Find an expert

Dr Andrew Smirnov is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Public Health with an interest in substance use epidemiology, reducing drug-related harm, and working collaboratively to promote the health of socially marginalised population groups. He is the Course Coordinator for second- and third-year health promotion courses in the Bachelor of Health Sciences and has published a public health textbook chapter on drug use in Australia. His current research focuses on the health needs of people who are imprisoned, developing and evaluating models of care for blood borne virus prevention and treatment, and frameworks for strengthening the cultural safety, accessibility, and responsiveness of drug harm reduction programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Andrew follows a rights-based perspective in his work and has a strong interest in community-based health programs and consumer partnerships for achieving health equity.

Dr. Alex Smith is a Research Fellow in Glycotherapeutics at UQ's School of Chemical Engineering. His interests are in understanding structure: function relationships between complex carbohydrates (such as heparan sulphate) and proteins, and how these interactions can inform the development of glycotherapeutic agents to treat a wide variety of injuries and diseases.

Michelle Smith is a Associate Professor in Physiotherapy and a Titled Sports and Exercise Physiotherapist. She is Program Director for the Masters of Sports Physiotherapy and Masters of Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy programs at UQ, Co-director of the International Ankle Consortium, Co-director of the Sports Injury Rehabilitation and Prevention for Health (SIRPH) research unit and Associate Editor of Physical Therapy and Sport.

The overarching theme of Michelle's research is lower limb joint health. Her research focuses on the prevention and management of lower limb joint injuries and pathologies across the lifespan to enable unrestricted participation in sport, physical activity and work. There are three key areas of her research:

1. To improve understanding of ankle injuries and osteoarthritis across the lifespan: Ankle sprains are the most common injury seen in emergency departments and are a primary cause of ankle osteoarthritis, which in light of its post-traumatic nature, often affects young adults. To optimise outcomes and participation for people with ankle pathologies, my research characterises impairments and participation restrictions in the continuum from ankle injury to osteoarthritis and establishes the efficacy of interventions to manage these conditions.
2. To understand the effectiveness and implementation of injury prevention strategies: While neuromuscular exercise program and taping/bracing have been shown to decrease injury risk, translation of research into practice is limited. My research investigates the implementation of injury prevention initiatives in adolescent athletes and involves stakeholders to better understand barriers and facilitators.
3. To evaluate the implementation of lower limb osteoarthritis interventions: Exercise and education for hip and knee osteoarthritis have been shown to improve quality of life and functional outcomes. My research investigates the implementation of such programs in public hospitals and private physiotherapy practices on patient outcomes and service delivery.

Michelle has presented her research and delivered keynote and invited presentations at national and international multi-disciplinary conferences. She teaches across the undergraduate and postgraduate physiotherapy curriculum in the areas of musculoskeletal health and sports injuries. She has been recognised for her high teaching quality and impact at both School and Faculty levels through receipt of Teaching Excellence Awards. She is the Chair of the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences External Engagement Committee and Deputy Chair of the Sports and Exercise Physiotherapy Group of the Austrailan Physiotherapy Association. She is a member of the Outcome Measures in Rheumatology (OMERACT) Foot and Ankle Working Group, International Foot and Ankle Osteoarthritis Consortium, and Australian Foot and Ankle Research Network.

Dr Smith is a very early career academic and Registrar in Intensive Care Medicine & Anaesthesia at Toowoomba Hospital. Despite being at an early stage in his medical and research career, Sam has already gained valuable experience and enthusiasm in medical education and research, crossing clinical and methodological domains.

Dr Smith gained his primary medical qualification at James Cook University, graduating in 2019 with Honours and awards in research/ Evidence Based Medicine, rural medicine, and surgery. His Honours research, supervised by Professor Jonathan Golledge, focussed on the economic impacts of readmission after surgery for peripheral artery disease (PAD). For this research, he was awarded the Professor Philip Walker Scholarship in Vascular Research, allowing him to present his findings internationally. He has co-authored papers in vascular and cardiothoracic surgery, tropical infectious diseases, and care of critically unwell and trauma patients.

Aside from clinical duties, Sam is also active in teaching, guest lecturing at James Cook University and the University of Queensland, as well as teaching medical students in the clinical setting. In his clinical practice, Sam has interests in critical care medicine, vascular access, POCUS and incorporating best evidence into daily practice. Sam is always very keen to share his enthusiasm for all things evidence-based with students or really anyone who will listen.

Qualifications

• MBBS (Hons.)
• MPH&TM
• Graduate Certificate in Clinical Education (current)

Update Profile

Emeritus Professor Maree Smith AC FTSE FAHMS is a full-time researcher and Director, CIPDD, School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences (HMBS), The University of Queensland.

In the 12 years prior to her current appointment, Professor Smith led a high-performing team in building the CIPDD and its commercial interface TetraQ, recognized as a unique, GLP-accredited drug development Centre in Australia. Professor Smith has considerable expertise in biomedical discovery/translation with specialist expertise in the novel pain therapeutics discovery/translation field encompassing a portfolio of 16 rodent pain models that mimic individual human pain conditions. This portfolio of models conducted in a purpose-built facility operated in accordance with the requirements of our Quality Management System, making the CIPDD unique in Australia and rare internationally.

In the 15 years prior to establishing the CIPDD, Professor Maree Smith was a full-time academic in the School of Pharmacy. In brief, she joined the School of Pharmacy as a Lecturer in 1989 and was successively promoted through the academic ranks to Professor in 2004. Prior to that she undertook a PhD and early postdoctoral training in clinical pharmacology with specialist expertise in bioanalytical method development, bioanalysis of human plasma samples, drug metabolism and clinical pharmacokinetics. Her second postdoc was in the field of pain management and pain pharmacology.

In the years, 1990-2005, Maree Smith taught in the Drug Discovery stream of the 2nd, 3rd & 4th years of the undergraduate Pharmacy program and she was instrumental in developing innovative courses for the final year of the undergraduate Pharmacy curriculum. She was also instrumental in the development of a course for the M Biotech program at UQ entitled “Quality Systems in Biotechnology” which continues to this day and is a compulsory course in the Program. Maree has successfully advised/co-advised to completion 33 PhD students, 2 Research Masters students and ~50 Honours students. She also served for 14 years as an external evaluator for the TGA.

Maree's Current Research Interests are as follows:

1. Subtle differences in the pathobiology of individual chronic pain conditions

2. Improving preclinical to clinical translation in novel analgesics development

3. Preclinical drug development of novel pain therapeutics

4. Preclinical drug development

Awards

2026 Life Membership, Pharmaceutical Society of Australia

2021 UQ Fellowship

2019 Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in the Queen's Birthday Honours List

2018 Honorary Bragg Membership (The Royal Institution of Australia)

2016 Bowl of Hygeia Award (Pharmaceutical Society of Australia)

2016 Clunies Ross Knowledge Commercialisation Award (ATSE)

2015 Honoured to be included in inaugural list of Australia's top Innovators; viz Knowledge Nation 100

2015 Inaugural Inductee into the Life Sciences Queensland (LSQ) Hall of Fame

2015 Johnson and Johnson Innovaton AusBiotech Industry Excellen Award - Outstanding Leader category.

2015 Elected Fellow, Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (AAHMS)

2015 Australian Pain Society Distinguished Member Award - For services to the promotion, treatment and science of pain management and lifelong contribution to the Australian Pain Society

2013 UQ Top 5 Inventor - Award by Thomson Reuters and UQ at inaugural Awards

2013 UQ Top 5 Innovator - Award by UniQuest Pty Ltd and UQ at inaugural Awards

2012 Queensland Life Sciences Industry Excellence Award jointly with Dr Jim Aylward

2011 Elected Fellow, Australian Academy of Technological Sciences (ATSE)

2009 Honorary Fellowship, Faculty of Pain Medicine, ANZCA (Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists).

2008 WiT (Women in Technology): Biotech Outstanding Achievement Award

2002 Meritorious Mention for Sustained Excellence in Research Higher Degree Supervision

2001 Meritorious Mention for Sustained Excellence in Research Higher Degree Supervision

My group works to understand and improve sleep for children and families. Sleep is a key ‘pillar of health’ alongside nutrition and activity. It is critical for healthy development, growth, learning, social and emotional functioning, and community participation.

I am the UQ Node Director for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course (the Life Course Centre). The Life Course Centre is committed to understanding and overcoming the problems of disadvantage, and to helping improve the lives of disadvantaged children and families. The Centre brings together researchers across multiple disciplines in four leading Universities, and significant government and non-government agencies to address these questions.

I am also the UQ Node director for the ARC centre of Excellence for the Digital Child. The Digital Child aims to support children growing up in the rapidly changing digital world, and provide strong evidence and guidance for children, families, educators, government and other concerned with children’s wellbeing.

We collaborate with many other groups around broader issues of sleep and technology, sleep and the environment (including disasters), mental health and wellbeing, pain, disability, and new technologies and approaches. Our work has been supported by the ARC, NHMRC, the MRFF, the NIH, and the DSTG. We use a wide range of methods and measures, including direct physiological and behavioural measurement (inc. ECG, EEG, EMG, actigraphy, computerized tests, simulations, environmental monitoring etc.), quantitative methods (inc. experimental and secondary data approaches), and qualitative methods including co-design and co-conduct approaches.

My team has additional expertise in evaluation of health and other services for government and other agencies, the design of complex interventions, and community consultation and engagement.

https://lifecoursecentre.org.au

https://digitalchild.org.au

Professor Anthony Smith is the Director of The University of Queensland’s Centre for Online Health (COH), and Adjunct Professor at the Hans Christian Anderson Children's Hospital and University of Southern Denmark, in Odense, Denmark.

Professor Smith is also the Editor in Chief for the Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare (Sage Publishers, London; 5y Impact Factor 4.9).

Professor Smith has more than 25 years of research experience, resulting in the planning, implementation and evaluation of a broad range of telehealth (virtual care) services around Australia. Specific research interests include the feasibility, effectiveness and sustainability of telehealth services in the public health system; genuine consumer engagement; and novel strategies to support our health workforce and telehealth adoption. His research has led to the development of pioneering virtual care services in Australia, including prominent statewide hospital-based telehealth programs in Queensland, wireless (robot) videoconference systems for remote consultations; and a community-based (and telehealth supported) health screening programme for Indigenous children in Queensland. Current projects focus on the integration of telehealth and virtual care services in residential aged care settings; evaluation of community-led First Nations health services; the delivery of video-based rehabilitation services to children in rural and remote primary schools; telementoring services for health professionals in primary care; and discipline specific clinical telehealth services.

Professor Smith chairs the International Conference on Successes and Failures in Telehealth conference. He is also a Fellow of the Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences. Previous roles have included the President of the Australasian Telehealth Society (ATHS) [2013-2015]; and elected member of the ATHS committee [2008-2024]. In the field of telehealth and virtual care, Prof Smith has over 240 publications, including 230 peer-reviewed journal papers, three edited books and 13 book chapters on related topics. Whilst the field remains highly specialised in comparison to other disciplines, his work is cited over 2000 times each year.

Professor Smith also provides an extensive range of consultancy services for government agencies and industry partners in the field of telehealth, digital health and virtual healthcare.

RECENT AWARDS

1. Honorary Doctorate. Doctor of Medical Science (D.M.SC. (honoris cau)). Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southern Denmark, 2025

2. Public Engagement and Community-led Research (including Citizen Science) Award, The University of Queensland Research Culture Awards, 2024

3. Top Researcher in the field of "Medical Informatics"- for work involving telehealth, digital health and virtual care. The Australian Research Awards, 2023

4. Commendation, Academic Leader of the Year, UQ Faculty of Medicine Excellence Awards, The University of Queensland, 2023

5. Excellence in Indigenous Engagement Award - for "enhancing access to specialist health services through the use of telehealth for First Nations people. Engagement Australia Excellence Awards, 2021

6. Spirit of Reconciliation Award - for building research and community partnerships in Queensland. UQ Faculty of Medicine Excellence Awards, The University of Queensaland, 2021

Emeritus Professor Mark Smithers is a surgical oncologist who specialises in surgery for oesophago-gastric diseases, melanoma, advanced skin cancer and soft tissue sarcoma. He was the Director of the Upper GI and Soft Tissue Unit at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, in Brisbane, Australia from 1998 - 2023. Commencing his academic career with the University of Queensland in 1987, he progressed to be the Mayne Chair in Surgery and head of the Academy of Surgery. He is the second University of Queensland Medical graduate to be appointed to this role. His research has been focussed on the development and assessment of outcomes from minimally invasive upper GI surgery, and trials assessing the role of perioperative multidisciplinary therapy for esophageal and gastric cancer. As well he has led, or been involved with, clinical trials from phase I to III, for all stages of melanoma through his role as the Chair of the Queensland Melanoma Project. More recently he has been involved with the assessment of access to, and outcomes from, surgery for cancer in Queensland, Australia.

He has overseen the administration and development of the surgery curriculum, and the teaching, in the Academy of Surgery, in the UQ Faculty of Medicine. He was on a number of committees relevant to the implementation of the UQ MD design course. He has held various leadership and committee roles with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, as well as leadership roles, including the Presidency, in the Australian and New Zealand Oesophago Gastric Surgeons Association. He has also been on the committees of international organisations related to oesophageal and gastric surgery. He has published 250 articles, eight book chapters, and has been on the editorial board of a number of surgical journals.

He has been recognised for his clinical and academic roles by the award of Member of the Order of Australia (AM). The citation reads, "for service to medicine in the fields of gastro-intestinal and melanoma surgery, to medical education and to professional organisations". The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons awarded him the Sir Hugh Devine medal, for services to surgery and the community. This is the College’s highest honour. Internationally, he has been awarded an honorary fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and recently, in the United States, he was elected as an Honarary Fellow of the American Surgical Association.

I am a senior researcher with cross-disciplinary expertise in health economics, pharmacy practice, and virtual health solutions. I am passionate about optimising healthcare outcomes by developing economically sustainable services that use technology and artificial intelligence to empower patients. My work explores the economic efficiency of implementing either virtual health or advanced-scope clinician initiatives within the Australian health system to improve patient care.

I am also a clinical pharmacist with more than a decade of experience in patient care and clinician training. I am a health economist at the UQ School of Pharmacy and Phamaceutical Sciences, and I lead the research work in the Pharmacy Department at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane.

Professor Soyer is an academic dermatologist with over 30 years experience in the field. He was appointed as the inaugural Chair in Dermatology by The University of Queensland (UQ) in 2007 and was Director of the Princess Alexandra Hospital (PAH) Dermatology Department from 2008-2023. His clinical background drives a strong focus on translational skin cancer research.

Professor Soyer is internationally recognised in the field of dermatology with particular expertise in the areas of preventative dermatooncology, dermatopathology and dermatologic imaging (dermoscopy and reflectance confocal microscopy). Within the dermatology discipline he is a pioneer and world leader in the field of dermoscopy of pigmented skin lesions, a non-invasive diagnostic method. He has led the development of the morphologic classification system currently used worldwide.

His main research focus is skin cancer (both melanoma and keratinocyte skin cancer), with a particular interest in technological innovations and their ability to impact early detection strategies and expand the concept and applications of teledermatology and teledermoscopy. A $9.9M infrastructure grant awarded in 2018 by the Australian Cancer Research Foundation (ACRF) has enabled establishment of the collaborative Australian Centre of Excellence in Melanoma Imaging and Diagnosis (ACEMID); installing 15 3D total body imaging systems, linked by a research network, across Australia’s east cost to facilitate research in the early detection of melanoma. ACRF ACEMID is currently conducting Australia’s largest melanoma cohort study targeting 15,000 participants, with the multi-modal research data being collected and stored in a national research repository. This unprecedented data resource will allow many unanswered research questions in the field to be addressed and will facilitate advancements in artificial intelligence, resulting in the development of reliable, evidence-based solutions to transform melanoma early detection.

Professor Soyer has an extensive publication record with over 680 publications to date, with more than 700 citations per year (in the last 5 years) and an h-index of 96 (Google Scholar). His textbook entitled "Dermoscopy - The Essentials 3rd Edition", co-authored with G Argenziano, R Hofmann-Wellenhof and I Zalaudek is considered a world-leading textbook in the field.

Professor Soyer has been awarded two competitive fellowships while at UQ: a Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Next Generation Clinical Researchers Program Practitioner Fellowship (2018-2022) and an NHMRC Practitioner Fellowship (2012-2016). The NHMRC Practitioner Fellowship was acknowledged in the NHMRC ‘10 of the Best NHMRC research projects 2016’ publication. He has also been awarded 1 NHMRC European Union Collaborative Research Grant (CIA), 1 NHMRC Synergy Grant (CIC), 1 NHMRC Clinical Trials and Cohort Studies Grant (CIC), 1 MRFF Targeted Health System and Community Organisation Research Grant (CIC), 3 NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence Grants (CIA, CIB, CIE), 4 NHMRC Project Grants (CIA, CIA, CIB, CID), 2 NHMRC Partnership Grants (CIA, CIB), 2 ARC Discovery Project Grants (CIB, CID), and a Queensland Genomic Health Alliance (QGHA) Demonstration Project Grant (CIA), with many additional projects funded through other competitive, industry and philanthropic funding sources. In total, through his involvement as an investigator, he has achieved over $43M in research funding for UQ since 2014.

Associate Professor Spurling works at The University of Queensland General Practice Clinical Unit (0.4 FTE) and at the Southern Queensland Centre of Excellence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander primary health care (Inala COE – 0.6 FTE). He has research interests in social determinants of health and access to primary health care, especially where his research skills can be of service to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. His other research interests are quality use of medicines and respiratory infections, with particular methodological interests in systematic reviews and mixed-methods research in general practice. His most recent research interest concerns access to opioid dependence treatment in general practice.

He completed medical training at the University of Queensland, did his junior doctor years in regional Queensland and completed a Diploma of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in London in 1998. In 2001, he spent 12 months working on a project in Central America with Médecins Sans Frontières. He completed general practice specialty training with the RACGP in 2004, which included an academic registrar term. In 2004, he was fortunate to meet Professor Noel Hayman, one of Queensland’s first Aboriginal medical graduates and Clinical Director of the Inala COE, who offered him a GP position in 2004. He has shared his full-time work as a GP academic at the Inala COE and UQ GPCU ever since.

Associate Professor Spurling has developed clinical interests in serving the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community in Inala, serving Spanish-speaking refugees, diabetic retinopathy, and, most recently, addiction medicine. He has been mentoring GP registrars and medical students at the Inala COE since 2004. As a member of the UQ GPCU academic staff, he regularly takes tutorial groups and lectures in cardiovascular medicine, respiratory infections, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and social determinants of health for medical students doing their general practice rotation.

Associate Professor Spurling supervises five postgraduate students (PhD students). He has been awarded over A$18M in research grants and has published over 80 peer-reviewed papers.

Christine graduated with a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree (honours class 1) from the University of Queensland in 1996.

She registered as a pharmacist in Australia in 1997 and in the United Kingdom in 2003 and has worked at the Redlands, Princess Alexandra and Wesley Hospitals in Brisbane and the Western Infirmary in Glasgow. In 2002 she was awarded a PhD from the University of Queensland, with a thesis focusing on improving usage of the immunosuppressant agent tacrolimus in solid organ transplant recipients.

In 2004 she was the recipient of a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Neil Hamilton Fairley fellowship. This award enabled her to training overseas in the field of Pharmacometrics within the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics at the University of Glasgow (Scotland) and the Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences at Uppsala University (Sweden).

On her return to Brisbane, Christine was the recipient of a Lions Medical Research Fellowship and was the chief investigator on a three year NHMRC Project Grant. She has also been a team member on an Amgen-Transplant Society of Australia and New Zealand Research Grant and a Cellcept Australia Research Grant. Over her research career Christine has attracted grants and awards totaling more than 2 million AUD from various funding agencies.

Research Interests

Christine has a wide range of interests in the fields of Quality Use of Medicine and Pharmacometrics. Her work to date has primarily been directed towards optimising usage of immunosuppressant drugs in solid organ transplant recipients and antibiotics in patients with life-threatening infections.

Christine has published over 120 peer reviewed papers and 150 conference abstracts on these topics. Her publications have been cited on more than 8200 occasions.

Christine has successfully supervised to completion fourteen higher research degree students and enjoys helping students meet their career goals.

Christine’s current projects include:

• Individualising immunosuppressant therapy in autoimmune disease to improve patient outcomes
• Comparing the efficacy and safety of continuous versus intermittent administration of beta-lactams in critically ill patients
• Examining the relationship between immunosuppression and non-melanoma skin cancer in renal transplant recipients
• Improving individualisation of immunosuppressant therapy in adult kidney transplant recipients
• Improving gentamycin dosing in paediatric oncology patients
• Examining tobramycin monitoring in cystic fibrosis patients in Australia and the United Kingdom
• Investigating the relationship between prednisolone exposure and drug-related toxicity in paediatric and adult kidney transplant recipients
• Comparing different therapeutic drug monitoring methods for dosage adjustment of once daily intravenous tobramycin treatment in children with cystic fibrosis

Projects currently available for interested research higher degree students include:

• Dose optimisation of busulfan in paediatric bone marrow transplant recipients
• Investigating the relationship between immunosupressant exposure and drug-related toxicity in transplant recipients
• Examining Bayesian forecasting methods to predict immunosuppressant exposure
• Examining the international use of immunosuppressant and anti-rheumatic drugs
• Examining the influence of plasma exchange on immunosuppressant drug exposure

Christine invites potential honours and post-graduate students to contact her via email to discuss research opportunities.

Teaching interests

Co-ordinates:

• PHRM3052- Biological Fate of Drugs

• PHRM2500- Pharmacokinetics and Medicines Management

• PHRM7001- Quality Use of Medicines, Drug Pharmacokinetics and Drug Pharmacodynamics

Teaches in:

• PHRM3052- Biological Fate of Drugs
• PHRM3011- Quality Use of Medicines

My work focusses on activation of innate immune cells by pathogen products. Following my PhD at UQ on transcriptional regulation in macrophages I went in 1996 to the University of Cambridge on a CJ Martin Fellowship to work in a molecular parasitology laboratory. I returned to the the University of Queensland in where I focussed on immune cell responses to foreign DNA. I was awarded an ARC Future Fellowship in 2009 to move to the School of Chemistry and Molecular Bioscience, where I also lecture in immunology.

Dr Hana Starobova is a pharmacist and NHMRC research fellow at the Sensory Neuropharmacology Group at the University of Queensland (UQ). She works under the mentorship of Prof. Vetter, and as an early career researcher, she is working toward an independent research career as a group leader. She obtained her PhD in 2020 from the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, UQ, and continued here to conduct studies as a Children Hospital Foundation Fellow (2021-2023) in the areas of cancer therapy-induced adverse and late effects with the main focus on neuropathies. Over the past four years, she has developed a research program focusing on the understanding of cancer therapy-induced adverse and late effects with a special interest in children, and established innovative transcriptomic and microscopy pipelines, in vitro assays, adult and juvenile models of adverse and late effects following mono- and combination chemotherapy and radiotherapy, assays for the assessment of adverse effects including cognition and neuropathies, as well as cancer models. Knowledge impact arising from her research program has been disseminated in 18 peer-reviewed publications, having together attracted >1,100 citations (h-index 15, i10-index 18, Google Scholar, May 2024).

Associate Professor Sally Staton is an applied developmental scientist whose research focuses on how early life experiences, environments, and the systems that support children shape lifelong learning, development, brain health, and wellbeing. As an ARC Mid-Career Industry Fellow and Leader of the Brain Health and Early Development Research Group at The University of Queensland's Child Health Research Centre, she works at the intersection of developmental science, policy, and practice to generate and translate evidence to support children, families, and communities.

Her research examines how early experiences and the physical and social environments in which children and families live, learn, and grow influence health and development across the life course. A major focus of her work is understanding how early childhood education and care (ECEC) environments, sleep, and the design of physical and interactional spaces support children's development. She currently leads the ARC-funded Building Futures project, which is generating evidence to inform the design of early childhood learning environments, and recently completed the STARs study, a landmark longitudinal investigation of sleep development in children aged 1–5 years.

Working closely with governments, educators, non-government organisations, communities, and philanthropic partners, Sally co-designs and translates research to inform policy, practice, and systems change. She also leads the Brain Builders Initiative, a major research and translation program focused on applying contemporary knowledge of brain development across the systems and workforces that support children and families.

Sally has authored more than 200 publications and research outputs. Her work has informed national and international policy and practice, including reforms to Australian early childhood legislation and contributions to policy recommendations from organisations including the OECD and WHO. In recognition of her research impact and science communication, she was named one of Australia's Young Tall Poppy Scientists and invited to participate in the United Nations Science Summit on Brain Health. Her overarching goal is to ensure that research is translated into practical action that helps children, families, and communities thrive.

I completed my Bachelor of Pharmacy at Kings College London, followed by pre-registration and subsequent employment as a pharmacist with Boots the Chemists in Central London. With a PhD in plant biochemistry with Royal Holloway College, University of London, and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, I moved first to Cornell University, USA and then The University of Western Australia for postdoctoral research. I moved to the School of Pharmacy at The University of Queensland in 2007.

Following a number of years in plant research, my current research interests generally link back to plants in some way. Many of my projects develop in response to requests for help from healthcare professionals, and so I have a strong focus on answering clinical questions using pharmaceutical science methods. See my research interests for more information. I am not currently accepting new PhD students as primary supervisor, but am open to contributing as an associate advisor.

I currently teach into the Bachelor of Pharmacy (Honours) in the areas of pharmaceutics, compounding and complementary medicines, and previously have contributed to education in areas of pharmacy practice, clinical trial management, and pharmaceutical chemistry. I have supervised over 30 PhD students to completion, and over 60 undergraduate and masters independent research project students.

Assoc. Prof. Stephan is an anatomist and forensic anthropologist with research interests in skeletal analysis and identification in the medicolegal setting. Specifcally these research interests include: craniofacial identification, radiographic comparison, trauma, unmingling of skeletons, biological profile estimations and standards of practice. Carl heads the Laboratory for Human Craniofacial and Skeletal Identification (HuCS-ID Lab), and is Chief Anatomist at The University of Queensland (UQ) School of Anatomy.

Carl is a Fellow of The American Academy of Forensic Sciences and recent past President of the International Association of Craniofacial Identification. Carl served as Special Issue Managing Guest Editor for Forensic Science International, Latest Progress in Craniofacial Identification, 2018. He has been Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Forensic Sciences (2013-23) and Associate Editor of Forensic Anthropology (2016-20). Carl founded the SBMS Skeletal Collection and Skeletisation Program at UQ in late 2014, re-energising forensic osteology within the UQ School of Anatomy and more broadly within the School of Biomedical Sciences.

Carl's prior appointments include forensic anthropology analyst with the Iraq Mass Graves Investigation Team (USA Army Corps of Engineers on behalf of the USA Department of Justice) and ORISE researcher at the USA Department of Defence Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii. He often now serves as an external consultant to the USA Defence POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). At UQ and as Chief Anatomist and School of Anatomy manager, Carl works very closely with the SBMS Gross Anatomy Facility, in all matters of anatomy teaching, research and governance management.

Working in joint with the GAF Manager, Carl has cross adapted ISO17025 style practices and auditing procedures to the UQ School of Anatomy space and introduced the first Code-of-Practice for Use of Human Tissues within the UQ School of Anatomy since its inauguration (1927). These accreditation-style policies and procedures are further implemented and expanded in the HuCS-ID Lab, providing vital learning experiences and skill sets for Honours and Higher Research Degree students wanting to pursue careers in forensic science. New data analytic, casework and research tools developed by the HuCS-ID Lab and in the statistical environment of R, are freely and routinely released for others to use at the website: CRANIOFACIALidentification.com.

Carl's research outputs currently exceed 100 total scientific publications, including more than 85 full-length research articles.

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)