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Dr Melinda Protani is an epidemiologist with over 15 years experience in research and tertiary education. She is the current Program Director for the Master of Epidemiology at UQ. Her research is focussed on cancer aetiology, survivorship and patterns of care, with a particular interest in inequity in access to health services and the receipt of optimal cancer care. Dr Protani has experience in a number of methods including medical record audits, surveys of the general population, patient groups and clinicians, and data linkage using registry and administrative datasets.

Dr Sarah Reedman is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Queensland Cerebral Palsy and Rehabilitation Research Centre group within the UQ Child Health Research Centre. Sarah is passionate about enabling participation of young people with disabilities in sports and active recreation. She is interested demonstrating how paediatric physiotherapists, occupational therapists and exercise physiologists are well-placed to deliver effective physical activity promotion interventions in young people with disabilites. Sarah is also involved in the conduct of a large, multi-site randomized controlled trial of an intensive functional goal-directed motor training intervention in children with bilateral cerebral palsy (Hand Arm Bimanual Intensive Training Including Lower Extremity [HABIT-ILE]).

Sarah is experienced in the following research methods:

• Design, conduct and administration of randomized controlled trials (including multi-site trials)
• Cross-sectional and cohort studies
• Validation of rehabilitation outcome measures
• Objective measurement of physical activity behaviours, tri-axial accelerometry

Sarah is available as an associate supervisor for HDR students.

Nicole is a Research Officer at the RECOVER Injury Research Centre, working within the Improving Health Outcomes after Musculoskeletal Injury program. Her current research focuses on the design and implementation of single-case experimental design studies to evaluate multidisciplinary interventions for whiplash and other musculoskeletal injuries sustained in road traffic incidents. Nicole completed her PhD in Psychology at The University of Queensland, where she investigated the effectiveness and mechanisms of mind-body therapies for pain management in injured athletes. This work advanced understanding of psychological predictors of pain, injury perception, and recovery in sporting contexts. Nicole has published in leading journals including Journal of Sports Sciences and Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine, and presented at national and international conferences such as the Australian Pain Society Annual Scientific Meeting. She holds a Master of Clinical Research from The University of Melbourne and a Bachelor of Psychological Science (Honours) from UQ, and is committed to developing personalised, evidence-based approaches to injury rehabilitation.

Dr Megan Ross (she/her) is a titled research physiotherapist and postdoctoral research fellow at RECOVER Injury Research Centre, The University of Queensland. She is part of a research team, led by Professor Trevor Russell, which focuses on developing more effective and efficient health services supported by technology innovation. Megan’s current research projects include exploring consumer perspectives of the telerehabilitation service delivery model, factors that influence the uptake and utilisation of telerehabilitation, and exploring the acceptability and usability of digital health innovations. Megan has a broad range of research skills that span both quantitative and qualitative methods and co-design approaches, including systematic reviews, cross-sectional and longitudinal study designs and data analysis, discrete choice experiments, interviews and focus group discussions and thematic analysis.

Dr Ross received a Bachelor of Physiotherapy (with First Class Honours) in 2012 and a PhD in Physiotherapy in 2020 from The University of Queensland. Megan is the inaugural Chair of the Australian Physiotherapy Association’s LGBTQIA+ Advisory Committee, is Deputy Chair of the Australian Physiotherapy Associations’ National Advisory Committee and sits on the Queensland Gender Affirming Network Steering Committee. Dr Ross leads a program of research in the area of LGBTQIA+ experiences of, and access to healthcare with a focus on physiotherapy and allied health. Megan is passionate about ensuring safe and affirming access to healthcare for people with diverse gender identities, sexual orientations and sex characteristics and has received over $1M AUD in funding, including a CIA MRFF grant to co-design, implement and evaluate an LGBTQIA+ affirming model of primary care. The overarching objective of Dr Ross’s work is to improve access to, provision of, and experiences with health care and ultimately contribute to improved health and wellbeing for the LGBTQIA+ communities.

Ingrid Rowlands’ research is broadly focused on women’s reproductive health, with a particular interest in adverse events and diseases including miscarriage, infertility, endometriosis and gynaecological cancer. Dr Rowlands' current program of work is generating new knowledge on the causes and consequences of endometriosis using national, longitudinal datasets.

Previously, she worked as a postdoctoral fellow at QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute on a national, Australian study of women with uterine cancer, focusing on women’s quality of life following treatment. In this role, she also led a study exploring young women’s fertility concerns following a diagnosis of gynaecological cancer.

Her doctoral work examined women’s adjustment to miscarriage using data from more than 14,000 young women participating in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health.

A/Prof Benn Sartorius is an established spatial and global health epidemiologist, with a particular interest in the burden of infectious disease and attributable determinants at sub-national, national and global scales as a tool to help inform and optimise policy at national and subnational scales. Dr Sartorius a principal research fellow in UQ's ODeSI team at University of Queensland, an affiliate professor in Department of Health Metric Sciences at University of Washington and a honorary visiting research fellow at University of Oxfored. Prior to join UQ, Dr Sartorius was the principal investigator for the Global Research on Antimicrobial Resistance (GRAM) Project based in the Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health at University of Oxford.

Dr Sartorius' research has focused on better understanding the spatial-temporal burden and risk factors of multiple IDs, including mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria, sexually transmitted infections, neglected tropical diseases such as soil-transmitted helminths and onchocerciasis, vaccine preventable diseases, emerging infectious diseases and more recently focused on antimicrobial resistance. These and other examples highlight the utility of spatial epidemiology to identify higher risk areas that should be prioritised for more targeted, tailored and resource efficient intervention and control measures. However, often spatial risk estimates for IDs are often not produced in-country in settings such as the Pacific, where disease burden is high and local modelling expertise is limited, resulting in use of incomplete/biased data and resulting in inefficient and suboptimal decision-making. I’ve been a collaborator on the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) project since 2014 and the Scientific Council for the GBD Project since 2015. Dr Sartorius is a member of the WHO Reference Group on Health Statistics (RGHS) and chair of the Age-Specific Mortality Estimation and Life Table Computation task force. Benn's vision, through ODeSI-HERA, is to expand his international profile and leadership in spatial-temporal epidemiology of priority infectious diseases in Australia and the Pacific. This will include spatial epidemiological innovation, and capacity building to improve health outcomes in high-risk and vulnerable sub-populations within the region, and will be co-created with stakeholders in the region to ensure that it aligns with their priorities, and support precision-based decision-making systems to help policy makers optimise resource allocation and guide targeted interventions.

Dr. Helena Schuch is a senior research fellow at the School of Dentistry, University of Queensland.

She is a dentist and an oral epidemiologist with special interest in social epidemiology. Helena is also interested in methods to estimate causal inference and on applying machine learning techniques to predict oral health outcomes.

She completed her PhD in Oral Epidemiology at the University of Adelaide (2018) and is currently in the Editorial Board of Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology.

Qualifications: BDS, MScDent, PhD

Research Interests: Oral health inequalities. Life course epidemiology. Causal inference methods. Machine learning applied to oral health.

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

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

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

4. 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

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

Janet Stajic is a Yidinji–Jirrbal woman of Far North Queensland who grew up in Brisbane. With 17 years’ experience in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, Janet has worked as an Aboriginal Health Worker, in program management, policy, and research across the Aboriginal community-controlled, public, non-profit, and university sectors. With over a decade of research experience, Janet has contributed to projects spanning chronic disease, blood borne viruses, health services research, program evaluation, and workforce. Her doctoral research explored the racialisation of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Worker and Practitioner workforce, its positioning within the health system, their conceptualisations of care, and the limitations of the health system in supporting this workforce. Janet currently works for the University of Queensland Poche Centre for Indigenous Health as a Research Fellow and is a Professional Ambassador for the National Association of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Health Workers and Practitioners.

Dr Sally Staton is a Senior Research Fellow in the Science of Learning Research Centre at the Queensland Brain Institute, UQ. Dr Staton has a strong commitment to research that can inform and ensure positive early life experience for all children. Her research focuses on the role of early education and care settings in supporting young children’s immediate and on-going social-emotional, cognitive and physical development. Dr Staton’s research spans a range of study designs and methodologies, including evaluation studies in educational settings (applying randomised control trial and quasi-experimental designs), longitudinal studies tracking large child cohorts (>2000 children), standard observation techniques (in vivo and video), survey and individualised standard child assessment (using educational and psychological measures), as well as studies employing physiological (cortisol, actigraphy, heart rate variability) and qualitative (child, educator and parent interviews, socio-metric) designs. She has a particular expertise in the development, application and interpretation of observational measurement for educational practices and teacher-child interactions in education contexts, including early childhood settings. Dr Staton has a strong track record in research translation and community engagement, including delivery of reports for government and non-government organisations, professional development packages for early childhood professionals and teachers, presentations, workshops, videos and articles for parents, government regulatory officers and the early childhood sector. In 2016, she was named among Queensland’s Young Tall Poppy Scientists for her contribution to science translation and engagement. In 2019 her succesful research partnerships with industry and government was acknowledged in a Partners in Research Excellence Award from UQ.

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.

Dr Meng-Wong Taing (Wong) is a registered pharmacists and qualified biostatistician. He 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. He demonstrates a strong commitment to applying advanced statistical methods to health research. With broad expertise in quantitative analysis, he has made significant contributions across diverse disciplines including cell biology, social science, and medical research - leading and supporting collaborative projects that address complex health challenges. His work consistently promotes research transparency, methodological rigour, and interdisciplinary innovation. Wong serves on the editorial board of the BMC Medical Education journal.

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.

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.

Dr T. Thang Vo-Doan is a Lecturer of the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering at the University of Queensland. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Biology I, University of Freiburg, Germany (2019-2023). He was also a Research Fellow at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore (2016-2018). He was awarded his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, NTU in 2016. He received his M.Eng. degree in Manufacturing Engineering and B.Eng. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, Vietnam in 2010 and 2008 respectively. He was awarded the prestigious Human Frontier Science Program Cross-disciplinary Fellowship (2019-2022).

He directs the UQ Biorobotics lab after joining in the University of Queensland. Current research activities of the lab focus on insect-machine hybrid robots, bio-inspired robotics, insect structures and functions, biomechanics, fast lock-on tracking, and brain imaging in untethered insects.

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

Professor James Ward is a Pitjantjatjara and Narungga man, and a national leader in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research. He is currently the Director of the Poche Centre for Indigenous Health at the University of Queensland. As such he leads a research program focused on urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and an infectious diseases research program and associated issues. Having held various roles in Aboriginal public health policy for both government and non-government organisations, in 2007 he was appointed as the Inaugural Program Head of the Aboriginal Program at the Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales. In 2012 he moved to Alice Springs to become Deputy Director of the Baker Institutes' Aboriginal Health Program, after which he joined the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute. James has been awarded funding applications totalling $23M since 2013; including $7.14M as CIA on NHMRC funded grants and has authored 160 publications. He has led national research projects on health services research http://cre-ash.org.au/participating-sites/clinical-hubs/; in health promotion www.youngdeadlyfree.org.au; and methamphetamines https://wecandothis.com.au/ to name a few.

His work has influenced policy and practice significantly contributing to national guidelines, policy and practice. During 2020 he has contributed to the national COVID—19 response nationally through membership of the Communicable Diseases Network of Australia and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander COVID-19 Taskforce.

Maiden name: Ellen Maree Leslie

Dr Ellen Wessel is a Research Fellow in the School of Public Health, with backgrounds in both public health and criminology. Her research interests include women's health, alcohol and other drug use, and policing.