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Dr. Susannah Tye joined the Queensland Brain Institute in 2017 and has established a research program within the Asia Pacific Centre for Neuromodulation (QLD, Australia). Before returning to Australia, Dr. Tye directed the Translational Neuroscience Laboratory at the Mayo Clinic (2012-2017). While there she led efforts to develop brain stimulation devices (for rodents and humans) that can quantify neural activity and neurotransmitter dynamics in the living brain. This body of work now forms the basis of the neuropsychiatric arm of the Mayo Clinic’s Deep Brain Stimulation Consortium. Her specific research expertise are in utilising voltammetric (electrochemical) recording techniques to monitor rapid, synaptic neurotransmission in the living brain.

Dr. Tye has over ten years of experience studying neuromodulation in preclinical rodent models and human patients. Her long-term goal is to bridge preclinical and clinical studies to maximise translational impact, specifically in terms of improving patient outcomes for those with severe refractory psychiatric illness. Towards this end, she maintains many international collaborations with both clinical and basic science researchers. Dr. Tye also has a longstanding interest in mentoring young scientists to help them expand their skills in preclinical and basic science research and achieve a successful research career.

Owen Ung is a breast and endocrine surgeon, Director of the Metro North Comprehensive Breast Cancer Institute (CBCI) and Program lead for the Breast Reconstruction at the Herston Biofabrication Institute (HBI). He is a committed clinician, researcher and educator.

Affiliations:

Professor of Surgery, University of Queensland

Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH)

Surgical Treatment and Rehabilitation Service (STARS)

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Professional representations:

Vice President Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS).

President of Breast Surgery International (BSI), and executive member of the International Surgical Society (ISS).

Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (FAICD).

Director Medical Insurance Group Australia (MIGA)

Drector Specialist Services Medical Group

Owen has obtained extensive administrative and management experience through his various clinical leadership roles and representations at numerous state, national and international levels. He has over 90 peer reviewed publications and is a lead investigator for a number of significant trials of international significance.

John Upham is a clinical scientist and physician with longstanding research interests in the immunological basis of asthma and chronic lung disease, the role of dendritic cells in allergy and virus infections of the lung, and the development of novel approaches to severe asthma treatment.

John is highly influential in his field, with > 195 publications, > 5,400 citations and an H index of 46. Since 2009, he has 112 publications (1st/senior author on 45%) with a Field-Weighted Citation Impact of 2.03. Moreover, 21.5% of publications are in the top 10% of most-cited publications worldwide (field-weighted). His publications have been cited in >20 different subject areas, demonstrating translation to fields other than Medicine. His research has international reach with citations in 80 countries (Scopus Dec 2018).

In the last 10 years, he has secured over $24 million in research funding. John has been awarded 8 NHMRC Project grants (4 as CIA in the last 5 years), 2 NHMRC CRE (“Closing the gap in Indigenous Lung Health” and “Severe Asthma”), and 1 NHMRC Development Grant. He currently holds NHMRC grants of $7.5 million, including $2.96 million as CIA. John was regularly an invited (9x), plenary (3x) and Chair (9x) at national and international conferences in the last 5 years. In recognition of his international standing and influence in the field, he was elected Fellow of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (2004) and the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand (2015).

David graduated from the University of London with a BSc (Hons) in biochemistry (King’s College) and PhD which investigated the role of epidermal growth factor receptors in liver regeneration (Imperial College). Since then he has worked on a variety of projects including; immunoassay development (Ortho Clinical Diagnostics); artificial liver machine development (Imperial College); and p53 mutations in liver cancer (QIMR). He joined the Department of Nephrology at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane in 1999. He is a senior lecturer in The University of Queensland Faculty of Medicine, a senior member of the UQ Kidney Disease Research Laboratory and manages the Princess Alexandra Hospital Endotoxin Testing Service.

His main research interests are in the area of renal tubulointerstitial fibrosis, inflammation and also the mechanisms of renal cancer development – particularly the role that cytokines and growth factors play in these processes. Current projects include the role of protease activated receptor-2 in renal scarring, inflammation and cancer, the mechanism of heavy metal toxicity in the kidney and the renoprotective properties of erythropoietin. The Princess Alexandra Hospital Endotoxin Testing Service routinely tests samples from dialysis units throughout Queensland.

I am an NHMRC Leadership Fellow with joint apointments at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB) and School of Pharmacy, UQ. My research interests lie in the fields of peripheral pain mechanisms, target identification and analgesic drug discovery. I investigate the contribution of ion channels to sensory neuronal physiology using highly subtype-selective toxins isolated from venomous animals with the aim to develop novel analgesics with improved efficacy and tolerability.

I am a Professor Emeritus in Sports Physiotherapy in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences where I am the Director of the Master of Physiotherapy (Musculoskeletal and Sports Physiotherapy Majors) and co-Director of the Sports Injury Rehabilitation and Prevention for Health Research unit. My research is mainly focussed on non-surgical management of persistent musculoskeletal problems like tendon related pain/disability (tendinopathy) and knee cap pain (patellofemoral pain). I also delve into the underlying mechanisms of these conditions and other common sporting injuries (e.g., ankle sprains) – a leading cause of ankle osteoarthritis.

Since gaining my PhD in 2000, I have been awarded over $30million in competitive research funding as a chief investigator to study these conditions – 5 NHMRC project grants, 2 NHMRC CRE, 2 NHMRC program grants, 2 NHMRC MRFF grants and an ARC Linkage grant. I have also conducted over half a million dollars of commercially sponsored research.

I have authored 2 books, 26 book chapters and over 382 peer reviewed publications (h-index 68). My top tendinopathy papers are cited over 10 times more than average for the field – most are published in the top sports/general medicine and physiotherapy journals . I have 2 highly cited papers – in the top 1% of the academic field of Clinical Medicine 2022. I have presented my work world wide in over 300 workshops, seminars and keynote presentations.

I enjoy my role in mentoring early/mid career academics and supervising researh higher degree students – having supervised 40 PhD and 2 MPhil candidates to completion. In this capacity I lead the physiotherapy research higher degree seminar series where our students engage in presenting their work and hearing from top international researchers on a range of relevant topics. One reason why my work was recently recognised by the school award for research mentoring.

Visscher joined the University of Queensland in 2011, where he is Professor of Quantitative Genetics. He is a Laureate Fellow of the Australian Research Council. Visscher was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2010, a Fellow of the Royal Society (London) in 2018 and a Foreign Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2018.

Visscher’s research is about genetic variation for complex traits (including quantitative traits and disease) in populations, with the broad aim to understand and quantify the causes and consequences of human trait variation.

Prof Peter Visscher, Prof Naomi Wray and Prof Jian Yang together comprise the Executive Team of the Program in Complex Trait Genomics (PCTG). PCTG comprises a critical mass of more than 30 post-doctoral researchers plus research assistants and students, all supported by external grant funding. Their skills lie in the ability to develop and apply statistical methods within the framework of quantitative, population and statistical genetics and to use theory to understand and predict results from data analyses. They play leading roles in the international research consortia. The focus of current research activities is in the detection and fine-mapping of loci underlying complex traits (including common disease), based upon theoretical studies and applications of methods to large datasets, in population genetics studies using theoretical approaches and high-density genetic marker data, and in systems genomics studies.

BSc, MBBS, MPH, PhD, FRACGP, FACD

Dr Lena von Schuckmann is a clinician researcher, with dual medical specialist training in dermatology and general practice. Her research is focused on skin cancer prevention, early detection, and optimising skin cancer treatment. She is passionate about improving the cancer journey for patients.

She works as a consultant dermatologist at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, Sunshine Coast University Hospital and private clinics in Spring Hill and the Samford Valley.

Dr Viana Vuvan is a titled Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist and Lecturer in Physiotherapy at The University of Queensland. Viana has a strong clinical background in musculoskeletal physiotherapy, with experience in managing a wide range of musculoskeletal and sports-related injuries. Viana has a special interest in the management of upper limb musculoskeletal disorders and enjoys sharing her experience with students in the undergraduate and postgraduate physiotherapy programs. Viana is an active member of the Sports Injury Rehabilitation and Prevention for Health (SIRPH) research unit and the Neck and Head Research Unit (NAHRU) at the University of Queensland.

Viana’s research is focused on improving the management of persistent musculoskeletal pain conditions, such as tendinopathies, and better understanding the mechanisms underlying their chronicity. Viana’s PhD research focused on lateral elbow tendinopathy and explored the factors contributing to pain, disability and chronicity within this group. Additionally, Viana has explored similar mechanisms in other tendinopathies, including Achilles, patellar tendinopathy, plantar fasciopathy, as well as in whiplash associated disorders. She has shared her research at numerous state-wide, national and international conferences, and has been awarded for her presentations at several conferences.

Dr David Wadley's research interests are in: Philosophy of Planning and Development, Industrial and Retail Planning, Economic Geography and Futurology.

David Wadley received his PhD from the Australian National University in 1975.

His current research projects are in the fields of:

• Visual Impact Assessment in Planning
• Effectiveness, Efficiency and Equity in Retail Planning
• Trust in Business
• Social and Work Experience in the Future

Professor Brandon Wainwright AM is Co-Director of the Children’s Brain Cancer Centre and leads a laboratory within the UQ Diamantina Institute focused on understanding the genetic pathways behind medulloblastoma, a type of brain tumour that occurs predominantly in children. He is Chair of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) Australia, Chair of the Advisory Board of the Robinson Research Institute and Chair of the Board of the South Australian Immunogenomics Cancer Institute (SAIGENCI), and serves on the boards the Australian Genome Research Facility as well as several national and international scientific review committees, including the MRFF Brain Tumour Roadmap Committee.

Professor Wainwright completed his undergraduate and postgraduate studies at The University of Adelaide, after which he secured a postdoctoral fellowship with St Mary's Hospital at Imperial College London. During his six years at Imperial he worked on the first human genome project and also became a Medical Research Council Senior Research Fellow. He returned to Australia in 1990 to join UQ's Centre for Molecular and Cellular Biology (now IMB) and led the Institute for Molecular Biology until 2019.

Professor Wainwright is a geneticist, renowned for discovering the genetic pathway that causes most human cancer. He is skilled in molecular genetics, where he is using genetic approaches to dig through DNA and find the genes that cause disease. He commenced using these skills to locate the cystic fibrosis gene, but it was when isolating a gene responsible for a rare form of brain cancer called Medulloblastoma, that he discovered the role of the ‘Hedgehog Pathway' in common human cancer.

Dr Michael Waller: is a biostatistician working on the Australian Longitudinal Study of Womens Health (ALSWH). He has previous experience working on cancer screening, and military health studies. His current research focus is using linked data sources to assess dementia rates and risk factors.

Dr Haolu Wang currently is a Medical Registrar and Basic Physician Trainee with the Royal Australasian College of Physicians - The Prince Charles Hospital and Redcliffe Hospital (Northside) Rotation. He is also an Honorary Research Fellow in the joint liver cancer research program of Frazer Institute, The University of Queensland and Gallipoli Medical Research Foundation. Dr Wang received his Bachelor of Medicine and Master of Surgery qualifications from Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. He was awarded his PhD in Clinical Medicine from The University of Queensland. Dr Wang has worked as a Medical Officer at Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine and as a Researcher Officer at Frazer Institute, The University of Queensland.

Dr Wang has authored over 30 publications of clinical and translational research in liver diseases, including Hepatology, Theranostics, Int J Cancer, J Exp Clin Cancer Res and Pharmacol Ther. His standing in this field is reflected by awards from Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, United European Gastroenterology, European Microscopy Congress, The University of Queensland, Frazer Family Foundation and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Dr Ran Wang graduated with her PhD in 2015, and after undertaking a postdoc position in Scripps Research, USA returned to Australia in 2017. She is now a Senior Postdoctoral Researcher supported by the prestigious Bushell Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from the Gastroenterology Society of Australia. Dr Wang is interested to understand the nature of inflammation in gut and lung and investigate the local and systemic impacts of chronic gut inflammation. In addition to a growing track-record in the mucosal immunology field, she is also building an inter-disciplinary research profile in material science and nanotechnology for drug delivery and immune modulation. She is the Associate Editor of Frontier of Cellular and Infection Microbiology Journal since 2018.

MBBS MM (Sydney), PhD (Cambridge), FRACP, FCSANZ, FRCP (London)

Consultant Cardiologist, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane.

Associate Professor, PAH-Southside Clinical Unit, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland.

Research interests: clinical cardiology, cardiovascular imaging, genetics and indigenous health.

Dr David Ward is a Research Fellow in ageing and geriatric medicine at the Centre for Health Services Research, Faculty of Medicine. David is particularly interested in how people’s experiences, behaviours and health conditions can affect their chances of developing dementia as they grow older. A key component of his research is aimed at understanding the complex links between ageing, frailty and the brain.

David conducted his PhD at the Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre, University of Tasmania, and graduated in 2015. This work centred on exploring modifiable (e.g. education level) and non-modifiable (e.g. genetics) risks for ageing-related cognitive decline within the Tasmanian Healthy Brain Project. David subsequently held postdoctoral research positions at Population Health Sciences, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE, Bonn Germany)—where he investigated the viability of retinal biomarkers for cognitive functioning, among other topics—and Geriatric Medicine Research, Dalhousie University (Halifax Canada)—where he measured the relationships between frailty and the subsequent risks of mild cognitive impairment and dementia. After returning to Australia and prior to starting at The University of Queensland, David worked for two years as a Team Leader at the Ageing and Aged Care Unit, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (Canberra Australia).

Since 2020 and resulting from David’s international postdoctoral positions, he has published three articles as first-author in world-leading journals: Neurology; the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry; and Annals of Neurology. David has won an award from the Erica Bell Foundation for Excellence in Medical Research and has acted as a peer-review for 15 journals and as an External Grant Assessor for NHMRC Project Grants. David was one of four academic developers who created the Preventing Dementia MOOC (~100,000 completers and ranked 4.9/5.0 on Class Central) and in 2018 was invited to be a guest lecturer at the University of Bonn, Bonn International Graduate School. David is a member of the DEMON Network and is the current Chair of the Network's Frailty and Dementia Special Interest Group.

Prof Ward's research program has focused on adult acute services, including head and neck cancer management, critical care, and general dysphagia management. She conducts research into improving services, evaluating new models of care and new workforce models, digital service delivery models eg., telehealth, as well as clinical training models eg., simulation. Liz is also engaged in exploring the role and benefits of the clinician-researcher workforce within health services.

Prof Ward currently holds a joint position as the Director of the Centre for Functioning and Health (CFAHR), in Metro South Hospital and Health Service, Queensland Health, and, Conjoint Professor with the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Queensland. Her research has a clinical focus with particular emphasis on projects designed to improve patient outcomes within health services. She has published extensively with over 450 publications to date and has a track record of competitive grant funding across a number of research fields. Liz has been awarded multiple UQ teaching awards and has supervised >40 students to successful completion of their research higher degree. In 2014 Liz was awarded the title of Fellow of Speech Pathology Australia in recognition of her contributions to the profession.

Brooke-Mai is a Lecturer in Speech Pathology and a Certified Practicing Speech Pathologist. Her research interests include the rehabilitation of motor speech disorders, brain mechanisms underpinning speech recovery, and the application of telerehabilitation to improve access to speech pathology services.