Dr James Best is an award-winning GP who developed a special interest in autism, after his youngest son Sam was diagnosed in 2004. In 2017 his book, Sam’s Best Shot, chronicled a 6-month backpacking journey he and Sam undertook around Africa, which was also featured on Australian Story. James is an experienced GP who moved from Sydney to the Shoalhaven in 2018. He has a special interest in children’s health, particularly behavourial issues, parenting and autism. James is the Chair of the Child and Young Person Health Network, within the RACGP. Having a keen interest in GP education James has previously won the title of RACGP Supervisor of the Year.

Dr Anastasia Powell is Professor of Family & Sexual Violence, in Criminology & Justice Studies at RMIT University, specialising in policy responses, legal reform and primary prevention of sexual and family violence against women. Dr Powell has published widely in these fields, including eight books, and has contributed to policy specific research on violence against women for the Victorian State and Australian Commonwealth Governments. Dr Powell holds national leadership roles both as a director of Our Watch, and as an expert member of the Domestic, Family & Sexual Violence Working Group of the National Women’s Safety Alliance (NWSA). Her recent research has examined technology-facilitated abuse and includes national projects funded by Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS) and the Criminology Research Council. Currently she is a Chief Investigator on an Australian Research Council funded Discovery Project investigating sexualised deepfakes.

Dr. Rosanne Freak-Poli is a life-course epidemiologist. Her work is strongly driven by social justice, being the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. Worldwide #44 top-ranked expert in Loneliness. #6 in Australia and #8 in the Netherlands. Plus top-ranked in Australia and the Netherlands in Social Isolation (#6), Widowhood (#11), Optimism (#13), Social support (#14), Marital status (#16), Social Environment (#21), Happiness (#34), and Social conditions (#58). Rosanne is a Senior Research Fellow at the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine and a newly appointed role (2023) at the School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health. Rosanne continues her independent research program (ongoing from successful NHMRC and Heart Foundation fellowships) and initiates new initiatives with A/Prof Kilkenny in the Big Data, Epidemiology and Prevention Division. Rosanne has a background in public health, statistics, and psychology and has experience in government, hospital, and university research settings. Rosanne’s Ph.D. (Epidemiology) evaluated the impact of a physical activity intervention in the workplace, which has been described in a Scientific Statement as one of only a few interventions that decrease or interrupt sedentary behaviour in the work environment to improve metabolic risk. Rosanne’s Ph.D. findings have informed a mandated, comprehensive clinical practice guideline for the 70+ million obese Americans; an Evidence Check for the development and implementation of workplace programs, brokered by the NSW Ministry; and clinical guidelines (e.g. appropriate anthropometric indices for South Asians by World Health Organization to assess adiposity health risk among nearly 2 billion worldwide). In 2013 Rosanne was awarded an NHMRC Early Career Research Fellowship (2013-2018) to investigate the relationship between happiness and health. This award provided an international residency in The Netherlands to gain access to The Rotterdam Study, a longitudinal database following 15,000 older adults. Her research aimed to gain a better understanding of the interaction between psychological and physical health – an important aspect for government resource allocation. For example, depression after a cardiovascular disease event is commonly considered a risk-factor for increased mortality. However, Rosanne demonstrated that the cardiovascular disease event was inflating already high levels of depressive symptoms that were present prior. Rosanne also demonstrated that being “unhappy” does not necessarily contribute to cardiovascular disease, which led to a re-evaluation of prior dogma, as evidenced by discussion in 9 books including by a prominent social epidemiologist. Rosanne’s NHMRC ECR research also has impacted international tertiary psychology courses; impacted global policy (e.g. United Nations World Bank report to address the 11,200+ premature deaths, 60% among children <5y, from air pollution in Lagos, Nigeria); local national policy (e.g. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s policy to reduce the 1.2 million, or 1 in 20, people in Australia with diabetes); and evidence-based guidelines (e.g. diabetes among older people, by UK government). In 2018 Rosanne was awarded a National Heart Foundation of Australia Postdoctoral Fellowship (2018-2022) to investigate social isolation as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease in an Australian setting. Rosanne has made an internationally significant and impactful contribution to understanding the population impact of social health. She has progressed the field by examining the social health components of social isolation, social support, and loneliness separately. Rosanne has demonstrated that social health is associated with a greater severity of chronic disease risk-factors1 and lower quality of life2,3; increased risk of cardiovascular disease4,5 and dementia6,7; and high-intensity healthcare services (i.e., nursing home, rather than rehabilitation, or outpatient), lower outpatient rehabilitation attendance, greater rehospitalization, worse mental health and poorer survival during cardiovascular disease recovery8,9. Rosanne’s Heart Foundation Postdoctoral research has been highlighted in an Editorial as having direct clinical implications through improving current cardiovascular disease risk prediction practices. Rosanne has been the recipient of a number of awards including a BUPA Emerging Health Researcher Commendation Award, Doctoral Program Excellence Award, and a competitive World Health Organization Internship in Geneva, Switzerland. Rosanne's work has had immeasurable media attention, including live national interview (Studio10), national news (6pm 7NEWS, SBS News radio, 7am ABC Radio reaching 1,136,600 people, WSFM 101.7 Sydney iHeartRadio), and local outlets (ABC Radio Melbourne reaching 94,000 people). Additionally written media span different target groups, including Medical Journal of Australia InSight+ “Take socialising seriously for your patients’ survival”; Loneliness can be a health hazard. Manu's garden project offers a solution; Social isolation linked to lower brain volume; Isolation and loneliness linked to mortality; Loneliness link to heart disease in older Australians downloaded nearly 60,000 times; I don't think lonely could apply to me, I was wrong; The case that exercise cuts depression is stronger than ever; Two million Australians feel isolated at Christmas, Salvation Army says; Mental Health During The Festive Season; Encouraging older Australians to connect this festive season. Rosanne's involvement in numerous research projects has given her a strong understanding of project design, implementation, post-production and completion and has had extensive experience with current advanced statistical analysis techniques and methodologies. From prior work she has research strengths in sexual behaviour, chronic disease risk, sleep, physical activity and intervention evaluation. While Rosanne’s focus is upon active ageing, she has a passion for longitudinal analysis, knowledge translation and program evaluation that is inclusive of a wider range of health areas and age groups. Her aim is to utilise epidemiological theory, biostatistical application and knowledge of human psychology to give a more comprehensive picture of health issues.

Dr Jenny Mackay is Principal Lecturer (forensic psychology/forensic mental health) with responsibility for outreach and student volunteering. Jenny is a Fellow of Advance HE and Chartered Psychologist. She teaches on both the undergraduate and postgraduate psychology courses in specialist areas related to forensic mental health, trauma, and offending behaviour. Jenny leads the PriSim (prison simlutation) lab at Nottingham Trent University, a mock prison cell that is an experiential learning space. Jenny has worked with vulnerable clients in a range of settings, both forensic and non-forensic. She has delivered substance misuse work, offending behaviour programmes and psychological one-to-one work in prisons with adults and young adults. She has worked in a Secure Children’s Home with 10-17 year olds who have offended or who are considered ‘at risk’. Jenny also worked inthe NHS, for the Probation Service, as a Project and Policy officer for an adult education research charity and has delivered workshops for expectant and new parents. Jenny is currently a Trustee for YMCA Leicestershire.

Benjamin Bavinton has worked at the Kirby Institute in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at UNSW Sydney since 2010 and is currently a Senior Research Fellow and Group Leader of the Biobehavioural Prevention Research Group within the HIV Epidemiology and Prevention Program. The focus of his research is the behavioural and epidemiological aspects of HIV prevention among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men and transgender women in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. Both in Australia and internationally, he has worked in HIV prevention for nearly 20 years in the areas of community education, policy, capacity development, and research. He was Project Leader of the Opposites Attract Study, an international cohort study of HIV treatment-as-prevention in male serodiscordant couples. He currently conducts projects on monitoring, implementing and scaling up oral and injectable forms of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in Australia and Asia, identifying gaps in HIV prevention in Australia, and understanding sexual behaviour of among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men and transgender women in Australia and the Asia-Pacific. He is the Kirby Institute’s senior investigator on Australia’s national HIV behavioural surveillance system, The Gay Community Periodic Surveys.

A/Prof Liz Sturgiss is a specialist general practitioner, NHMRC Investigator and primary care researcher. Liz is an Associate Professor (Research) in the School of Primary and Allied Health Care, Monash University, and Visiting Fellow at The Australian National University. Liz has experience in implementation research in primary care with expertise in the complex area of obesity management. Liz leads an emerging research program on the management of complex and stigmatised health issues in primary care focusing on translating guidelines into real-world practice. Her research is based on theoretical principles from behaviour change and implementation science. She is a practising GP caring for people with substance dependence and complex multi-morbidity. Prior to her specialist training in general practice, Liz was a Sexual Health registrar in Canberra and also achieved her fellowship in Forensic Medicine in 2015. As a clinician-researcher, she has extensive networks with clinical primary care colleagues and in her representative roles with primary care organisations.

Dr Scoullar is an international health specialist, General Paediatrician, and Senior Research Fellow at the Burnet Institute. Dr Scoullar’s research is focused on issues of health equity and improving pregnancy and child health outcomes. She leads the paediatric component of a long COVID specialist clinic, providing evidence-based care to children and adolescents with Long COVID.

Dr Gabriela Khoury is an emerging research leader in clinical and translational immunology with expertise in T-cell biology, infectious diseases and immunodeficiency. She has worked across the different stages of the translational pipeline and has a first-hand understanding of what is required to move fundamental research into the clinic. Prior to pursuing her PhD studies on how and where HIV persists during antiretroviral therapy (ART), Dr Khoury worked in the pharmaceutical industry. There she conducted pre-clinical studies on novel compounds which target unique stages of HIV replication. The lead compound from this work has now completed Phase 2/2a clinical trials in people living with HIV and/or HCV. In 2020 Dr Khoury joined the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute where she led COVID-19 clinical studies assessing immunity post-infection and vaccine responses in different cohorts. Dr Khoury has established a collaborative network with clinicians from Monash and Alfred Health. In 2023 Dr Khoury joined the Burnet Institute as the Antiviral Immunity Theme lead. Her team focuses on studying antiviral responses against infections and vaccination to viruses like SARS-CoV-2, Influenza and Mpox. Dr Khoury contributes to the broader fields of immunology and infection both nationally and internationally through different professional and community outreach activities, including as a council member at the Australian and New Zealand Society for Immunology (ASI), various committee memberships (at ASI, VIIN, IUIS), as an Associate Editor (CTI), in peer review and in the IAS Abstract Mentor Program. Dr Khoury is passionate about promoting immunology to the public through science outreach and engagement programs in her past roles as the ASI Day of Immunology coordinator and social media manager. In 2019, she led the successful prize-winning campaign for the ‘Best International Day of Immunology Campaign’ awarded by the International Union of Immunological Societies. As a first generation Australian Dr Gabriela Khoury is passionate about increasing diversity in STEM fields and creating opportunities for school students to learn science and undergraduates to gain experience in the lab.

Associate Professor Lata Vadlamudi is a Senior Staff Specialist in Neurology at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Epileptologist within the Comprehensive Epilepsy Program, Metro North Clinician Research Fellow, and Brain, Neurology and Mental health Theme Leader at the University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research.
She obtained her medical degree from the University of Queensland and completed physician training in the field of Neurology. Further specialized training in epilepsy was undertaken in Melbourne, Sydney and the Mayo Clinic, USA. Her PhD was obtained from the University of Melbourne.
Clinical interests include management of women with epilepsy, particularly during pregnancy with a dedicated women and epilepsy clinic. Other interests include integrating genomics into clinical care with current research projects including developing a Queensland neuro-genomics service to underpin the era of precision-based medicine; and an MRFF-funded project personalising epilepsy regimes with stem cells and artificial intelligence models for superior treatment outcomes.

Breast sonographer and mammographer at Breast Imaging Victoria

Dr Rebecca Szabo is a specialist obstetrician/gynaecologist, medical educator and simulation expert. She is an honorary senior lecturer at The University of Melbourne in the Departments of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Newborn Health and the Department of Critical Care. She is the lead of the Gandel Simulation Service a translational simulation service based at the Women’s in partnership with The University of Melbourne and has a Masters of Clinical Education focused on simulation and is a PhD Candidate exploring implementation of simulation in hospitals focused on health systems integration, quality improvement and patient safety. She is the Chair of The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) Simulation Training Advisory Group. Rebecca has been an instructor for the AMaRE / Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics (ALSO) program for over 10 years and was the Chair of the Board 2021-2023. She has experience working and teaching across Australia, Thailand and Mongolia and is passionate about healthcare access, safety and equity. In 2020 Rebecca was a member of the infection prevention mechanisms subgroup of the the Victorian statewide Healthcare Worker Infection Prevention and Wellbeing Taskforce for education and simulation expertise. Her work and research has focused on maternity care and safety, simulation and training, science communication and education.

Jessica is an ICU nurse with with over 14 years experience in oncology, intensive care and surgical settings. She is an experienced educator and has taught a variety of topics, including research design, critical care skills. Jessica has held appointments in the university and healthcare sector, including leading strategy and clinical outcomes research at a large tertiary hospital. Formal qualifications – Jessica holds a number of postgraduate degrees. Masters in Nursing (Advanced Practice), Graduate Certificate in Critical Care, PhD in Medicine, Graduate Certificate Science Communication. Jessica’s areas of research include exploring human interactions with artificial representations of reality, specifically the impact on engagement related to authenticity. Her interest areas include how learning activities shape patient outcomes, with a particular focus on stereotyping versus individual design.