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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)

Dr Nicole Stormon is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland and AHPRA registered Oral health therapist. The current and inaugural Program Convenor for the School of Dentistry’s Doctor of Dental Medicine. She is also the Principal Research Fellow for Queensland Health Metro North Community and Oral Health. An alumnus of the University of Queensland for her undergraduate and postgraduate training, Nicole has become an internationally recognised leader and advocate in Oral Health Therapy.

Nicole Stormon has publications in high quality journals, numerous conference presentation and research collaborations. Health service research is a central theme of her research, with ongoing collaborations with Queensland Health to develop evidence-based and cost-effective models of dental care. She has extensive experience in the analysis of complex quantitative health service data and large longitudinal cohort studies. Additionally, Nicole is experienced in relevant health services research methods including qualitative, scoping methods and consumer engagement. Translating evidence into practice can be challenging, however her research aims to implement innovations and generate new knowledge to better patients oral health outcomes. Being a clinician herself and her effective collaborations to the health service are key to bridging the knowledge-implementation gap.

Nicole Stormon represents the oral health workforce and applies expertise, leadership and governance skills. As an advocate for oral health, she has consulted on a number of national oral health policy issues. Called as an expert witness into the Aged Care Royal Commission into oral health. She has contributed to countless written submissions and representations on national and local advocacy and policy matters. As a leader and advocate for her profession, saw through the recognition and implementation of oral health professionals in obtaining provider numbers and claiming within the Child Dental Benefits Schedule. She has contributed to ongoing public policy issues and has published evaluations of the federal funding policy the Child Dental Benefits.

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.

Dr Nancy Sturman has worked in Australian general practice since 1990, in both metropolitan and rural settings. She is currently a general practitioner with UQ Healthcare, where she has been the Clinical Lead of Homelessness and Addiction Medicine since 2011.

Nancy was a member of the Queensland Faculty of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP), and chaired the Faculty's Research Support Committee, from 2014 - 2018. She is the Senior Academic Advisor with the Education Research Unit of the RACGP, and is a member of the Brisbane North Primary Health Network Clinical Council.

Nancy accepted an appointment with the University of Queensland's Discipline of General Practice in 2007, and was appointed to a Teaching Focused Associate Professor position with the Discipline in 2013. She led the delivery of the Discipline's clinical teaching from 2012 - 2015, as Academic Coordinator of the General Practice and Medicine in Society rotations. She chaired the School of Medicine's Assessment Sub-committee between 2013 and 2016, and served as the Deputy Chair of the University of Queensland Medical Research Ethics Committee between 2013 and 2016. She is currently the deputy Head of the Mayne Academy of General Practice, and leads UQ General Practice's scholarship of teaching and learning.

Her key research interests are: work-based learning in general practice training and medical education; managing and teaching ethical issues and professionalism in general practice; health and social care for vulnerable populations; and assessment in medical education. Nancy’s PhD focused on general practice registrar help-seeking, and supervisor input to patient care, during trainee consultations with patients.

Dr Michalis Stylianou is a senior lecturer with the School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences at The University of Queensland. His research interests focus around creating active and healthy schools using comprehensive and coordinated approaches that involve school staff, parents, and the community. Michalis is also a member of the Active Healthy Kids Australia research working group, a collaboration among Australian children’s physical activity and health researchers who advocate for actions to increase the physical activity levels among Australian children using the Physical Activity Report Card for Children and Young People as the core monitoring metric.

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.

Tianze Sun is a Research Fellow at the National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research at The University of Queensland. Tianze received her Bachelor of Psychological Science with first-class honours in 2019 from UQ and later in 2024, her Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology.

Her current research focuses on evaluating and optimising public health policies to minimise the harm associated with youth substance use. Tianze's work employs a multidisciplinary approach, combining co-design with young people, working with generative AI, analysis of large-scale epidemiological data, and social media data mining to address these complex challenges. She is passionate about leveraging cutting-edge technologies and collaborating with diverse groups to develop innovative solutions that have a positive impact on the lives of young people.

Tianze has authored over 40 peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals such as JAMA Paediatrics, Addiction, and Tobacco Control. Her work has attracted significant national and international attention, with features in outlets like The Guardian, Forbes, and ABC News.

She works with an exceptionally talented team of researchers from various disciplines and is always keen to work with motivated students and collaborators who share her passions.

Dr Meng-Wong Taing (Wong) graduated from the University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Pharmacy (with Honours Class 1) in 2002, Graduate Certificate in Technology Innovation Management in 2012, PhD in Pharmacy in 2013. After completion of his PhD he worked as a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Translation Research Institute (TRI) investigating novel drug candidates for the treatment of Type 2 Diabetes and Obesity. In 2014, Wong joined the School of Pharmacy as a Lecturer and was awarded the Dean’s commendation for Research Higher Degree Excellence. Wong's current research themes have a strong commitment in facilitating extended roles for pharmacists and other health care providers to improve patient outcomes. He is particularly interested in further developing evidence for pharmacists working in collaborative oral healthcare models in Australia. Wong completed his Masters in Biostatistics in 2024 through the Biostatistics Collaboration of Australia.

Dr Caley Tapp is a Research Fellow with the School of Public Health at the University of Queensland, based at the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research.

Caley holds qualifications in psychology and epidemiology. She has a PhD in social psychology and completed a post doctoral fellowship on an ARC funded project examining a disease avoidance basis for stigmatisation.

Caley’s 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 she is involved in a range of projects designed to improve the measurement of patient- and service-level outcomes in Australia’s specialised public sector mental health services. She has experience in conducting systematic literature reviews, as well as conducting experimental, quasi-experimental and qualitative studies. Caley’s other research interests include examining the stigmatisation of people with obesity.

Caley is available to supervise honours, Masters and HDR students on a variety of topics; please get in touch to discuss.

Dr Jenna L. Taylor obtained her PhD in Exercise Physiology from The University of Queensland in 2019 as an NHMRC postgraduate research scholar. She then completed a 3-year postdoctoral research fellowship in the United States at The Mayo Clinic with the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine. She is now a Lecturer in Clinical Exercise Physiology with the School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences at UQ and heads up the Physiology and Ultrasound Laboratory for Science and Exercise (PULSE). Her interest in cardiovascular disease stems from her clinical experience as an exercise physiologist and dietitian working in a hospital-based cardiac rehabilitation program. Broadly, her research interests involve the effect of exercise training and intensity on improving cardiovascular and brain health, in the settings of healthy ageing and risk reduction for cardiovascular disease and vascular dementia. She is currently the PI on an NIH-funded Clinical Trial (1R21AG073726) investigating the influence of exercise training and intensity on cognitive function and cerebral blood flow regulation in patients with cardiovascular disease.

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.

Professor Susan Tett is a registered pharmacist with research interests in Quality Use of Medicines (improving how medicines are used) and clinical pharmacokinetics (optimising medicine doses)

Sue completed her PhD in 1988. Since this time she has been in research positions and in academia at Sydney University, St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney and at the University of Queensland. She has over 150 peer reviewed research publications and over 200 conference presentations and is on Editorial Board of Clinical Pharmacokinetics. Sue was Head of the School of Pharmacy, University of Queensland 1996-2004 and Deputy Executive Dean & Associate Dean Research for the Faculty of Health Sciences 2006-2010, including periods as Acting Executive Dean.

Susan Tett has been a member of many Australian national and State advisory committees, including Pharmaceutical Health and Rational use of Medicines Committee 1996-2004, Pharmaceutical Sub-Committee of the Australian Drug Evaluation Committee 1995-2004, Pharmaceutical Industry Working Group 2003-10 , Pharmaceutical Partnerships Program Committee of the Industry Research & Development Board 2003-09, and has participated in NHMRC Project Grant Review Panels and Fellowships Panels. She was also Councillor for the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (Queensland Branch) and was the Australian Pharmacist of the Year in 1999, for her contributions to pharmacy education and research.

Sue’s research interests are directed towards optimising the clinical use of medications. General areas of research include quality use of medicines, clinical pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. Sue supervises a number of postgraduate students and is actively involved in innovation in the pharmacy profession, pushing the professional boundaries. She is committed to enhancing the role of the health care team in optimising consumer health outcomes.

Professor Kevin Thomas is Director of the Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS). Kevin is an environmental health scientist with a particular interest in understanding the environmental exposures associated with contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) with the goal of protecting environmental and human health. Kevin also leads the Minderoo Centre- Plastics and Human Health at UQ and is Deputy-Director of the Australian Research Council Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Hyphenated Analytical Separation Technologies (HyTech).

His current research is focused on understanding human exposure to plastics pollution and developing mass spectrometric analytical methods for characterizing plastics and other CECs, assessing community-wide health status through analysing wastewater (wastewater-based epidemiology) and establishing alternative approaches to exposure monitoring, for example explanted silicone prostheses and wristbands.

Author of over 300 peer-reviewed papers and Associate Editor for the journal Science of the Total Environment, Kevin is a strong collaborative researcher having founded the international SCORE network on sewer biomarker analysis for community health assessment (see www.score-network.eu) and together with colleagues has recently launched InSpectra- A platform for identifying emerging chemical threats.

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.

Dr George Thomas is a Post Doctoral Research Fellow in the Health and Wellbeing Centre for Research Innovation at the University of Queensland and a member of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child. George has a PhD in behavioural sciences and his research has focused on better understanding digital technology use among children and how such engagement impacts on their health, wellbeing, and development. He has worked in public health and behavioural sciences for over 10 years, starting with a government taskforce on Weight Management, providing healthy lifestyle programs for school children and families. He has taught research methods and public health to undergraduate paramedic and sport and exercise science students and received excellent student ratings. He has supervised over 25 student research projects. George is a passionate advocate for the promotion of healthy behaviours and is committed to translating evidence into community settings.

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.

Karen Thorpe is Australian Research Council, Laureate Professor and Group Leader in Child Development, Education and Care at the Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland. Her research is grounded in the understanding that early learning experiences shape brain development and are critical in establishing trajectories of health, social inclusion and learning across the lifespan. A particular focus of her work is early care and education environments including parenting, parent work, quality of care and education, and the early years workforce.

Karen leads a multi-disciplinary team of developmental scientists undertaking large scale longitudinal studies with embedded studies to explicate mechanisms that enable or limit children’s life chances. She was Foundation Psychologist on the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children at the University of Bristol, UK; led the evaluation of the Preparing School Trial for Queensland Government; led the Queensland team of the E4Kids study of quality in Australian Early Education and Care and a recent data linkage project with Queensland Government to track participants through their school journey. In partnership with Queensland Government, Goodstart Early Learning and the Creche and Kindergarten Association she led a large population study of the Australian ECEC workforce (ARC Linkage). Her current research, as a chief investigator on the ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families across the life course, and through an ARC Laureate fellowship, is to examine barriers to providing high quality early learning services in developmentally vulnerable communities.

In 2013 and again in 2019 Karen was named by the Australian Financial Review as among Australia's 100 Women of Influence for the impacts of her research on educational and family policy. In 2020 she was recognised by Australian Government, Advance Global Awards for her international contribution to education. Karen chairs the Australian Early Years Reference Council for Evidence for Learning, Australia whose remit is to build a strong evidence-base in early childhood education and care with focus on translation into policy and practice. She is also director on the board of the Australian Research Council for Children and Youth and advisor to the national board of Beyond Blue – Be You.

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.

Marion has several years teaching and learning and leadership experience in the higher education sector. She is also a Board Director for Metro South Hospital and Health Services and Chairs the Metro South Safety & Quality committee. She is also a Council member of a local school. Marion completed a Bachelor of Nursing (Hons) in Sydney and then worked across NSW, Vic and QLD with experience in critical care and acute medical surgical areas, specialising in cardiology and emergency nursing. She completed a Master of Nursing in Women’s Health through QUT and a PhD at Griffith University. Marion has broad experience is leading curriculum design, implementation and review and has been involved in numerous research projects around students’ experiences of university and supporting and assessing students’ learning. Her research interests include nurse education, the student experience of university, assessment of learning, supporting casual academic staff and clinical decision making in practice. Marion also supervises several PhD students across a range of interests and research methodologies.

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.