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Dr Tamara Butler is an Aboriginal woman of the Undumbi people from the Sunshine Coast region of Queensland, Australia and a NHMRC Emerging Research Fellow at the University of Queensland. She works withing the First Nations Cancer and Wellbeing Research Program. Her work is focused on women’s cancers with the goal of improving cancer outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, families, and communities. Broadly Dr Butler’s research interests also include First Nations research methods and process, co-design, wellbeing, and psychosocial aspects of cancer care.

Liam Caffery is a Professorial Research Fellow in Dermatology Informatics at the University of Queensland’s Dermatology Research Centre. His research focuses on health informatics, with a particular emphasis on digital skin imaging for melanoma detection. His work spans digital imaging technologies, data standardisation, artificial intelligence, and teledermatology.

Liam is an internationally recognised leader in dermatology informatics. He has played a pivotal role in the development of global standards for dermatological imaging and currently serves as Chair of the Dermatology Working Group within the DICOM Standards Development Organisation. Liam is a Working Group Leader for the International Skin Imaging Collaboration: Melanoma Project. This project is an academia and industry partnership designed to facilitate the application of digital skin imaging to help reduce melanoma mortality.

He serves on the Board of Directors for the International Society of Digital Health in Dermatology, and is an Honorary Member of the International Dermoscopy Society, a distinction recognising his expertise, dedication and longstanding contributions to the field.

Liam is the Chair of the Informatics and Technology Committee and a Chief Investigator for the Australian Centre of Excellence in Melanoma Imaging and Diagnosis. In addition, he is an Honorary Professor at the University of Dundee’s School of Medicine, Scotland.

Professor John Cairney is the Head of School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences. He is an academic leader in the field of paediatric exercise medicine and child health research and is particularly well-known for his work on developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and its impact on the health and well-being of children. Prof John Cairney started at UQ in January 2020.

Until the end of 2019, he was the Director of Graduate Studies in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education at the University of Toronto and Director of the Infant and Child Health (INCH) Research Laboratory at both the University of Toronto and McMaster University. He is also an Adjunct Professor in the Departments of Public Health Sciences and Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University and a core scientist with the Offord Centre for Child Studies, CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research at McMaster University, and the independent Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences.

Professor Cairney completed his PhD studies at the University of Western Ontario and has held academic appointments at Brock University, the University of Toronto and McMaster University before his current UQ role. He has held, among other research leadership positions, a Canada Research Chair in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, and a Professorship in Child Health, and subsequently a Research Chair, in the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University.

Professor Cairney has been the recipient of ~$A17 million in research grants as a principal investigator and has some 310 published works with a Scopus h index of 51 (Aug 2022).

Professor Cairney is a former President of the North American Society of Pediatric Exercise Medicine.

Professor Leonie Callaway is an Obstetric Physician, with a strong track record in clinical research relating to gestational diabetes, hypertension in pregnancy, medical disorders of pregnancy, clinical trials, clinical studies and epidemiology. Research funding to date has totalled in excess of 12 million dollars. This includes funding for a number of clinical trials and clinical studies as Chief Investigator supported by both the NH&MRC and the Medical Research Futures Fund.

Prof Callaway has a long track record of successful PhD scholar supervision. She has a particular interest in the issues of work life balance and wellbeing for scholars undertaking research higher degrees.

At present, Prof Callaway holds a number of roles including Director of Research within Women’s and Newborn Services at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Executive Director of the Women’s and Children’s Stream for Metro North Hospital and Health Service District and Co-Chair of the Queensland Maternal and Perinatal Quality Council. This work has been supported by qualifications in Executive Leadership and as a Company Director.

Prof Callaway’s past leadership experience is broad, and includes the domains of clinical education, health service delivery and research. Previous roles include Chair of the Board of the Australasian Diabetes in Pregnancy Society, Deputy Dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Queensland, Acting Director of Internal Medicine Services at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and Head of the Royal Brisbane Clinical School for the University of Queensland.

Prof Callaway is particularly interested in the role of values such as integrity, respect and compassion, and their importance in workplace culture and wellbeing.

I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Digital Health and Accredited Practising Dietitian (APD) interested in the prevention and management of noncommunicable diseases, especially obesity, across the lifecourse.

Through research, I aim to add health to life and equity to health by changing policies and practices to reduce the impact of obesity.

My research program aims to forge a new nexus across dietetics, digital health and public health to improve healthy weight. In my Postdoctoral Fellowship, I have established a new evidence base that supports precision public health approaches to the prevention and management of obesity, including innovate methods of public health surveillance that can use data from sources such as electronic medical records. I trained as a Paediatric Dietitian and have experience as a clinician-researcher working in Queensland's healthcare system, specifically in preventing and managing childhood obesity via clinical, community, and public health programs.

I have used epidemiology, public health informatics, action research, co-design, and ethnographic methods to generate new knowledge in obesity and digital health. I was awarded my PhD (UQ) in November 2020, which developed and validated i-PATHWAY, a clinical model to predict childhood obesity from the first 1,000 days to help guide its prevention. This research was the first of its kind in Australia and uncovered new evidence for risk factors for childhood obesity that are evident from the early years.

At The University of Queensland (UQ), I am a member of the Queensland Digital Health Centre, located within the Centre for Health Services Research (Faculty of Medicine). I established and currently Co-Chair the UQ Digital Health HDR Cohort, which provides research mentorship and support to ~20 PhD, MPhil and Honours research students.

Our team partners closely with multiple healthcare and research organisations across Australia to innovate and translate obesity research into practice, including Health and Wellbeing Queensland (public health and prevention of chronic diseases), Queensland Health (healthcare system) and the Digital Health Cooperative Research Centre (digital health research). I hold an Honorary Appointment with Health and Wellbeing Queensland, and an Affiliate Research Fellow position with the Faculty of Medicine (UQ) to help bridge the gap between obesity research and practice.

Dr Carroll completed his doctorate in Neuroscience at the University of Queensland in 2001. He was awarded an Isaac Walton Killam Memorial Scholarship to pursue postdoctoral studies at the University of Alberta in 2002, before accepting a position as a Lecturer in Human Motor Control at the University of New South Wales in 2003. He joined the School of Human Movement Studies as a Senior Lecturer in July 2007.

Dr Carroll’s research interests lie in the broad field of integrative human physiology. His work spans the fields of exercise science and integrative neuroscience, with a focus on determining how the central nervous system is reorganised as a consequence of motor learning and exercise. He has a specific interest in the area of strength training. Dr Carroll’s research involves the application of electro-physiological techniques such as Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), peripheral nerve stimulation, and electromyography (EMG) in experiments involving human subjects. The ultimate purpose of his work is to generate basic knowledge that will lead to the development of exercise protocols that yield maximal benefits for rehabilitation and injury prevention. His work has been funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) since 2004.

Dr. Gary Chan is a NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow at the National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research. His principal research interest lies in the field of substance misuse prevention and the application of cutting-edge statistical method for longitudinal analysis and causal inference. He was awarded over $13m funding as chief investigator and has over 200 publications. His recent research focuses on addiction epidemiology, including vaping, cannabis use, and behavioral addiction such as gaming disorder. He collaborates extensively with leading researchers in major national and international institutes, including the University of Washington, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, University of Melbourne, and University College London. He has also served as a consultant at the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime to improve exisitng methods for monitoring global trends of illicit substance production, trafficking and use. This work has made significant impact on how global data will be collected, and these new data will be used by the United nations and many national governments to inform drug policy decision making. He is a Deputy Statistical and Methodology Editor for the journal Addiction.

Dr Annie Chappell is the NIISQ Post Doctoral Research Fellow in the Adapted Sport and Physical Activity Research Group in the School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences, University of Queensland. Through her group's applied research program she aims to generate knowledge which facilitates safe, effective engagement in sport and physical activity by people with disability. Dr Chappell has over 30 years of clinical experience as a Paediatric Physiotherapist. After a Clinical Masters in Paediatric Physiotherapy she completed a PhD entitled Running in Children and Adolescents with Cerebral Palsy - A Biomechanical Analysis and Intervention Study. She then looked at adapting the running intervention to improve running in children with generalised joint hypermobility. Dr Chappell continues to be actively involved in teaching and mentoring physiotherapists who work in paediatrics, with a focus on those in rural and remote locations.

Associate Professor Fiona Charlson holds dual appointments as an Associate Professor at the University of Queensland’s Institute for Social Science Research (ISSR) and as a Principal Research Fellow at the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research (QCMHR). She is internationally recognised for her expertise in mental health, with a particular focus on the impacts of climate change on vulnerable and conflict-affected populations. Her research explores the psychological effects of environmental change, including climate anxiety and resilience, especially in regions such as the Pacific Islands. She leads several major initiatives, including the Connecting Climate Minds project (funded by the Wellcome Trust) and an ARC Discovery Project examining how families respond to climate anxiety. A/Prof Charlson is a trusted advisor to Australian and international stakeholders, including the World Health Organization, United Nations Development Program, US National Institutes of Health, and numerous government and non-government organizations. Her work spans systems modelling, epidemiology, and policy analysis, and aims to support policymakers, healthcare providers, and communities with the knowledge and tools they need to adapt to the changing climate and support the mental health and well-being of individuals and communities.

In addition to her research, she is a dedicated educator and mentor, coordinating postgraduate courses and supervising PhD students in global mental health and public health. Her work is driven by a commitment to equity, collaboration, and innovation, bridging the fields of mental health and planetary health.

A/Prof Mark D. Chatfield is a highly experienced statistician in the UQ Clinical Trials Centre and collaborates with researchers across the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences.

In collaboration with health and medical researchers, he has published >200 times in academic journals. He has been an investigator on 30 NHMRC/MRFF funded (>$57M) studies (mostly clinical trials). He has >20 years of experience as a biostatistician in Australia (Brisbane, Darwin, Sydney) and the UK (Cambridge, 2002-2009). He has co-supervised 8 PhD students to completion.

He plays an active role in the Australian Clinical Trials Alliance Statistics in Trials Interest Group.

Stata users around the world enjoy using his table1_mc and blandaltman commands.

He is an Honorary Fellow (Associate Professor) with Menzies School of Health Research.

Dr Hsin-Fang Chung is an epidemiologist and Research Fellow at the Australian Women and Girls’ Health Research Centre, School of Public Health. She is also an adjunct Collaborative Researcher at the Gunma University Initiative for Advanced Research (GIAR), Gunma University (2024-). Prior to this, Hsin-Fang completed her PhD on lifestyle and genetic risk factors of diabetic complications at UQ in 2015. She has a multidisciplinary educational background, spanning nursing, nutrition, public health, and epidemiology, and has worked in clinical and non-clinical sectors. Chung held UQ Research Stimulus Fellowship (2021-2022) and UQ Promoting Women Fellowship (2022).

Dr Chung has a track record of applying quantitative and modelling skills in women's health epidemiology. She has published more than 45 peer-reviewed publications and two book chapters. Hsin-Fang’s research focuses on women’s reproductive history (i.e., menarche, menstrual disorders, endometriosis, fertility issues, pregnancy complications, and menopause) in relation to chronic diseases in later life, particularly cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. She uses high-quality data pooling from multiple epidemiological, cohort, and data-linkage studies in the InterLACE consortium to tackle critical knowledge gaps and inform practice and policy to develop long-term monitoring strategies for women with adverse reproductive histories. Her research pays particular attention to priority groups, including women from culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

Julie Cichero, PhD is a clinician (SLP), is recognised nationally and internationally as a researcher and research professional with more than 30 years clinical and research experience into eating, drinking and swallowing problems (dysphagia). As Co-Founder of IDDSI (Global) Julie co-led development and international roll out of the IDDSI Framework, an initiative to reduce food-related choking risk in vulnerable populations. The IDDSI Framework has been translated into more than 30 languages and is used in more than 50 countries around the world. Julie is the Director of Eat Drink Swallow Safe https://eatdrinkswallowsafe.com.au/. Julie is a consultant to professional societies, government organisations, academia, boards and healthcare organisations. She has made significant contributions to the evidence base for standardised terminology for texture modified food and thick liquids, diagnostic use of swallow-respiratory sounds, characterisation of thick fluids and the complexities associated with medication management in dysphagia.

From 2020 Andrew has led research development at the Tess Cramond Pain and Research Centre (Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital). Topics including clinical outcome measures, service evaluation and strategic planning, clinical trials employing pain education, opioid management, quantitative sensory testing and medical procedures. Current and recent projects include:

• Initiating the Pelvic Exenteration Pain Management Research Collaboration in 2024: A multidisciplinary community of clinicians and researchers at the Tess Cramond Pain and Research Centre, the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, and the STARS Hospital, to study how the quality of life can be improved for people who have pelvic organs and tissues removed to manage cancer.
• Collaboration with the Institute of Urban Indigenous Health, to embed multidisciplinary research and quality improvement in the co-design and implementation of collaborative care between the TCPRC- IUIH, at the Moreton Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Health Service in Caboolture through 2023-2024.
• Contributing to the non-surgical pain management stream for the NHMRC-NIHR Collaborative Research Grant, for a multicentre RCT on the clinical and cost-effectiveness of lumbar fusion surgery for patients with persistent, severe low back pain: Short: FusiOn veRsus bEst coNServatIve Care (the FORENSIC trial)
• The LIDOPAIN RCT in 2023: Lidocaine Infusion Dose Optimisation for Pain After Injury to Nerves, was a double-blind placebo-controlled pilot feasibility study for lidocaine infusions, with comprehensive pre-post evaluation of patient questionnaires and sensory testing profiles, to identify which patients do and to not respond to this infusion. https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=382966&isReview=true
• Advisor for Phoebe Ng, oral thesis defense 2024: Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis: Insights into health profile and paraspinal muscle activation.
• Advisor for Fraser Labrom, thesis awarded 2023: Three dimensional analysis of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis during growth.
• Collaboration with UQ RECOVER Injury Research Centre have
  • Currently completing a project funded by the RBWH Foundation, to examine small nerve fibre expression acutely and subacutely after motor vehicle accident, as a marker associated with the transition from acute to chronic pain.
  • Developed a chatbot for providing pain education for children and for adults,
  • Investigated the validity of phone apps for measuring the 6-minute walk test in people with persistent pain.
• Locally at the Tess Cramond Pain and Research Centre I co-lead annual projects for
  • quality improvement: UQ PHRM4071 student placement and Pain Medicine Trainee projects.
  • audit: ePPOC annual data reporting.
  • systematic reviews: UQ HRSS7801 group physiotherapy student project.

From 2004-2019 Andrew's PhD and postgraduate supervision as a lecturer in physiotherapy, focussed on how the brain controls posture and movement. This included studies of sitting, standing, stepping, squatting, pushing and postural control with low back pain and with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. Extending understanding of postural control continues with colleagues at QUT Biomechanics and Spine Research Group (Prof Peter Pivonka, Maree Izatt and Assoc Prof Paige Little), the UQ Schools of ITEE (Dr Pauline Pounds) and SBMS Motor Control and Pain laboratory (Assoc Prof Kylie Tucker), and with Curtin University / UWA Raine cohort study (Prof Leon Straker).

David Cliff was Professor of Occupational Health and Safety in Mining and Director of MISHC from 2011 to 2016. In January 2017 he was appointed Professor of Risk and Knowledge Transfer, reverting to Professor of Occupational Health and Safety in Mining in 2018. He retired in 2026 and was appointed Emeritus Professor of OHS in MIning. His primary role is providing education, applied research and consulting in health and safety in the mining and minerals processing industry. He has been with MISHC over twenty five years.

Previously David was the Safety and Health Adviser to the Queensland Mining Council, and prior to that Manager of Mining Research at the Safety In Mines Testing and Research Station. In these capacities he has provided expert assistance in the areas of health and safety to the mining industry for over twenty three years. He has particular expertise in emergency preparedness, gas analysis, spontaneous combustion, fires and explosions, including providing expert testimony to the Moura No.2 Warden’s inquiry, the Hazelwood Mine Fire Inquiry and the Pike River Royal Commission. In recent times he has also devoted a lot of energy to fitness for duty issues particularly fatigue management. He has been a member of the organising committee for the level one emergency exercises in Queensland underground coal mines since their inception in 1998 till 2023. He has also attended or provided assistance in over 40 incidents at mines. He has developed expertise in the development of Trigger Action Response Plans, critical controls and principal hazard management plans.

David has also extensive experience in providing training and education in OHS in mining to in many countries.

He has published widely in the area of occupational health and safety in mining including not just the physical hazards but also on the processes for the effective management of these issues. Examples of this include reviews of the annual safety performance report for the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines and assistance to the Mine Safety Advisory Council of NSW in developing Health Management Plans (HMP) and key performance indicators for HMP.

In recent years he has collaborated closely with Nikky LaBranche researching respirable dust particularly coal dust and silica.

Anton is a mixed methods researcher with primary expertise in qualitative research methods. He is currently a Senior Research Fellow in the UQ Poche Centre for Indigenous Health at the University of Queensland.

Anton's primary interest is in working in partnership with Aboriginal community-controlled health services to co-design, implement and evaluate intervention strategies, and develop more practical and effective models of embedding evaluation into their delivery of services and programs. His work in this area focuses on participatory qualitative research with staff and patients of Aboriginal community-controlled health services to improve the acceptability of interventions and optimise their potential effectiveness.

Anton has previously worked in a research role with the Institute for Urban Indigenous Health and as a senior lecturer in the School of Public Health at the University of Queensland. Following completion of his PhD in 2008, he was awarded a National Health & Medical Research Council postdoctoral research fellowship which he undertook at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of NSW.

Dr Laetitia Coles is a health sociologist whose research focuses on improving health and developmental outcomes for children with disability by embedding lived experience into research design, policy, and practice. Her work spans sociology, education, and health, with a strong emphasis on early childhood inclusion, family wellbeing, and workforce development.

Laetitia leads transdisciplinary research projects that centre the voices of children, families, and educators. She leads the Workforces component of the Thriving Queensland Kids Brain Builders Initiative (https://qbi.uq.edu.au/brain-builders) in support of the generation, translation, and application of knowledge from neurosciences into policy and practice, as well as leading the award-winning project entitled Families in Focus: Amplifying the voices of children with disability and their families (https://child-health-research.centre.uq.edu.au/event/5632/families-focus), in collaboration with Queensland Children's Hospital.

She was recently awarded a HERA Collaborate grant for the project Early childhood inclusion in focus, which co-develops tools and priorities to support inclusive early childhood education and care (ECEC). She is also the Workforces Lead for the $3 million Thriving Queensland Kids Partnership – Brain Builders Initiative.

With over $3.5 million in research funding and a portfolio of peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and policy reports, Laetitia’s work has informed strategic planning at Children’s Health Queensland and contributed to national policy evaluations. She sits on the Foundational Supports 0–9 Working Group (Autism Queensland) and serves on editorial boards for Health Sociology Review and Community, Work and Family.

Laetitia welcomes collaboration with researchers, policymakers, and community organisations committed to inclusive, impact-driven research.

Professor Tracy Comans, UQ Amplify Fellow at the Schoolf of Public Health, University of Queensland, and CEO of the National Ageing Research Institute. With her extensive background in health policy, health economics and physiotherapy, Prof Comans brings a unique perspective to her role, bridging the gap between evidence and policy. Prof Comans has been instrumental in shaping aged care policy, using her research to inform and influence implementation of the Royal Commission recommendations. Her work has led to significant advancements in the reporting of the quality of aged care services.

Her research uses economic theories and tools to understand human behaviours in health, individually and collectively, and their impacts on the health system, the wider economy and society. Prof Comans worked for 20+ years in hospital and community settings specializing in geriatric and rehabilitation physiotherapy with embedded research and has worked for over 15 years as a university researcher. She works closely with industry, people with lived experience and health care providers to develop a program of research focused on improving the quality of aged care services that is relevant to the needs of these groups.

Luke Connelly is Professor of Health Economics at the Centre for the Business and Economics of Health. He also holds a Professorial appointment (part-time) at The University of Bologna, to which he was appointed in 2017 via the Italian “Direct Call” (link) process. In 2019 he was appointed as Honorary Professor at The University of Sydney. His main interests are in health economics and insurance economics and the effects of institutions (including legal constructs) on incentives and behaviour. He has also worked in other fields of applied microeconomics, including education economics and transport economics. His publications include papers in Review of Income and Wealth, Health Economics, Journal of Health Economics, Journal of Risk and Insurance, Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance, Accident Analysis and Prevention, Journal of Law and Medicine, Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, European Journal of Health Economics, International Journal of Health Economics and Finance, Social Science and Medicine, Economic Papers, Economic Analysis and Policy, Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, Labour Economics, Economics and Human Biology as well as in a range of clinical journals, including Lancet.

Luke has served on a number of public committees including the Medical Services Advisory Committee (MSAC), which advises the Australian Minister for Health on the safety, efficacy, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness of new and extant listings on Australia's Medicare Benefits Schedule. He has extensive service on other public committees and taskforces as well as extensive teaching and consulting engagements with industry. He has been a member of the Editorial Boards of European Journal of Health Economics and the International Journal on Environmental Research and Public Health. He is a member of the International Health Economics Association's Arrow Awards Committee, which awards an annual prize in honour of Nobel Laureate Kenneth Arrow for the best paper in the field. He is currently Guest Editor (with Christophe Courbage) on a Special Issue of the Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance on Insurance and Emerging Health Risks.

His current research interests include health service innovations to improve the health of people with chronic kidney disease(CKD). Ongoing interests include the economics of disability and insurance, compensable injury compensation schemes, and the determinants of health. Luke enjoys and has considerable experience teaching economics and health economics at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. In 2014 he was awarded the School of Economics Distinguished Teaching Award for his teaching on UQ's Master of Health Economics Program. In July 2016 and July 2019 he also taught summer schools in Health Economics and the Economics of Insurance at The University of Lucerne, Switzerland.

Over the past 10 years he has been a chief investigator on grants totalling more than $70m.