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Dr Yibeltal Assefa Alemu (MD, MSc, PhD): is an Associate Professor of Global Health Systems at the School of Public Health. His research program focuses on Global Health, Health Systems, and Primary Health Care towards Universal Health Coverage and Global Health Security. He coordinates two courses on Health Systems (postgraduate) and Global Health & Infectious Diseases (undergraduate).

Before joining the University of Queensland in 2016, he had substantial experience in policy, program, and implementation of disease control programs (DCPs) and health systems at National and Global levels. He has also been involved in the development of implementation and treatment guidelines as well as monitoring and evaluation frameworks of DCPs at National and Global levels since 2007. He led and conducted national surveys, surveillances, and evaluations of DCPs in Ethiopia and other sub-Saharan African countries. He has also gained health systems and disease control program relevant experiences over a range of duties:

2013 – 2016: Deputy Director General, Ethiopian Public Health Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Coordinated national surveys, surveillance, and program evaluations on disease control programs, health systems, and nutrition and food science; supervised PhD and MPH students from Europe and Ethiopia; and, examine PhD and MPH theses.

2015 – 2016: Executive Director of the International Institute for Primary Health Care, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Established the International Institute for Primary Health Care, in collaboration with the John Hopkins University-School of Public Health; developed its plan and organizational structure; and recruited its staff.

2010 –2013: Director of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Federal HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office, Ethiopia: Coordinated the development of strategic and operational plans, and designed a monitoring and evaluation system for the multi-sectoral response of HIV/AIDS in the country, organize review and dissemination workshops.

2008 –2010: Director of Medical Services, Federal Ministry of Health, Ethiopia: Coordinated the design and implementation of health systems and services, hospital and primary health care reform, including emergency medical systems in the country.

2006 – 2008: Head of the Health Programs Department, Federal HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office, Ethiopia: Coordinated the health sector response of HIV/AIDS and other STIs; developed guidelines and training manuals; and coordinated training and mentorship program in the country.

2002 – 2005: Medical Director, Humera District Hospital, Ethiopia: Managed the inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes of the hospital.

2001 – 2005: General Medical Practitioner, Humera District Hospital, Ethiopia: Provided clinical services at out-patient and in-patient departments.

He has published several academic papers in peer-reviewed journals; led the development and publication of 10 national guidelines and training manuals focusing on HIV/AIDS and TB; and participated in the development of more than five global guidelines on HIV/AIDS and TB. His publications have been contributing significantly in the response against HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia and other resource-limited settings. These publications are also highly referred by other publications, including the WHO guidelines. He has served on key international panels since 2007: the WHO consolidated guidelines for ARV use, 2015; Technical Evaluation Reference Group for the Global Fund (2012-2015); Core Group for the development of the patient monitoring system for the WHO consolidated guidelines for ARV use (2013-14); Advisory group for the development of guidelines for task shifting for HIV treatment (2007).

Dr Alemu has also been an invited plenary speaker in different global health meetings: Surveillance of HIV/AIDS; UNAIDS/WHO; Bangkok, Thailand, 2015; Translating Research into Policy and Practice: issues, challenges and recommendations; Ministry of Health of Ethiopia; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2014; The multi-sectoral response for the AIDS epidemic in Ethiopia; Ethiopian Public Health Association, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2012; The role of community health workers for ART delivery: successes and challenges; ITM colloquium, Antwerp, Belgium, 2011; Human resource aspects of ART delivery in resource-limited settings; Geneva health forum, Geneva, Switzerland, 2010; The effect of AIDS programs on the health system: opportunities and challenges; World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, 2008; Task shifting to scale up ART delivery in Ethiopia: World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, 2007.

Associate Professor Argus is the inaugural Director of Southern Queensland Rural Health (SQRH), a Commonwealth funded University Department of Rural Health established in late 2017. Located in Toowoomba and Charleville, the SQRH footprint covers the Darling Downs, South Burnett and South West Queensland regions. SQRHs research program covers five key areas:

1. Rural health workforce development
2. Rural training strategies
3. Research into innovative rural health service delivery models
4. Health issues directly impacting on rural communities
5. Improving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health

In 2022, SQRH was awarded $5M over 2 years under the Rural Health Mutlidisciplinary Training Program to establish a rural allied health training hub in St George Queensland and an aged care training hub in Chinchilla, Queensland.

A/Prof Argus is a Board Director with the Australian Rural Health Education Network and the National Rural Health Alliance.

Richard Bade is a Senior Research Fellow and ARC DECRA fellow at the Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences, The University of Queensland. He obtained his PhD from the University Jaume I, Castellon, Spain in 2016, which focussed on analytical tools for the investigation of licit and illicit drug residues in water before joining the Population Health Chemistry Group at the University of South Australia in 2017, where his research focussed on the development of quantitative and qualitative methods for the determination of illicit drugs in wastewater. He is involved with the National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program, funded by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, in collaboration with the University of South Australia.

His research interests are associated with the surveillance, detection and identification of new psychoactive substances in wastewater and other matrices as well as exploring the impact of chemical and pathogen exposure during mass gatherings. Dr Bade currently leads an expanding international consortium exlporing the prevalence of new psychoactive substances worldwide (currently from 23 countries, 60 sites). He is a strong supporter of collaborative research, with ongoing projects involving academic and industrial partners in Australia and around the world.

I am an accomplished research leader capable of building multidisciplinary teams that develop innovative solutions to complex problems. I have an international reputation for improving health of communities by creating knowledge, translating it into real life scenarios and evaluating improvements for people, health care providers and funders. My work spans primary care, community care, hospital services, allied health, health promotion and wellbeing and health policy.

I have a clinical background as an Advanced Accredited Practising Dietitian and Exercise Physiologist, which has provided me with an understanding of the way health professionals and their services enable heatlh and wellbeing in people, groups and communities. My research career to date has been exemplary, as evidenced by multiple awards and accolades, including two NHMRC fellowships, a national award for excellence in PhD supervision, fellowships of learned societies and several awards for research excellence.

I am a collaborative, ambitious worker with a strong ability to bring people together and generate large-scale research endeavours that have maximum impact for health and wellbeing.

Dr Lizzie Beadle is a clinical psychologist, neuropsychologist, and researcher. Her research is focused on neuropsychological rehabilitation, changes to self-awareness and identity after brain injury, and use of technology in rehabilitation. She has practiced as a psychologist from acute through to community services. She is experienced in translation of research in to clinical practice. She is passionate about supporting a lifelong love of learning in students and clinicians. She is also passionate about supporting greater medical and lifestyle choice and control for individuals with disabilities.

A/Prof Steve Bell is a senior social scientist at the Burnet Institute and has 22 years’ experience across South-East Asia (India, Nepal), Africa (Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe) and Western Pacific (Australia, Indonesia, PNG, Fiji) Regions. He works respectfully with not-for-profits, public institutions, businesses and community organisations, using innovative, inclusive, people-centred approaches to identify sustainable solutions to critical health challenges and accelerate health equity.

Steve’s work brings together lived experience, socio-ecological systems thinking and social theory to understand what works (or not) in global health and social development. He has researched and published widely on HIV, sexual and reproductive health, maternal health, neglected tropical diseases, TB and Indigenous health. He is particularly interested in understanding the socio-structural determinants of health and social inequities, and injustices associated with marginalisation due to gender, sexuality, age and geography. He has also published two books on interpretive and community-led approaches in research, design, monitoring and evaluation: ‘Peer research in health and social development: international perspectives on participatory research’ (2021), and ‘Monitoring and evaluation in health and social development: interpretive and ethnographic perspectives’ (2016). He is currently taking on new PhD students in these areas, so please do reach out to him at the Burnet Institute for a chat!

He holds associate professorial appointments at UNSW Sydney and The University of Queensland, is a Member of the International Editorial Board at Culture, Health & Sexuality, has been a Senior Advisor to the Boston Consulting Group, and has worked in research and consultancy roles with international governments, NGOs, UNAIDS, UNFPA and WHO.

Katie is a health and disability researcher. She did an undergraduate degree in health sciences. Though this, she gained the language and understanding of the social determinants of health, providing the framework to contextualise the health disparities she had witnessed growing up. Her passion for research was fostered when she did a research project in intellectual disability during her last semester. After learning about the significant health gap experienced by people with intellectual disability, she was motivated to make a change. Seeing that researchers were the people making the most difference, she went on to do her PhD. Her postdoctoral research focuses on working with people with intellectual disability and autistic people to improve the way healthcare is delivered to them.

Katie is woking on the EASY-Health project which aims to improve access to mainstream hospital services for people with intellectual and developmental disability. This position is with the Mater Intellectual Disability and Autism Service (MIDAS) at Mater Research.

Katie also holds a UQ Research Stimulus Fellowship and is continuing herprimary care research to improve healthcare experiences for Autistic adults. This position is with the Queensland Centre for Intellectual and Developmental Disability (QCIDD) at Mater Research Institute-UQ.

Dr Claudia Bull is a Research Fellow in psychiatric epidemiology at the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research (QCMHR), University of Queensland. She holds a Bachelor of Nutrition with First Class Honours (2017) and a PhD in Health Services Research from the Griffith University School of Nursing and Midwifery (2022). Claudia's research largely focusses on undertaking complex data analysis using large, linked, population-based administrative datasets to understand equity, patterns of health service use, and outcomes in vulnerable Australian populations. She is particularly interested in the intergenerational and lifetime effects of child abuse and neglect in Australia, as well as understanding how health services can better support Child Protection efforts. Claudia is also well-versed in the development, psychometric evaluation and implementation of PROMs and PREMs for health systems performance measurement. She is internationally recognised for her research related to PROMs and PREMs, having published several seminal and highly cited papers, as well as pioneering methods for consumer engagement in deciding what questions are relevant and important in PROMs and PREMs. Claudia is an inaugural member of the South Australian Commission on Excellence and Innovation in Health's Generic PROM Selection Subcommittee, and is currently collaborating internationally with researchers in The Netherlands, Iran, France and Spain to cross-culturally validate an Emergency Department PREM. Claudia's expertise in population-based linked administrative health data analysis, as well as PROMs and PREMs, positions her as a well-rounded and capable researcher. Claudia's international collaborations underscore her ability to work across cultural and geographical boundaries, enriching her research with a global perspective. Moreover, her track record of published research, practical involvement in healthcare initiatives, and ongoing projects reflect a proactive and influential presence in the field.

Professor Tracy Comans, a UQ Amplify Fellow at the Centre for Health Services Research, University of Queensland, and an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, is renowned for her innovative application of economics in multifaceted health services contexts. Her pioneering work involves the creation of comprehensive models that extend beyond traditional economic models, enabling a broader assessment of benefits and costs.

In addition to her model development, Professor Comans applies these economic models to explore the cost-effectiveness of various health care interventions. She spearheads and cultivates health services research with a particular focus on older individuals, allied health, and rehabilitation services.

With a solid academic foundation in both physiotherapy and economics (Hons), Professor Comans brings a unique perspective to her research. Her clinical background as a physiotherapist, specializing in aged care, dementia, and rehabilitation, further enriches her work. Her expertise was recognized with a NHMRC Boosting Dementia Fellowship, which she held from 2017 to 2021.

Currently, Professor Comans is making significant strides in measuring the quality of care for older individuals. This work holds substantial potential for impacting the health and aged care industry. As our population ages, the demand for high-quality health care services tailored to the needs of older individuals is escalating. Despite this, there is a lack of agreement on what constitutes quality care for this demographic, and existing measures may not fully capture the aspects of care most important to them. Professor Comans’ work is instrumental in addressing this critical issue.

I am a motivated and enthusiastic Accredited Practising Dietitian and Accredited Sports Dietitian. I am interested in building sustainable foodservices worldwide, sports nutrition for recreational runners and seperate entrepreneurial ventures. I have a passion for clinical research and quality improvement projects in hospital dietetic services. Currently I want to help build sustainable foodservice systems for public/private entities that consider the future of human and planetary health. I am an ambitious individual who loves networking and who is eager to collaborate, please reach out.

My PhD research has focussed on the measurement and management of food waste in hospital foodservices through aggregate food waste audit activities and diverting food waste from landfill.

Professor Simon Cool is Professor of Bioengineering and Director of the UQ Advanced Cell Therapy Manufacturing Initiative in the School of Chemical Engineering at the University of Queensland.

Professor Cool began his scientific career at the University of Queensland more than 20 years ago. He received his BSc (hons) and PhD degrees from the University of Queensland, where he subsequently held a faculty position in the School of Biomedical Sciences. His areas of studies have included age-related changes in the structure of bone and teeth and the extracellular matrix compartment of skeletal tissue that guide stem cell behaviour and wound repair. Professor Cool was invited to join the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), A*STAR, Singapore in 2003 as a Principal Investigator. He then joined A*STAR’s Institute of Medical Biology (IMB) in 2008, shortly after its inception, to further his research in regenerative medicine, serving as Senior Principal Investigator of the Glycotherapeutics Group. In October 2020, Professor Cool re-joined the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) as a Research Director, Glycotherapeutics, where he focused on developing novel glycosaminoglycan biomolecules that enhance wound repair and control adult human mesenchymal stem cell activity.

Professor Cool has 117 patent applications across 26 families with 51 granted in the fields of glycosaminoglycan biochemistry, regenerative medicine and stem cell science. He has more than 150 publications and continues to foster strong strategic collaborations both nationally and internationally with academic and industry groups. He has a strong biomanufacturing and translational focus with experience in taking glycosaminoglycan-based devices through discovery RnD on to pre-clinical and clinical testing. Professor Cool also has an entrepreneurial and licensing background having successfully spun-off some of his technology to a US-based regenerative medicine start-up company, SMC Biotechnology Ltd. Professor Cool holds a Visiting Professor appointment at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), A*STAR, Singapore and an Adjunct Professor (Research) appointment in the Orthopaedic Department at the National University of Singapore (NUS). Prior to his move back to UQ, he previously held the position of Treasurer, Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society, Asia Pacific Chapter (TERMIS-AP) and Treasurer, Stem Cell Society Singapore (SCSS). He also held senior leadership positions in several Singapore-based R&D programmes, notably as Director, Allogeneic Stem Cell Manufacturing (ASTEM) and Theme Leader in Advanced Manufacturing for Biological Materials (AMBM). Prof Cool currently serves on the Editorial Board of the journals Biomaterials, Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, and is Asia-Pacific Regional Editor for Stem Cells and Development.

Dr Nathalia Costa is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Queensland's cLinical TRials cApability (ULTRA), located within the Centre for Clinical Research in Herston. Her career goal is to enhance the evidence base from clinical trials and deepen the understanding of healthcare issues through qualitative and mixed methods, with a focus on theoretically grounded, critical, reflexive and collaborative approaches. She is passionate about bringing different types of knowledge and stakeholders together to generate perspectives that create change and make research, practice and education more inclusive and nuanced. She advocates for pluralist inquiries and believes research should go beyond the dualism “quantitative/qualitative” to achieve the intersubjective understandings needed for impactful collective action. Her methodological expertise includes:

• Systematic, scoping and rapid reviews
• A range of qualitative methods and methodologies including but not limited to interviews, ethnography, Delphi studies, surveys, focus groups, document and policy analysis, thematic analysis, content analysis, and discourse analysis
• Embedding qualitative research in feasibility trials to inform large-scale clinical trials
• Conducting qualitative research to inform the development of implementation strategies
• Use of systems-thinking frameworks to identify opportunities for interdisciplinary and intersectoral action to target health problems
• Applying social theory to deepen understanding of healthcare and health more broadly
• Participatory and collaborative research with key stakeholders (e.g., patients, clinicians, academics, policymakers)

Her publications (45+) span a diverse range of themes, including musculoskeletal conditions, pain, policy, sociology and culturally responsive care. She has also taught across a range of disciplines, including research methods, musculoskeletal physiotherapy, sociology applied to health, fundamentals of physiotherapy, fundamentals of health care, health policy, health economics and health systems finance.

Her research focuses on aspects of low back pain - from exploring ways to navigate uncertainty in low back pain care to identifying avenues to improve it within the Australian healthcare system. She is currently investigating how to optimise recruitment within the FORENSIC trial, which aims to evaluate if lumbar fusion surgery is more beneficial than continuing with best conservative care for patients with persistent severe low back pain who have already undergone non-surgical treatment.

Alongside collaborators, Nathalia has garnered grants (AUD$6M) and awards, including an international award for one of her PhD studies, awarded by the International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine – the 2021 ISSLS Prize for Lumbar Spine Research (Clinical Science). She has made >35 presentations at national and international conferences, including presentations as an invited speaker at international conferences (e.g., World Physiotherapy Congress). Prior to her current appointment, she was a Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (UQ - 2021), a Post-doctoral Research Associate at the Sydney School of Public Health (The University of Sydney, 2021-2022), and a Lecturer in Physiotherapy at the Sydney School of Health Sciences (The University of Sydney, 2023). Nathalia serves as an Associate Editor for Qualitative Health Research and the Journal of Humanities in Rehabilitation.

Dr. Adam Craig is an infectious disease epidemiologist and global health system researcher. He has more than 25 years of experience in health, having worked across and with Australian, Asian and Pacific health authorities. Among other areas, his research explores the use of digital technology to support health information collection and exchange and how technology may support improved health system function. Other projects Adam is involved in include the development of policy advice for Pacific leaders related to enhanced early warning disease surveillance, the use of digital technology to support health care delivery and community participation in disease vector tracking. In addition to his academic roles, Adam is a senior advisor to the Australia-Indonesia Health Security Partnership and a researcher for the Asia Pacific Observatory on Health Systems and Policies.

Dr. Hanh Dao is a nurse academic with over a decade of experience in clinical practice, university teaching, and health research across diverse cultures and contexts. Her research expertise spans outcome measurement, aged care, health promotion, and education. Driven by a strong commitment to improving healthcare services, Dr. Dao is particularly focused on addressing the needs of vulnerable populations, including but not limited to older adults, women, and immigrants.

My research concerns i) understanding causes and impacts of hearing impairment, particularly in the context of multimorbidity in older age, ii) prevention and treatment of hearing impairment, and iii) hearing service development and evaluation. My research involves epidemiological modelling with population data sets, clinical trials and hearing health policy. I have authored over130 publications in peer reviewed journals and books, and I frequently present invited and keynote addresses at international conferences. I have received the British Society of Audiology’s TS Littler prize for services to audiology and a prestigious US-UK Fulbright award.

I have been awarded 10 grants as principal investigator in the last 5 years totalling >AUD$14.5 million from competitive sources including the NHMRC, the NIHR, the Alzheimer’s Society UK, the European Commission, industry and charity funders. This funding includes an EU Horizon 2020 grant of €6.2 million (as joint PI for “Ears, Eyes and Mind: The “SENSE-Cog Project” to improve mental well-being for elderly Europeans with sensory impairment”), and two NHMRC Medical Research Future Fund awards ($1.2 million as CI for “SENSEcog aged care: Hearing and vision support to improve quality of life for people living with dementia in residential aged care”; AUD$1.3 million for "Home hearing and vision care to improve quality of life for people with dementia and carers"; and an AUD$0.9 million NHMRC targetted hearing research award (as CI for "Improving access to the hearing services program for people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds"). I have strong links with hearing industry partners and have received research funding (total >AUD$500,000) from major hearing aid companies Starkey, Oticon, Phonak and the hearing industry research consortium. I have a position at the University of Manchester with on-going involvement (as CI and co-I) in projects funded by the NIHR, the ESRC, the Alzheimer’s Society and the RNID.

I am an early career researcher with <3 years post-PhD and estimated research time relative to opportunity of 20 months. Currently, I am a Research Fellow and Lecturer at The University of Queensland’s (UQ) Centre for Online Health (COH). I have years of study and work experience, including consumer and community involvement, in various healthcare settings in Brazil (2009-2019), the UK (2003-2008) and Australia (2019-present). I came to Australia in December 2019 for a 12-month PhD research placement at UQ after winning a highly competitive scholarship from the Brazilian Government. I have a Bachelor of Pharmacy, a Graduate Certificate in Project Management, a Master of Philosophy in Public Health, a Diploma of Higher Education in Youth and Community Studies and an OCN Level 3 Certificate in Community Development. I completed my PhD in Public Health in 2021.

I have a proven track record for delivering high-quality projects, with national significance, including policy change and integration into the national strategy in Brazil, and the implementation of a digital model of care developed in Australia. My track record demonstrates a rising career trajectory. My research interests are telehealth, virtual care and digital health, including digitally disrupted models of care for chronic conditions, trust and confidence in telehealth and digital health, digital health literacy, health services research, including implementation and evaluation strategies, mixed-methods, cross-sectional studies, co-design and qualitative inquiry, community and consumer involvement in research and service redesign.

Keshia is a postdoctoral research fellow at The University of Queensland, School of Pharmacy. She is concurrently a senior research pharmacist at the Princess Alexandra Hospital. Her research focuses on hospital pharmacy services, digital health applications, and applied economics. Keshia is a registered pharmacist with clinical experience in hospital and community settings, and has educational experience in both hospital and university settings.

Keshia completed her Master of Epidemiology in 2020, and completed her PhD in 2023 at The University of Queensland, Centre for Online Health. Her thesis evaluated the economic factors and clinician drivers influencing telehealth uptake and sustainability in Australian general practice settings. Keshia employs quantitative and qualitative approaches in her research, and has expertise in health economic methods. She strongly advocates for technological innovation in healthcare, and aims to drive research translation into clinical practice.

Dr Chelsea Dobbins is a Senior Lecturer within the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at The University of Queensland. Before relocating to Australia, Dr Dobbins was a full-time continuing Senior Lecturer within the Department of Computer Science at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) in the UK (2013-2018). She has a background in Software Engineering and expertise in Digital Signal Processing, Applied Machine Learning and Human-Computer Interaction. Her research focuses on the detection of emotion using smartphones/wearable sensors and personal informatics. This includes areas such as lifelogging, affective computing, pervasive computing, digital health, human computer interaction, machine learning, mobile computing, mobile/wearable sensors, human digital memories, signal processing, and physiological computing. Her research has been supported by the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) for work related to developing a mobile lifelogging platform to detect negative emotions during real-life driving. In 2016 she received an ACM Computing Review Notable Article award for work related to mining multivariate temporal smart mobile data.

Carmel Fleming is a mental health professional with the Queensland Eating Disorder Service (QuEDS) and conjoint Clinical Lecturer with Queensland Health and the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work at the University of Queensland where she teaches in Advanced Practice in Health. At QuEDS Carmel is senior social worker, clinical educator, and clinical supervisor providing consultation and service development across Queensland as well as coordination of QuEDS family and carer services. Prior to this she developed and led the QuEDS statewide education and training program for ten years. Carmel has specialised in mental health and eating disorders since 1992 with a focus on low intensity and specialist interventions such as self help and cognitive behavioural programs as well as family work. Carmel completed her PhD into the effectiveness of services for families of adults affected by eating disorders and maintains a special interest in the clinical support and supervision of other health professionals.