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Dr Salih Salih has been a Consultant Geriatrician at Princess Alexandra Hospital since 2006, and also consults at Redland Hospital. He supervises basic physician trainees and advanced trainees in geriatric and internal medicine at both PAH and Redland hospitals. In addition to his clinical commitments, Dr Salih is the inaugural Chair of the Bayside Health Research Advisory Group at Redland Hospital. Also a member of the Metro South Research Council, and regularly reviews grant applications submitted for the Metro South Research Support Scheme. Dr Salih has also reviewed grant applications as a member of the NHMRC review panel.

Dr Salih holds Academic Title of Associate professor for the Faculty of Medicine’s PA-Southside Clinical Unit where he has a long-standing conjoint appointment and is Academic Lead at the UQ Redland Hospital site. He has a leading role in the development of the geriatric curriculum and teaching activity, and is involved in education and teaching of medical students across their program from year 1 onward. He is also heavily involved in examining of medical students in their General Medicine and Medicine in Society terms at both Redland and PA Hospitals.

Supervision

Dr Salih supervises research projects for advanced trainees in geriatric medicine, and year 4 medical students completing research projects. He chairs the Research Higher Degree Committee for PhD and MPhil candidates and reviews MPhil research higher degree projects. Dr Salih also supervises and mentors Honours students completing their allied health degree.

Qualifications

Fellow, Royal Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP)

Master of Public Health, The University of Queensland (MPH)

I am a passionate English literature researcher, having received an education in English literature, linguistics, and language as well as humanities. I have completed my PhD in Postcolonial Studies and Other Literature in English from the School of Languages and Cultures at the University of Queensland, with the support of the prestigious and highly competitive International Postgraduate Research scholarship and the University of Queensland Centennial scholarship. My research entwines eighteenth-century English literature and contemporary world anglophone literature, straddling migration and diaspora, subjectivity formation and agency, gender and age, and metaphors as a literary device. I have pursued my research within the South Asian region, with a particular focus on the underrepresented branch of Anglophone literature, for example, Bangladeshi literature in English. By engaging with the tension among colonial, postcolonial, and world literature writings, I foreground literary/fictional endeavours as tools to voice inequity, inequality, exclusion and social justice and to become emotional intelligence. My poems reflect my multidisciplinary academic and critical literary perspectives, and thus, all my works have gradually been shaped by my life experiences as an emotional Bedouin.

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.

As a health information and digital health researcher, I am committed to leveraging technology to enhance healthcare delivery, optimize clinical workflows, and improve patient outcomes. My research explores the responsible, evidence-based, and impactful integration of digital health technologies into healthcare systems, focusing on electronic health records, health data analytics, and digital health interventions. With nearly 25 years of experience spanning academia, research, and senior leadership roles, I have contributed to advancing digital health through multidisciplinary collaborations and applied research. My research covers a wide range of topics within digital health such as health data, electronic health records, digital divide in health care, digital health, telehealth, ‎electronic prescription systems, online search behaviour, technology acceptance models, E-health ‎literacy, healthcare dashboard technologies, patient flow, access, and utilisation of health services.‎ I have led and collaborated on multidisciplinary projects, contributing to the development of health data analytics frameworks and AI-driven solutions for healthcare systems. My expertise extends to evaluating digital health interventions and assessing their impact on clinical workflows, patient outcomes, and healthcare efficiency. As a Senior Research Fellow at the Queensland Digital Health Centre (QDHeC), I lead and contribute to research projects that evaluate digital health innovations, assess their impact on health services, and develop frameworks for sustainable technology adoption. My prior role as Director of Research Development and Evaluation at Lorestan University of Medical Sciences further strengthened my ability to lead large-scale health research initiatives and influence policy-driven healthcare transformation. I have successfully secured competitive research funding and published extensively in high-impact journals. I currently supervise PhD and higher-degree students and serve as a peer reviewer for academic journals in digital health and health services research.

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

Lisa Samarkovski is a Lecturer at the TC Beirne School of Law, and currently teaches taxation law to postgraduate students in the Master of Commerce program.

Dr Selwin Samuel is a dental academic and early-career researcher with a diverse background spanning clinical dentistry, forensic odontology, immunology, and translational biomedical science. He completed his PhD at The University of Queensland, focusing on bone immunology and infectious complications in spinal cord injury, and currently serves as a Course Coordinator and Lecturer at the UQ School of Dentistry.

Rebecca completed her PhD at the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute at the University of Wollongong in June 2018. Her PhD research investigated the role of the heat shock response and inflammation in neurodegenerative diseases with a focus on motor neuron disease (MND). During her PhD, Rebecca undertook an Endeavour Research Fellowship to conduct research at the Institute of Neurology, University College London under the supervision of Prof Linda Greensmith. She has since been recruited to the Neurodegeneration Pathobiology Lab at the Queensland Brain Institute by Dr Adam Walker as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Rebecca is a motivated and passionate MND researcher whose main objective is to find new therapeutics to treat or cure people living with MND.

Macarena holds a Master degree in Public Health and a PhD from the University of Queensland. Prior to her studies in Public health she worked as a physiotherapist in Chile for 4 years. She has particular interest in different mental health and health behaviours during pregnancy and their consequences in the child. Her other interests are related to social determinant of health, health policies and statistics.

I am a Research Scientist. With over 15 years of experience, I have developed advanced skills in data analytics, machine learning, mathematical modeling, and research & development. I am Research Fellow at the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, specializing in applying data science and wearable devices to solve problems in health, biomechanics, and sports. In my role, I leverage wearables to study human movement and physiology, providing actionable insights that drive innovation and improve health outcomes. My work involves collaborating with interdisciplinary teams to integrate data-driven solutions that enhance performance and well-being.

Dr Lauren Sanders is a Senior Research Fellow with the TC Beirne School of Law, The University of Queensland in the Law and Future of War project. Lauren’s current research focus is on the application of export control, arms trade and sanctions regimes relevant to the export and brokering of trusted autonomous military systems and associated technology. Her broader research and teaching interests include international criminal law, international humanitarian law and domestic counter-terrorism law. She is the editor of UQ's Law and Future of War podcast where she interviews experts in the fields of law and emerging and disruptive technology, military strategy and military affairs.

She completed her initial law studies with The University of Queensland, along with a Bachelor of Arts in Peace and Conflict Studies. Her PhD studies were competed at the Australian National University focused on the practical application of universal jurisdiction. She holds an LLM in Legal Practice, Masters in Defence and Strategic Studies and numerous Graduate certificates in military law.

Before returning to The University of Queensland, Lauren spent twenty years as an Australian Army signals officer and legal officer, and has served in Iraq, Afghanistan and East Timor and on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations, a legal advisor to ADF domestic counter-terrorism operations, and an assistant Inspector-General of the ADF. She is a graduate of the Australian Command and Staff College, and was awarded a Conspicuous Service Cross for her work as the Command Legal Officer within Special Operations Command.

She supports the training of military legal officers with the University of Adelaide's Legal Training Module Level Three (Masters Law Course); and is a reserve legal officer, where she is a member of the Principal Writing Team for the Australian Defence Force’s Law of Armed Conflict Manual, and teaches at the Indo-Pacific Centre for Military Law and the ADF's Military Law Centre.

Stephen is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Bernhardt group at the University of Queensland. His current research is focused on the theory of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics and molecular dynamics.

Stephen completed a double degree in electrical engineering and physics at James Cook University, followed by a PhD in physics, also at James Cook University, under the supervision of Prof. Ronald White and Dr Bronson Philippa, as well as the University of Queensland's Prof. Paul Burn and Prof. Alan Mark. His PhD focused on using kinetic Monte-Carlo simulations of charge and exciton dynamics, coupled with atomistic molecular dynamics deposition simulations to establish a better understanding of structure-property relationships in organic semiconductors, particularly organic light-emitting diodes.

Saira is a Research Fellow in the Research Alliance for Urban Goori Health (RAUGH) team at the UQ Poche Centre for Indigenous Health. She has an academic background in pharmacy and public health. Before joining the UQ Poche Centre, she worked at the Centre for Health Service Research and the Dermatology Research Centre.

She has research collaborations with the Psycho-oncology Co-operative Research Group and Queensland Centre for Gynaecological Cancer. Saira’s main research interests are mental health, psycho-oncology, cancer survivorship, healthcare service and system, and evaluation. She has been involved in quantitative and qualitative analyses of various clinical trials and epidemiological research projects on mental health, early detection and treatment of cancer, health service outcomes, and cancer survivorship care.

As a team member of RAUGH, her current research aims to close the gap in life expectancy and promote health equality for urban First Peoples in greater North Brisbane through applied research in key healthcare pathways—across the continuum of care and throughout the lifespan.

Dr Flavia Santamaria is a biologist whose PhD focused on the impact of translocation on the health (chlamydial disease), tree species selection and movement of radio-tracked koalas relocated from French Island to three forests around Ballarat, Victoria.

She is an Adjunct Senior Fellow in the School of Veterinary Science at The University of Queensland, a researcher with the Koala Research-CQ and Senior Lecturer at Central Queensland University.

Dr Santamaria has been collaborating with a team of Australian and international researchers in the field of metabolomics, adrenocortical activity and veterinary applications to successfully design the most suited assay kit for the detection of stress in koalas through fecal analyses as a non-invasive method.

Dr Santamaria's current and future research focus is on:

• the impact of anthropogenic environmental changes on koalas, including the potential pressure caused by environmental stressors on their health

• detection and prevention of disease in koalas

• using the koala as a flagship species in educating communities for sustainability

Dr Viviene Santiago is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Natural Toxins group within the Centre for Animal Science, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) and is based at the Health and Food Sciences Precinct (Coopers Plains). With a robust foundation in organic and analytical chemistry, her research primarily focuses on natural products chemistry from terrestrial, marine, and microbial sources.

Dr Santiago joined QAAFI as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in 2023. Her current research involves developing a delivery system for bioactive compounds aimed at reducing enteric methane emissions in cattle and exploring atypical sugars in novel foods such as stingless bee honey. Over the years, she has cultivated a keen interest in utilising liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and molecular networking techniques to investigate chemical diversity from different sources such as natural toxins in certain plants and atypical sugars in stingless bee honey.

Dr Santiago earned her Ph.D. from The University of Queensland, where her dissertation focused on applying advanced molecular networking techniques, such as the Global Natural Products Social Molecular Networking (GNPS), to explore the chemical diversity of Australian microbes. Her academic journey also includes a Master’s and a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the University of the Philippines – Diliman. These academic experiences have equipped her with a comprehensive understanding of natural products chemistry, enabling her to make significant contributions to both academia and industry.