipient of several awards including the 2021 Premier’s Award for Excellence for her team’s work on the digital response to COVID-19 and the 2022 Telstra Brilliant Connected Women in Digital Health Award.

She has generated over $30M in grant funding and has deep collaborations with government and industry. She is ranked in the top 1% of Medical Informatics researchers globally.

Dr Daniel Sullivan is a Clinical Psychologist and Adjunct Lecturer in the Child Health Research Centre, The University of Queensland. In his clinical role, Dr Sullivan leads a program of research to design Australia's first psychology extended scope of practice model of care for limited pharmacotherapy management, with an emphasis on deprescribing hypnotic medicines in the public sector sleep psychology setting (ExPEDiTe Sleep project). As a member of the Let’s Yarn about Sleep group at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Dr Sullivan is working to improve sleep health equity for First Nations Australians through community co-designed, culturally responsive sleep programs which harmonise sleep science with Indigenous Australian perspectives and knowledges about sleep.

Dr Sullivan’s research and clinical expertise is in the behavioural aspects of sleep; he is an Editor of the journal Research Directions: Sleep Psychology (Cambridge University Press) and is board certified by the US-based Board of Behavioral Sleep Medicine. Dr Sullivan completed postgraduate training in sleep at the University of Sydney (MSc), and his PhD in Clinical Psychology at Griffith University, where his doctoral research examined psychological factors involved in sleep-related headaches.

Wubshet is an accredited pharmacist, lecturer, and Mental Health First Aid Instructor at the University of Queensland’s Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences. He also holds an Affiliate Research Fellow position at the University of Sydney School of Pharmacy. Currently, he is a course coordinator for Pharmacy Practice and Medicines Management in the BPharm (Hons) program.

He completed his PhD at the University of Tasmania in 2019. Following that, he held postdoctoral researcher roles at the University of Canberra and University of Sydney, where he coordinated multiple government- and industry-funded clinical trials.

Wubshet's research primarily centres around understanding medication and patient outcomes in individuals with chronic diseases, with a special emphasis on kidney diseases. In collaboration with several researchers and stakeholders in Australia, Wubshet has attracted ~$2.1 million in grant funding. Currently, he is actively involved as an investigator in a large-scale cluster randomised trial (ACTRN12622000329763) funded by the Medical Research Future Fund and led by the University of Sydney. This trial is investigating the effectiveness of a community pharmacy-led point-of-care screening in improving the detection of chronic kidney disease and quality use of medicines.

Dr Hayley Thomas is a General Practitioner who works clinically on the north side of Brisbane, and academically as a clinical senior lecturer with the General Practice Clinical Unit. She is currently the academic co-coordinator for the General Practice course in the MD program. Hayley's research interests include whole person care and the GP-Patient relationship.

Professor Thomas’ research is focused on the study of the biology and clinical use of human dendritic cells in autoimmune disease. It has explored basic mechanisms of immunity and dendritic cell function in autoimmune disease.

Professor Thomas is a graduate of the University of Western Australia. She received her MBBS in 1984, and then trained in Perth as a rheumatologist. She commenced a research fellowship with Peter Lipsky at Southwestern Medical Center, University of Texas in 1990, where she first identified and characterised human circulating dendritic cell precursors. She is now Professor of Rheumatology at The University of Queensland's Frazer Institute, Translational Research Institute, consultant Rheumatologist at Princess Alexandra Hospital and fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences. In 2020 she was awarded Member of the Order of Australia. She has founded two spin-off companies Dendright (2006-2021), and Liperate in 2022.

Her research seeks to understand autoimmune disease and restoration of immune tolerance. Through this work, she developed dendritic cell-based citrullinated antigen-specific immunotherapy in the first proof-of-concept trial in Rheumatoid Arthritis. She then developed a liposome immunotherapy that targets dendritic cells to induce antigen-specific tolerance, opening new opportunities for the control and prevention of autoimmune disease. Dendright progressed a liposome-based tolerance strategy for rheumatoid arthritis to a phase I trial, and Liperate is planning to open a trial of a liposome-based tolerance strategy for type 1 diabetes in 2024. She has contributed major insights into immune tolerance mechanisms and interaction between microbiome and the immune system to trigger or control spondyloarthropathy.

Professor Rachel Thomson is a Head of the Greenslopes Clinical Unit, Thoracic Physician and clinical researcher working at Greenslopes Private Hospital.

She has an international reputation in the area of Pulmonary Nontuberculous mycobacterial disease. She has published widely in the area and is regularly invited to speak at international and national meetings.https://medical-school.uq.edu.au/research/ntm-research-group

Her current research focuses on immunological and environmental aspects of susceptibility to NTM infection, characteristics of the lung and gut microbiome in NTM, and improving treatment outcomes.

In a clinical capacity, Professor Thomson is able to offer patients expert management of their disease at Pulmedica, Greenslopes Private Hospital, at public clinics at The Prince Charles Hospital and the MetroSouth Clinical TB service of the Princess Alexandra Hospital and via telehealth for patients across Australia. Patients can also access novel treatments through clinical trials in both the private and public sector.

Prof Thomson also has a special interest in respiratory problems of the elite athlete. This includes asthma management, vocal cord dysfunction, and the requirements of national and international doping organisations for asthma medications.

I graduated in 2013 with a MBBS from the University of Queensland. Currently, I work as a Junior Registrar in General Surgery (Pre-training position) at the Logan Hospital in Queensland, Australia. I love teaching medical students and involve myself in meaningful research during my spare time. I am committed to practicing evidence based, safe and honest medicine in the field of Surgery.

A/Prof Leigh Tooth is a Principal Research Fellow who specialises in research on maternal and child health and general women's health, in particular on women carers, health inequalities and the socio-economic determinants of health, quality of life and comorbidity.

A/Prof Leigh Tooth is currently Principal Research Fellow and Deputy Director of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH). She chairs the Data Access Committee of the ALSWH. She is CI on the NHMRC funded Centre for Research Excellence on Women and Non-communicable Disease (CRE WaND): Prevention and Detection (2019–2024). She was CI on the NHMRC funded Mothers and their Children’s Health Study (MatCH) (2014-2018). MatCH is investigating the relationship between mothers’ health history, since 1996, and the family environment to children’s health and development outcomes, including health service utilisation. She is also leading a program of research into health inequalities and the socio-economic determinants of health, and women carers. Her other current research interests are quality of life and comorbidity. Her previous research experiences include a NHMRC Public Health Fellowship (1999-2003), during which she investigated the short and long term functional and community outcomes of people following stroke, and being a NHMRC Fellow with the Longitudinal Studies Unit in the School of Public Health at the University of Queensland researching statistical methodology and teaching into the epidemiology program. She has a PhD and first class honours degree in Occupational Therapy from the University of Queensland.

Julia is a Lecturer and Researcher at the University of Queensland. She has been researching whiplash and neck pain since 2000 and in 2004 completed her PhD focusing on the necks influence on sensorimotor control. She has continued her research in this area in idiopathic neck pain, headache, the elderly and post concussion. She has over 100 publications in this area, written several book chapters and is one of the authors of the book “Management of neck disorders- an evidenced based approach”. Julia works part-time as a physiotherapist in a private practice managing patients such as those with, whiplash, cervicogenic dizziness and post concussion syndrome and been involved as a clinician on several whiplash RCTs. Julia is also an assessor at the Whiplash Physical Diagnostic Clinic. Julia has been an invited speaker at many national and international conferences and workshops in the area of neck pain, whiplash, concussion and dizziness.

Professor Kylie Tucker leads a positive research environment, where exceptional basic science and clinical researchers come together to advance knowledge about muscles and movement control. Her work has transformed our understanding of how pain impacts movement; showcased methods for estimating muscle forces; and advanced the assessment of childhood movement control and adolescent skeletal maturity. Recently, Kylie has drawn on her fundamental science knowledge to propose a shift in our understanding of the potential drivers of scoliosis progression. Approximately one child in every Australian classroom, and 3-7% world-wide, will develop adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. There is no known cause, nor strong evidence to determine when or where to target non-invasive treatment. Each year in Queensland >200 adolescents have up to 12 vertebrae fused as conservative treatment has not stopped their curve progression. Her group have identified unique, targetable muscle features, that can be non-invasively detected early in curve progression.

In parallel to her research, Kylie teaches about muscles and movement control across 10 UQ programs, where class size ranges from 70-1400 students. She is the Director of Teaching and Learning for the School of Biomedical Science (2024- ), where she influences teaching outcomes across numerous disciplines. Kylie co-facilitates UQ’s flagship Career Progression for Women program (2024- ), and intentionally fosters a supportive academic culture, empowering academics in their pursuit of excellence, across all her roles. She is also the President of the International Society of Electrophysiology and Kinesiology (ISEK); a global organization composed of 375 members in health-related and basic science fields with a common desire to study human movement and the neuromuscular system. Kylie has contributed to the leadership of this society since 2018.

Karen Turner is a clinical psychologist and research academic. She is Deputy Director at the Parenting and Family Support Centre. Her research activity focuses on the impact of evidence-based parenting support on child, family and community outcomes. She is a foundational co-author of the Triple P – Positive Parenting Program and has published more than 50 professional manuals, parent workbooks, tip sheet series, and video programs, which are currently being used in 27 countries, in 20 languages. She has also co-written television segments and four interactive online parenting programs. She has clinical and research experience relating to parent wellbeing, child development, and the prevention and treatment of a variety of childhood behavioural and emotional problems, including work with feeding disorders, pain syndromes and conduct problems. Her research has also focused on the development and evaluation of brief primary care interventions in the prevention of behaviour disorders in children, and the dissemination of these interventions to the professional community. She has also conducted series of research into: online delivery of parenting programs; the cultural tailoring of mainstream parenting programs for Indigenous families; and enhancing the training and post-training environment for Indigenous professionals. Her current work includes further resource development for primary care settings, early education settings, and an ongoing focus on making evidence-based parenting support programs more accessible for First Nations families, and in low-resource and developing communities.

Dr Turpin’s research centres on the clinical/professional reasoning of occupational therapists across the spectrum of experience from new graduates to experts, as well as the subjective experiences of people with disabilities. She specialises in the use of qualitative research methods and uses a variety of qualitative research methods in her own research, as well advising others on these research methods. Dr Turpin has written books and book chapters on occupational therapy models of practice, evidence-based practice, and clinical reasoning, as well as publications on various aspects of people's experience. Dr Turpin has been a teaching and research academic at The University of Queensland for more than 30 years. The connection between theory and practice is central to her research and teaching. As occupational therapists attend to both thinking and experience, they need to use rigorous thinking and a deep understanding of human experience in their practice.

Zephanie is a Senior Research Fellow and occupational therapist based at the Child Health Research Centre, and a member of the management team of the Centre for Children’s Burns and Trauma Research, Brisbane. She has a clinical background specialising in paediatrics and burn care. She has worked clinically and in management positions at Royal Children’s Hospital, Brisbane, in private practice and in research capacity building positions in hospitals and health services.

Since 2013 Zephanie’s research has focussed on developing and validating patient-reported outcome measures, as well as using these measures therapeutically for clinical decision making. She led the development of four versions of the Brisbane Burn Scar Impact Profile which have been translated into Czech and are undergoing cross-cultural validation for Brazilian Portuguese. She has a vision of providing all children and their caregivers with an opportunity to communicate their needs and priorities during treatment in a paediatric hospital or health service.

Her current program of work includes collaborative work with children, their caregivers and health professionals to co-design and test the effectiveness and implementation of technology-based interventions in clinical settings to improve quality of life. These interventions include a web-based intervention for paediatric health professionals to support the psychosocial health of families with a child who has experienced physical trauma, and an electronic intervention for children with skin conditions and their caregivers that provides feedback about the patient's health-related quality of life to health professionals. Zephanie also has a continued interest in investigating the effectiveness and implementation of novel interventions to prevent or improve the impact of skin conditions in children and their families. This includes the use of ablative fractional CO2 laser, medical needling, pressure garment and silicone therapy, medical hypnosis and interventions to promote adherence and reduce the burden of treatment.