Biography

Dr Anthony Khoo is a jointly appointed Clinical Academic and Consultant Neurologist at Flinders University and the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network in South Australia. He trained in epilepsy and neuromuscular diseases at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London, UK, and completed his Doctor of Medicine (Research) at the world-leading UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology in London, before returning to Australia where he now delivers a specialist neurology and clinical neurophysiology service out of Flinders Medical Centre.

Alongside clinical responsibilities he is actively involved in postgraduate, prevocational and vocational medical education, in addition to investigator-led clinical and fundamental neuroscience research. He is the Clinical Partnership Lead of the Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute (FHMRI) and a member of the FHMRI Leadership Team.

Short project description

This project aims to develop a prospective seizure and epilepsy registry based in South Australia upon which to derive and develop practical, data-driven clinical decision-making tools for both First Seizure and epilepsy care. This will include clinical and demographic information collected as part of routine healthcare in addition to new and emerging neurophysiological and imaging techniques to evaluate an individual’s risk of further seizures and likelihood of response to different medical and surgical treatment options.

Biography

A/Prof Rob Commons is an infectious diseases and general medicine physician who completed his physician training in 2013 while concurrently undertaking a Masters of Public Health and Tropical Medicine through James Cook University.

His PhD, which he completed in 2019, investigated primaquine as a radical cure for Plasmodium vivax malaria through the Tropical Medicine and Global Health Division of Menzies.

He continues to research ways to improve P. vivax malaria radical cure, including through clinical trials, pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic studies, and large pooled individual patient data meta-analyses through an extended collaboration with the WorldWide Antimalarial Resistance Network (WWARN).

His research program aims to provide the evidence needed for guideline change in international and national malaria programs.

Short project description

There are 12 million cases of malaria caused by Plasmodium vivax each year. P. vivax malaria is difficult to treat as it can hide in the liver and cause relapsing infections. Previous treatments to prevent relapsing malaria required treatment for at least two weeks. New shorter treatments have been developed but there are concerns about how well they work and their safety in some people. My research aims to use unique data from recently completed clinical trials to extend these short course treatments to people with P. vivax malaria in Australia and internationally. Results will be immediately relevant to policymakers in countries with malaria and Australia.

Biography

Professor Sandawana William Majoni is a senior nephrologist, academic clinician, and health-service leader with extensive experience in renal medicine, Indigenous health, and medical education in the Northern Territory. He is a clinician-researcher focused on improving outcomes for people with chronic kidney disease and related conditions, including diabetes, cardiovascular, liver, and infectious diseases. His research is embedded in clinical practice and emphasizes translational impact, equitable access to kidney transplantation, and strong partnerships with consumers and First Nations communities.

Professor Majoni has conceived and led multiple major research initiatives, including co-leading the INFERR clinical trial, the first NT-based trial addressing anaemia management in First Nations people with chronic kidney disease, and serving as chief or site principal investigator on studies promoting culturally safe care. He holds specialist registration with AHPRA, is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the Royal College of Physicians (London) and completed a PhD in Nephrology and Indigenous Health at Charles Darwin University. He currently serves as Director of the Top End Renal Service, Chair of the RACP Nephrology Advanced Training Committee, co-founder of the NT Health–Menzies Renal Research Group, and Adjunct Professor at Charles Darwin University and the Menzies School of Health Research.

Short project description

In this project, I will work in partnership with Indigenous (First Nations) Reference Groups (IRGs) to translate findings from the INFERR clinical trial, which I co-led, into policy, practice, and community-relevant outcomes. The INFERR trial evaluated the safety and efficacy of intravenous iron therapy for people receiving dialysis who have anaemia and elevated ferritin levels. I will also evaluate and consolidate culturally appropriate approaches to partnering with First Nations peoples in clinical trials. Recruitment for INFERR was completed on 30 June 2025, with trial participant follow up closure on 31 December 2025. Between April 2026 and March 2027, six yarning workshops will be held with IRGs to co-develop frameworks for translating trial findings into clinical guidelines and policy. An experienced researcher will concurrently assess how the trial’s ways of working can inform best practice for conducting clinical research in genuine partnership with First Nations peoples.

Biography

Dr Anna Francis is a paediatric nephrologist and clinician researcher at Queensland Children’s Hospital, Australia. She completed her PhD at the University of Sydney on “Long-Term Outcomes of Chronic Kidney Disease in Childhood and Adolescence”. She also has a Masters in Clinical Epidemiology. Dr Francis is the current President of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Paediatric Nephrology and serves on the Council of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Nephrology. In 2020, Dr Francis was accepted into the inaugural International Society of Nephrology “Emerging Leaders” programme. Dr Francis became an associate editor for Kidney International Reports in 2021 and served on the KDIGO CKD Guidelines committee in 2024. Her key research interests are the life course impact of childhood CKD and optimising outcomes in paediatric kidney transplantation.

Short project description

My prior research has shown the leading causes of death for child and youth with kidney failure are cardiovascular disease, infection and cancer. The medical course leading to death is unclear, precluding the ability to target interventions to decrease the risk of adverse outcomes.

This world-first data linkage project will integrate the comprehensive kidney failure dataset (Australian and Zealand Dialysis and Transplant registry) with federal (cancer, death) and state (hospital admissions, emergency department presentations, perinatal) data.

I aim to:

a) define current morbidity and mortality for children and youth with kidney failure

b) characterise the impact of serious cardiovascular-, cancer-, mental health- and infection- related illnesses

c) identify modifiable risk factors for poor outcomes

d) explore patient important outcomes: focus on educational outcomes

The outcomes of this research program will define the lifetime disease burden of kidney failure in young people and identify modifiable risk factors for poor outcomes.

Biography

Dr Edmund Chung is an adult nephrologist at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney and postdoctoral researcher at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead. He was awarded his PhD from The University of Sydney in 2025 on membranous nephropathy, which was supported by the NHMRC Postgraduate Research Scholarship. He has established the Proteinuria Evaluation and Assessment for Cure and Health (PEACH) cohort across 6 hospitals in NSW to build a biobank of patient biospecimens to facilitate patient-focused research in glomerulonephritis. The Jacquot Research Establishment Fellowship will enable Dr Chung to study autoreactive T-cells and B-cells in patients with membranous nephropathy to better understand the mechanisms driving autoimmunity, improving disease classification, disease monitoring and identifying novel therapeutic targets. Ultimately, this will enable personalised treatments for patients with membranous nephropathy.

Short project description

Membranous nephropathy is a form of autoimmune kidney disease, which occurs when the immune system inappropriately makes antibodies that attack the kidney. Current treatments broadly suppress the immune system but are incompletely effective and toxic. Membranous nephropathy remains the second-to-third most common cause of kidney failure from autoimmune kidney disease worldwide with high rates of relapse and low rates of complete response.

The protein in the kidney targeted by antibodies in membranous nephropathy is known and my research will study the autoreactive B-cells that make antibodies targeting the kidney and autoreactive T-cells that help autoreactive B-cells. This will help us better understand how immune cells cause membranous nephropathy and lead to the development of better treatments and ways of monitoring treatment response. This will pave the way for a precision medicine approach, where patients will get the right treatment at the right time, resulting in more effective and safer treatments.

Biography 

I am a rheumatologist and clinician-scientist at the University of Melbourne, St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne and the Alfred Hospital Melbourne.

My research focusses on the impact of rare rheumatic diseases on individuals, with a focus on both systemic sclerosis/scleroderma and defining the cardiopulmonary manifestations of autoimmune disease.

I have developed expertise in complex data analysis, multidisciplinary collaborative research, and the resource-efficient repurposing of existing datasets to address key questions in rare rheumatic diseases, including novel collaborative postmortem studies of scleroderma, lupus and sarcoidosis.

My research contribution has been recognised nationally through prestigious awards including the Australian Rheumatology Association Early Career Research Excellence Award (2025), the Australian Rheumatology Association Best Clinical Poster Presentation Award (2025), the St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne Junior Investigator Award (2024), and the Australian Rheumatology Association Vic-Tas Annual Scientific Meeting Best Clinical Abstract Award (2024).

In addition, I am actively engaged in public rheumatology outpatient care, the supervision of physician trainees, and teaching and mentoring medical students and junior doctors to facilitate interest and engagement in both research and rheumatology.

Short project description

This project seeks to use Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) to address data sparsity issues in osteoarthritis research. Omics technologies explore the signals and proteins within a single cell, providing detailed insights into the drivers of conditions like osteoarthritis, however large amounts of data are required to account for heterogeneity between patient groups and joints. The utility of GenAI to amplify existing omics data will be explored, similar to applications tested in cancer research. This project aims to create EQ-OmicGPT, a genAI tool adapted from large-scale, open-source models, to amplify omics data for groups with osteoarthritis. Data produced will be used to explore the mechanisms of osteoarthritis development and progression, particularly in less well-understood patient groups and across different joints, to improve equity and efficiency in osteoarthritis research, and ultimately aiming to inform the development of new biomarkers and treatments.

Biography

Dr Lucy McGrath-Cadell, BAppSc(Physiotherapy)(Hons1), MBBS, MPH, FRACP, is an early-career clinician-scientist based at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute (VCCRI) and University of NSW (UNSW), Sydney. Her research focuses on spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) and arteriopathies, and she was integral in establishing the VCCRI Arteriopathies and SCAD Cohort (VASC) during her FRACP physician and cardiology training at St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney (2015-2021). Dr McGrath-Cadell's PhD into the molecular mechanisms of SCAD was supervised by Professors Bob Graham and Jason Kovacic and made important contributions toward understanding familial SCAD and aortic dissection, SCAD and connective tissue disorders and the contribution of coronary artery anatomy and haemodynamics in SCAD. During her PhD she was supported by a UNSW University Postgraduate Award, Avant Doctor in Training Research Scholarship Grant, NHMRC Postgraduate Scholarship and Heart Foundation PhD Scholarship.

Dr McGrath-Cadell looks forward to pursing a research and clinical career in molecular cardiology, cardiogenetics, arteriopathies, cardiovascular imaging and women’s heart health.

Short project description

Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is a condition which presents as a heart attack affecting women in more than 90% of cases, who are relatively young compared with other heart attack sufferers. It is caused by a bleed in the heart artery wall. The best treatment options are not known and we may be doing harm to some patients with this condition, especially with blood thinner medications. Rare genetic changes account for a small proportion of the risk of SCAD and common genetic changes account for a lot of the risk. There are other environmental risk factors including hormonal, emotional and physical stressors.

This project uses genetic analysis to:

1) Genetically assess the subset of patients with SCAD who have younger age of onset and pregnancy-related SCAD.

2) Assess how genetics affects the metabolism of medications commonly prescribed in patients with SCAD.

Biography

Dr Wong is a dual-trained Palliative Care Physician and Medical Oncologist, and an Early Career Researcher. He leads the Palliative Care Clinical Trials at The Royal Melbourne Hospital and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, and is Deputy Chair of the National Cancer Symptom Trials Scientific Advisory Committee. His translational research explores innovative treatments and technologies to manage cancer symptoms, and he completed his PhD in the growing area of pharmacogenomics for cancer pain control. He has developed almost 10 investigator-initiated trials focusing on cancer related symptoms and palliative care.

Dr Wong has received over $5M in competitive research funding. His work has been recognised with awards such as the National Emerging Clinical Triallist Award (Cancer Symptom Trials Cooperative Group, 2025), Dean’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Research (University of Melbourne, 2024), NHMRC Postgraduate Scholarship (2022-2024), and the Picchi Excellence in Cancer Research Award as the Top PhD Student in Clinical Science (2023). He also teaches, supervises, and engages in community advocacy to improve cancer care outcomes.

Short project description

Cancer pain is the most common and feared cancer symptom. While opioids such as morphine are the cornerstone of treatment, over one-third of patients experience “opioid failure,” with poor pain relief or distressing side effects like vomiting or hallucinations. Currently, opioids are prescribed through trial-and-error, leading to unnecessary suffering, hospitalisations, and costs.

Our recent feasibility study identified new genetic biomarkers that may influence opioid response. Building on this, we propose a world-first Australian registry clinical trial to investigate genetic and protein pathways affecting pain relief and side effects. We will recruit participants across ten clinical sites to test how much these gene pathways affect pain relief and treatment-related side effects, and to develop biomarkers to inform future personalised prescribing.

By using a simple blood test to personalise opioid treatment, this study aims to transform pain management for the 150,000 Australians diagnosed with cancer each year—and millions worldwide.

Biography

Dr Matthew Georgiades is a Neurologist with a subspecialty focus in Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders. He has an interest in Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) therapy for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and related conditions and has completed a PhD at the University of Sydney. His research aims to understand abnormal brain signals that lead to gait dysfunction and freezing episodes in Parkinson’s disease with a view to improving patient outcomes after DBS therapy.

Short project description

Gait freezing in Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a common, disabling symptom where a person’s feet suddenly become frozen in place during walking, leading to falls, loss of independence and often necessitating institutional care. Unfortunately current treatments aren't always effective, including deep brain stimulation (DBS).

During my PhD, I used virtual reality during DBS surgery to capture and characterise abnormal brain signal recordings associated with gait freezing in real-time in people with PD.

Adaptive DBS is soon emerging in Australia and is already available in specialised centres overseas. These systems continuously record brain activity and automatically adjust stimulation in real-time to target specific symptoms. I will study adaptive DBS systems tuned to patients’ individual brain signatures to improve gait and freezing. Building on my prior work identifying neural signatures of freezing across contexts, this research offers a promising, personalised approach to restoring mobility and quality of life for people with PD.

Biography 

Dr Chanukya Colonne, BSc(Adv) MBBS PhD FRACP FRCPA is a dual-trained specialist in clinical and laboratory haematology and a clinician-scientist. Her research focuses on developing cellular immunotherapies for acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). She is a postdoctoral research fellow in Professor Cameron Turtle’s laboratory at the University of Sydney, where she engineers next-generation chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells designed to overcome immunosuppression in the tumour microenvironment. This fellowship supports her work to develop TGF-β–resistant CAR-T cells, with the goal of nominating a lead candidate for future early-phase clinical trials in AML. Through this research, she seeks to bridge laboratory discovery and clinical application, advancing innovative immunotherapies to improve outcomes for patients with high-risk haematological malignancies.

Short project description

Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is an aggressive blood cancer with poor outcomes, particularly for patients whose disease relapses after standard treatment. Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy is an emerging form of immunotherapy in which a patient’s own T cells are genetically engineered to recognise and destroy cancer cells. While CAR-T therapy has shown major success in some blood cancers, it has not yet been effective in AML.

A key reason for this is the immunosuppressive bone marrow environment in AML, which weakens T cell function. A major contributor to this suppression is the cytokine TGF-β. This project will develop next-generation CAR-T cells that are resistant to TGF-β–mediated dysfunction while targeting the AML-associated antigen CLL-1. Engineered CAR-T designs will be tested in laboratory models to identify those with improved anti-leukaemia activity. The findings will inform the development of improved CAR-T therapies for AML and support future clinical translation in Australia.

Biography

Diana is Deputy Co-Lead of the DIABETES Across the LIFECOURSE: Northern Australia Partnership at Menzies School of Health Research, and Endocrinologist and Clinical Lead – Diabetes at Royal Darwin and Palmerston Hospitals.

Diana’s research aims to improve health equity by working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, families and communities to reduce the risks of diabetes in pregnancy. Her research expertise includes mixed-methods, implementation science, co-design methodologies, diabetes and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health.

For Diana's PhD (awarded 2025) she led the mixed-methods evaluation of a complex health systems intervention to improve care for diabetes in pregnancy. For this work, she earned a Charles Darwin University PhD Excellence Award, and was nominated for the Australian Diabetes Society President's Young Investigator Award.

Her work has informed care regionally, nationally and internationally. In Diana’s clinical work she provides care across a broad spectrum of endocrine conditions, with particular areas of interest including diabetes, weight management, endocrine conditions in pregnancy and gender affirming care.

She is a member of the Australian Diabetes Society's Clinical Advisory Committee and In-Hospital Diabetes Management Sub-Committee, the NT Diabetes Network and Maternal and Newborn Network, and co-Chairs the NT Gender Affirming Care Network.

Short project description

Innovative strategies are needed to address the diabetes epidemic affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Reducing diabetes risks during a woman’s childbearing years are crucial: if a woman has high blood sugars during her pregnancy, both she and her children are at high risk of diabetes and associated problems long-term. Current approaches to diabetes education are often ineffective, being inappropriate to the culture and context of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. This study builds on the existing Maningrida Healthy Women’s Project, a holistic community-based diabetes risk-reduction program in the largest remote NT community. Messages will be developed in collaboration with local women which promote health and wellbeing and reduce the risk of diabetes among Aboriginal women of childbearing age. The messages will support better health outcomes for women and their children through enhancing understanding of diabetes and providing a sense of empowerment and self-determination.

Biography

Dr Bianca Middleton is a paediatrician and senior research fellow with the Menzies School of Health Research in Darwin, Northern Territory. She is committed to improving the health and wellbeing of children living in rural and remote northern Australia through research, clinical and public health work. Her research program centres on reducing the burden of vaccine preventable diseases, with a particular focus on optimising immunisation schedules and promoting immunisation uptake for children in the Northern Territory.

Short project description

Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) respiratory infections are a leading cause of hospitalisation for young children worldwide. First Nations children living in the Northern Territory have among the world’s highest RSV burden, with up to 8% of children from remote Central Australian communities admitted to hospital with RSV respiratory infections in their first twelve months of life.

The THRIVE study is a NHMRC-funded adaptive clinical trial which will evaluate the effectiveness of routinely administering a dose of the new RSV immunisation product, RSV-specific monoclonal antibody nirsevimab, from 6 months old, vs standard care, for reducing the burden of RSV respiratory infections among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in the first and second year of life.

This pragmatic clinical trial with real-world outcomes will help guide RSV immunisation policy for First Nations children living in rural and remote northern Australia.

Biography

Dr Bernadette Prentice is a Staff Specialist Paediatric Respiratory Physician at Sydney Children’s Hospital where she is Co-Head of Department. Dr Prentice has a Master’s of Public Health and is a Conjoint Senior Lecturer at The University of New South Wales- Sydney. Dr Prentice has a PhD in Cystic Fibrosis that was funded by a National Health and Medical Research Council postgraduate scholarship and she has recently been awarded the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network/ Kids Research Clinician Researcher Fellowship funded by the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation. Dr Prentice has recently completed her tenure as Cystic Fibrosis Centre Director and Bronchiectasis lead at Sydney Children’s Hospital. She is passionate about health equity and quality of life for children with chronic lung conditions and their families. When she is not at work, Dette enjoys exploring the beaches of Sydney with her husband and three children.

Short project description

Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a genetic condition that results in recurrent lung infections and early mortality. Unfortunately, some patients with CF also develop diabetes(CFRD), and when this occurs patients with CFRD will develop more serious and frequent infections and die even younger. Fortunately, there are new medications for patients with CF that can improve the function of the lungs, but this medication is not known to prevent diabetes from occurring. This study includes (1)an analysis of the Australian Cystic Fibrosis Data registry to compare the outcomes of patients with and without CFRD; (2) an evaluation of the registry itself to ensure that data collected includes measures of potential CFRD long-term complications. It is critical that we undertake this research so that we can ensure that all Australian patients with CF have access to life prolonging therapies and that we have a nation-wide systematic approach to monitoring for CFRD-related complications.

Biography

Sarah Catford is an endocrinologist and andrologist at The Royal Women’s Hospital and Alfred Hospital in Melbourne. Following a two-year andrology fellowship at the Hudson Institute of Medical Research, she completed a PhD in male infertility in 2021, which involved an NHMRC funded study on the health of ICSI-conceived young men. She is a post-doctorate fellow at the Hudson Institute of Medical Research where she continues her research interests in male infertility.

Short project description

This study will address an important knowledge gap about effective treatments for male infertility. It will evaluate whether clomiphene improves sperm quantity and quality in men with unexplained infertility and low sperm counts.

Eligible men will be recruited from fertility outpatient clinics in Melbourne and participants will be randomised to clomiphene or placebo for 6 months. Both groups will receive a men’s fertility multivitamin (Menevit). Participants and researchers will be blinded to the intervention. Participants will undergo baseline blood reproductive hormone levels and semen analyses. During and on completion of the study, participants will complete surveys, blood and semen tests. Follow-up surveys will collect data 3 months after completion. An optional item includes collection of saliva for future genetic studies on targeted genes that may predict response to clomiphene. Sperm parameters and hormone levels will be compared before and after intervention in each group and between groups.

Biography

Dr Heidi Beadnall is a Staff Specialist Neurologist at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and Clinical Lecturer at the Brain and Mind Centre, the University of Sydney. She is also an investigator in the Multiple Sclerosis Clinical Trials Unit based at the Brain and Mind Centre. Her main areas of subspecialty interest are multiple sclerosis and neuroimmunology. In 2019 she was awarded a PhD in the use of quantitative magnetic resonance imaging brain atrophy measurement techniques in real-world multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, with regard to clinical correlations and use in MS clinical practice. Currently she is on the MSBase Imaging Repository (MSBIR) Project Control Board and manages MSBIR Clinical Site Integration. She is the current Chair of the Multiple Sclerosis Australia Research Management Council and is a member of the MSBase Senior Leadership Group.

Short project description

Dr Heidi Beadnall is a Staff Specialist Neurologist at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and Clinical Lecturer at the Brain and Mind Centre, the University of Sydney. She is also an investigator in the Multiple Sclerosis Clinical Trials Unit based at the Brain and Mind Centre. Her main areas of subspecialty interest are multiple sclerosis and neuroimmunology. In 2019 she was awarded a PhD in the use of quantitative magnetic resonance imaging brain atrophy measurement techniques in real-world multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, with regard to clinical correlations and use in MS clinical practice. Currently she is on the MSBase Imaging Repository (MSBIR) Project Control Board and manages MSBIR Clinical Site Integration. She is the current Chair of the Multiple Sclerosis Australia Research Management Council and is a member of the MSBase Senior Leadership Group.

Biography

Stacie Wang is a paediatric oncologist at the Children's Cancer Centre, The Royal Children's Hospital.

Stacie grew up in Adelaide and moved to Melbourne for her medical studies at the University of Melbourne, obtaining her MBBS/BMedSci in 2009. She completed her fellowship in training in paediatric haematology/oncology at the RCH.

During her fellowship, she cultivated a keen interest in immunotherapy, and became very interested in the concept of harnessing a patient’s own immune system to fight their own cancer. As such, she undertook a PhD in immunotherapy at the Walter and Eliza Hall in 2018. Stacie’s PhD focused on Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy, a branch of immunotherapy that engineers a patient’s T cells to be able to specifically recognise and kill the cancer cells in their body. CAR-T cell therapy has been extremely successful in leukaemia, but applying this revolutionary ‘fourth pillar’ of cancer therapy to brain cancers has been less successful to date.

Stacie’s primary interests are in:

1) improving the way we currently deliver CAR T cell therapy to children with leukaemia in Australia, and

2) broadening the utility of CAR T cell therapy to other children with poor prognosis cancers, in particular brain tumours.

Short project description

CAR T-cell therapy uses a child’s own immune system to fight cancer and is currently only available in Australia for certain leukaemias. I will create a national database of clinical data to improve how this therapy is given. Using my laboratory skills alongside my clinical knowledge, I will also design safety experiments and coordinate targeted testing, to translate new lab-designed CAR T cells for hard-to-treat cancers like brain tumours into clinical trial, aiming to make CAR T-cell therapy safer and available to more children.

Biography

Gergely's research primarily focuses on early life development of the immune response and understanding the immunological background of complications affecting preterm and term neonates as well as pregnant women. He also has significant results on the pathomechanism of various autoimmune disorders. He contributed to developing novel flow cytometry based diagnostic and experimental methods. In his clinical role, he works as a consultant neonatologist at Starship NICU, Auckland, New Zealand. He is a keen advocate for training the next generation of clinician scientists. He has demonstrated significant public outreach engagement.

Short project description

Breastfeeding has historically been essential for providing optimal nutrition and strengthening infants’ immune systems. Human breast milk is a dynamic and complex fluid that delivers a variety of cells and substances from the mother to the newborn. Among these are regulatory T cells (Tregs), a subset of immune cells vital for maintaining immune balance. An imbalance or dysfunction in Tregs can lead to immunological issues in infants and immune-mediated diseases like allergies and autoimmune disorders later in life. The development of these cells in early life remains largely unexplored. Using specific mouse models and leveraging samples from human cohorts, we aim to investigate whether breastfeeding transfers maternal Tregs to the infant, a process known as microchimerism. This research will uncover a novel immunological connection between mother and child via breastfeeding. Our findings could identify new strategies for treating immunological complications in infants and addressing immune disorders later in life.

Biography

Dr. Malik is a cardiologist/electrophysiologist in Adelaide, Australia. He is clinical senior lecturer at the University of Adelaide and staff specialist at Lyell McEwin Hospital.

Dr. Malik received his medical degree from The University of Western Australia (Perth, Australia). He obtained Fellowship of the Royal Australian College of Physicians (adult cardiology) and completed a Fellowship in cardiac electrophysiology and pacing at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, Australia. Together with this, he obtained his PhD degree from the University of Adelaide (Professor Prashanthan Sanders). He was research faculty at UCLA (2023-2024) in Professor Kalyanam Shivkumar's lab (UCLA Cardiac Arrhythmia Centre and The Neurocardiology Program of Excellence). His scientific work has been awarded several Australian and International awards including the Heart Rhythm Society’s Young Investigator Award (Clinical Research) and JACC Clinical Electrophysiology best author award. His clinical interests include catheter ablation of ventricular arrhythmias and autonomic neuromodulation, atrial fibrillation, management of dysautonomias and device implantation.

His research goals are to delineate the role that the autonomic nervous system plays in the mechanism of cardiac arrhythmias and to develop novel therapeutic strategies harnessing brain-heart nerves. He serves as editorial board member (Heart Rhythm 02) and has authored chapters in pre-eminent cardiology textbooks.

Short project description

Dementia causes poor health and quality of life. It is a leading cause of death in Australia. Atrial fibrillation (AF), an irregular heart beat, is the commonest heart rhythm disorder in Australia and worldwide. Both chronic diseases are set to surge, with an expected doubling in prevalence of each by 2050. AF increases in older adults, where it is an independent risk factor for dementia, though the mechanism remains unknown. Both dementia and AF are associated with decreases in brain blood flow but what the abnormality is and how it can be rectified remains unknown. We propose a mechanism for dementia in AF: a key deficit (we first identified) in heart-brain nerves that also govern brain blood flow. Our finding was included in the latest international AF management guidelines. We aim to find a mechanistic target and propose to develop new bioelectric technology, restoring these nerves, to treat AF-related dementia.

Biography

Dr Pupalan (Balan) Iyngkaran (FRACP, MBBS, PhD) is a consultant cardiologist and specialist in heart failure and imaging. Balan started his cardiology training (FRACP) at the Queen Elizabeth, SA and National Heart Centre, Singapore. He completed all training including echocardiography fellowship, MRI training at Flinders Medical Centre and CT training via Monash Heart. Balan has over 20 years clinical experience, and also extensive experience with valvular, structural heart diseases and heart failure while working in rural communities in Alice Springs and Darwin, NT.

Balan has over 20 years of heart failure research participation, starting with Prof Henry Krum and currently in improving heart failure and community chronic disease programs with Torrens University. He lecturers postgraduate students at Notre Dame University, Balan has completed his PhD in chronic disease self-management in heart failure, has won grants from the Heart Foundation, RACP, Australian government and local communities. Balan presents internationally, has published over 60 papers, book chapters and abstracts.

Outside work Balan enjoys spending time with his wife, Sandy and driving his two children to various activities. His other hobbies include regular walks and board games with friends.

Short project description

The study aims to implement and evaluate a heart specialists led model to provide comprehensive heart failure care, in addressing patients ability to self-manage. The model will be implemented within patients daily routines, interacting with health services and must address important realities: it must fit into the Medicare funding scheme; it must be able to rapidly assess patient at high risk for poor self-management (our team has published on a successful rapid self-management screening tool); it must communicate findings to general practitioners and patients health team; and it must identify community supports for patients that still lag.

This research could benefit, patients and health services. Improving patients abilities to monitor, create goals and co-manage health care, could address vital resource issue and strain in our health system.

Community specialist led, health team supported, patient self-management, is a novel approach to improving patient outcomes and health resourcing.