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Dr. Awais Saleem Babri is a dedicated educator and researcher in biomedical sciences, specializing in innovative anatomy education, curriculum development, and technology-enhanced learning. With over two decades of experience at The University of Queensland, his work focuses on integrating virtual reality (VR), digital repositories, and evidence-based pedagogies to transform medical and health professions education.

Key Contributions:

• Teaching Excellence: Led curriculum reviews and course coordination for programs in medicine, nursing, and paramedicine, enhancing clinical integration and student engagement. Recognized with multiple awards, including the UQ Citation for Excellence in Teaching (2009) and nominations for national teaching honors.

• Research Leadership: Secured over $105K in grants to pioneer VR classrooms and image repositories, improving accessibility and outcomes in anatomy education. Presented at 15+ international conferences, including IFAA and ANZAHPE, with pending publications on VR and ward-round pedagogy.

• Supervision & Mentorship: Guided honours and summer research students, with projects on surgical simulation and ward-round pedagogy earning scholarships and conference presentations (e.g., ANZACA 2024, ANZAHPE 2025).

• Leadership & Service: Founded the Gross Anatomy Evaluations Network (GAEN), uniting 28 universities to standardize assessments. Served as ANZACA Vice President (2025–present) and contributed to committees (UQ HREC, ANZAHPE DEI).

Dr. Babri’s work bridges cutting-edge technology and pedagogical innovation, making him a sought-after collaborator in health professions education. For details on projects or partnerships, contact a.babri@uq.edu.au.

Mehedi is a public health researcher with strong expertise in quantitative data analytics. He has over eight years of professional experience in developing and developed countries. He has built a distinguished career in public health research, focusing on critical areas such as reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health (RMNCH), nutrition, non-communicable diseases, mental health, sleep health, social determinants of health and health inequalities.

Mehedi completed his PhD from the University of Queensland in 2022. In his doctoral thesis titled “Future direction of maternal and child health in low- and middle-income countries”, he utilized data of over 4.3 million participants extracted from 284 national surveys conducted in 75 low- and middle-income countries to understand the future projections of maternal and child health-related indicators and gaps in progress, with geographical variations across countries. His doctoral research resulted six publications in reputed international journals and provided valuable insights for global and country leaders in their pursuit of achieving health-related Sustainable Development Goals.

Mehedi has a charming engagement with research community. He has reviewed manuscripts for eight international journals and published 45 peer-reviewed articles, many of which appear in high-impact journals. His work has gained media attention, with coverage of more than 15 research stories.

In addition to his research and professional activities, Mehedi is an active member of several professional international collaborative groups, including Global Burden of Diseases, the American Society for Nutrition, the International Health Economics Association, the Society for Research in Child Development, and Health Systems Global, where he collaborates with fellow experts and stays at the forefront of developments in his field.

Mehedi is a Global Change Scholar (2018 cohort) of the University of Queensland and a recipient of several prestigious scholarships and awards. He recently honoured with a national award in the Pregnancy Monitoring Innovation Challenge 2022 funded by the Aspire to Innovate (a2i), Bangladesh, recognizing his innovative contributions to maternal and neonatal health.

Mehedi’s current research focuses on unveiling environmental exposures in pregnancy and risk in adverse birth outcomes in Queensland, Australia.

Bec Jenkinson is health consumer advocate-turned-researcher, with more than 10 years’ experience as a leader in the Australian health consumer movement, advocating for high quality, respectful, person-centred care. She is also skilled qualitative and mixed methods researcher, writer, presenter and networker with a passion for consumer and community engagement in health services, and broad experience encompassing health policy, service delivery and evaluation, and education. Bec's PhD investigated the experiences of women, midwives and obstetricians when pregnant women decline recommended care. She went on to co-lead the development and implementation of Queensland Health's Guideline: Partnering with the woman who declines recommended maternity care. Now a Senior Research Fellow with UQ's Clinical Trials Capability Team (ULTRA), Bec works collaboratively with researchers, consumers and other stakeholders to enhance consumer and community involvement (CCI) in clinical trial designs and processes. She is particularly interested in the methodologies of research priority setting, and in how CCI can drive health equity in clinical trials.

Associate Professor Lauren Kearney is a registered midwife and nurse and is employed as a Conjoint Associate Professor in Midwifery between the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, UQ and the Women's and Newborn Services, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital. Lauren’s teaching expertise is within the postgraduate and higher degree by research areas. Her research track record is strongly focused upon maternal and child health; specifically, within the domains of evaluation of models of care (relating to the perinatal period and early years), intravenous fluid management and access during labour and birth, and facilitators to promote a positive and physiological spontaneous vaginal birth. She is also committed to enhancing women's opportunity to breastfeed and thrive in the postpartum period. Lauren has strong industry collaborations. The recipient of several competitive research grants, Lauren is passionate about improving the experience of health care for women and children through translation of high-quality evidence into practice.

Dr Lisa McHugh is a perinatal and infectious diseases epidemiologist at the UQ School of Public Health. She is an Emerging Leader (EL1) NHMRC post-doctoral research Fellow and lead investigator on a 5-year Investigator Grant called 'VaxiMums'. The 'VaxiMums' program is evaluating maternal vaccination programs, pregnancy loss, and respiratory infections. Before her PhD she completed a Master of Philosophy in Applied Epidemiology (MAE prgram) at the ANU.

Lisa was an early career research Fellow in the NHMRC funded APPRISE Centre for Research Excellence, that investigated the impact of influenza and whooping cough (pertussis) vaccinations recommended in pregnant First Nations women, and identifyed key factors affecting their uptake in pregnancy. Lisa was also chief-investigator on a multi-jurisdictional NHMRC funded project called 'Links2HealthierBubs' which created the largest linked cohort of individual mother-infant pairs to investigate the uptake, safety and effectiveness of influenza and pertussis vaccines, and the geographical, ethnic and socio-economic influences of vaccine uptake. Lisa was a co-investigator on a NHMRC funded COVID-19 Real-time Information System for Preparedness and Epidemic Response (CRISPER) project, which developed an interactive dashboard that mapped COVID-19 cases, widely utilised by multiple state and terrirory public health users.

Lisa's research experience and interests include clinical midwifery, First Nations health, infectious diseases, pregnancy and birth outcomes, and maternal vaccination. She has been a member of the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) since 2014 and is currently an editor for the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health.