Experts

Healthed work with a team of general practitioners and medical professionals to ensure the highest quality education​

Dr Hannah-Claire Koblar is a graduate of the University of Adelaide and currently works as a GP at Blackwood Clinic where she has a special interest in women’s health and paediatrics, having undertaken the Women’s Health Certificate and Diploma of Child Health during her hospital years at the Lyell McEwin Hospital. She also works at Shine SA providing sexual health and contraceptive care to Adelaideans and has previously worked at Flinders Medical Centre as part of their Obstetric Shared Care program which involved GPs facilitating outpatient management of higher risk pregnant women. She has recently become an IUD Insertion Trainer.
Dr Whitburn works at Sexual Health Victoria and Belmore Road Medical Centre. She holds a fellowship of the RACGP, a diploma from RANZCOG and a diploma in Sexual and Reproductive Health care. She is interested in Women’s health across all ages but in her clinical work focuses on menopause, midlife health and vulval medicine. Dr Hannah-Claire Koblar is a graduate of the University of Adelaide and currently works as a GP at Blackwood Clinic where she has a special interest in women’s health and paediatrics, having undertaken the Women’s Health Certificate and Diploma of Child Health during her hospital years at the Lyell McEwin Hospital. She also works at Shine SA providing sexual health and contraceptive care to Adelaideans and has previously worked at Flinders Medical Centre as part of their Obstetric Shared Care program which involved GPs facilitating outpatient management of higher risk pregnant women.
Dr Fiona Foo is a General Clinical and Interventional Cardiologist. As one of <20 female Interventional Cardiologists in Australia, she is one of the first South East Asian Female to have qualified as an Interventional Cardiologist in Australia. At her clinics, she is able to provide the full range of cardiac services. She has interests in Interventional cardiology and has extensive experience in performing Coronary Angiography, Angioplasty and Stents. She also has interests in Women and Heart Disease; Sports Cardiology; Climate Change and Cardiovascular Disease; and Preoperative Cardiac assessment of patients prior to Non cardiac surgery. She promotes an Active and Healthy Lifestyle to her patients. She is also passionate about International probono aid work, particularly in Fiji and Nepal.
Robert Norman is Professor of Reproductive and Periconceptual medicine at the University of Adelaide and was the founding director of the Robinson Research Institute, which commenced in 2008. He was also the founder of two fertility companies which were associated with the University (Repromed and FertilitySA). He is a clinician scientist interested in periconception medicine, infertility, polycystic ovary syndrome and the role of nutrition in reproduction. He has served on several NHMRC committees including the research committee (from 2008 to present) and the embryo licensing committee (from 2008 to present). He was on the SRB committee for several years, has been President of the Asia-Pacific Initiative and Reproduction (ASPIRE) as well as being President of the Androgen Excess PCOS society. As a leader in the University of Adelaide’s School of Paediatrics and Reproductive health, he has encouraged many reproductive biologist scientists and reproductive medicine clinicians in their research interests over the past 25 years through mentorship, supervision and redirection of profits from the fertility companies into research and innovation. He was awarded the ASRM’s distinguished researcher award in 2013 and an Order of Australia (AO) in the same year for services to research in reproductive medicine and biology. Dr Anju Joham is a Senior Research Fellow at Monash at the Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation, Monash University. She is an endocrinologist at Monash Health, Melbourne. Dr Joham was awarded her PhD focusing on Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, obesity and insulin resistance in 2015. Rhonda’s work is in public health and focused on the implementation of research outcomes. She has a strong focus on influencing systems-based change and the orientation of care to meet the needs of end-users. Her PhD was in the field of health literacy, and she co-delivers a unit in the Monash master’s program on implementation science.
Dr Jane Elliott has been a general practitioner in Adelaide for many years, with a special career interest in women’s health, including menopause and premature menopause. She is a clinical senior lecturer in the Discipline of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Adelaide and teaches medical students and GPs. She has been an investigator in clinical research trials in all areas of women’s health including menopause, contraception, osteoporosis and low libido. She currently consults at AWARE Women’s Health. Jane is a Past President of the Australasian Menopause Society. Rod Baber is Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at The University of Sydney and operates a specialist Gynaecology and Reproductive Endocrinology practice based on Sydney’s lower north shore. He also heads the menopause and menstrual disorders clinic at Royal North Shore Hospital. Rod is a life member and Past President Australasian menopause Society as well as Past President International Menopause Society where he is also Honorary Life Member. Dr Terri Foran is a Sexual Health Physician and has a special interest in contraception, menopause issues and the management of sexually transmitted infections. She was previously the Medical Director of Family Planning NSW and is now in clinical practice in Darlinghurst. She is also engaged in both clinical and research work at the Royal Hospital for Women in Sydney. Dr Foran holds the position of Lecturer at the University of New South Wales in the School of Women’s and Children’s Health. She coordinates Phase 2 of their undergraduate Women’s Health program as well as supervising a number of modules in the Masters of Reproductive Medicine and Masters of Women’s Health Medicine Programs offered by UNSW.
Dr. Joanna Fong-Isariyawongse is an Associate Professor of Neurology at the University of Pittsburgh, with a strong emphasis on Sleep Medicine and sleep health advocacy. She possesses extensive knowledge and clinical expertise in sleep medicine, adeptly managing conditions such as sleep apnea, insomnia, and circadian rhythmic sleep disorders. Her dedication to sleep health advocacy is a cornerstone of her career. Dr. Fong-Isariyawongse’s advocacy extends beyond the medical sphere, targeting both the healthcare community and the wider public, with a particular focus on children, adolescents, first responders, and athletes at both student and professional levels. Her mission is to enhance understanding and awareness of the pivotal role of sleep in maintaining health, cognitive function, emotional stability, and life quality across all populations. Alongside her focus on sleep medicine, Dr. Fong-Isariyawongse also specializes in Epilepsy. Her expertise extends to the medical management of patients with epilepsy, including those seeking surgical evaluation for medically refractory epilepsy. She is an expert in critical care EEG and has been instrumental in overseeing the continuous critical care EEG monitoring service across multiple hospitals within the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) system. Her exceptional patient care was recognized when she received UPMC’s Excellence in Patient Experience Award in 2020, a prestigious accolade awarded to only 48 out of 7,600 physicians and advanced practice providers. Furthermore, her outstanding contributions to the field have been acknowledged by Pittsburgh Magazine, which has named her a Best Doctor annually since 2019. Education & Training: • Fellow, Cleveland Clinic – Cleveland, Ohio, Sleep Medicine Fellowship • Fellow, Cleveland Clinic – Cleveland, Ohio, Epilepsy Fellowship • Resident, Cleveland Clinic – Cleveland, Ohio, Neurology • Resident, Cleveland Clinic – Cleveland, Ohio, Preliminary Internal Medicine • M.D., The Ohio State University College of Medicine – Columbus, Ohio, Medicine • B.A., University of California, Berkeley – Berkeley, CA, Biochemistry & Molecular Cell Biology
Lauren Butler is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and serves as an Assistant Professor in the Nutrition and Foods Program at Texas State University. Butler holds a doctoral degree in Nutrition from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health, where she was trained as a nutrition epidemiologist. Butler completed postdoctoral work with the University of Florida’s Health Disparities Research and Intervention Program, where she conducted community- engaged research and interventions. Butler’s research aims to advance social justice and health equity through weight-inclusive and non-diet behavioral health interventions. She utilizes a mixed methods systems-approach to develop population-specific strategies to eliminate weight stigma, heal body image and disordered eating behaviors, and improve cardiometabolic health among marginalized communities. Butler leads the Food Freedom Research Team through which she mentors graduate and undergraduate students to address internal and external fatphobia, healthism, ableism, racism, weight bias and mental health stigma. Her recent work includes understanding perspectives on using a weight-inclusive approach to address body image concerns and disordered eating among LGBTQ+ community members.
Dr Poulton is paediatrician specialising in treating children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). She studied medicine at Girton College Cambridge and Guy’s Hospital London, qualifying in 1982. After training in paediatrics in Stoke-on-Trent and Birmingham UK, she migrated to Australia. Alison completed her advanced training in Melbourne and Sydney and gained the FRACP in 1993. She works at Nepean Hospital, at Penrith Child and Youth Mental Health Service and in private practice in Penrith. Dr Poulton has also raised a family of four children. In 2011, Dr Poulton was awarded her MD from the University of Cambridge. This was based on research into the collateral effects of stimulant medication on children’s height, weight, physical maturity and body composition.
Eye physician and surgeon, Chris A. Knobbe, MD, had been in practice nearly 20 years when, in 2013, he asked himself the question, “Could macular degeneration be a ‘Westernized disease’? Could AMD be a disease that is the result of a Westernized diet?” That question would forever change his life. Dr. Knobbe began his practice of ophthalmology in 1994, after completing his residency training at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, in Denver, Colorado, USA. He was certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology in 1997 and has remained board-certified since then. In 2001, Dr. Knobbe was invited to become an Associate Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, in Dallas, Texas. He held that position until April 30, 2017, when he relinquished his position to lead Cure AMD Foundation™, the goal of which is to spread the message regarding he and his colleagues’ research and theory, prevent vision loss from AMD and, finally, to pursue additional research regarding Dr. Knobbe’s thesis. So how is it that Dr. Knobbe became a nutrition researcher — and developed this hypothesis — you ask? In 2011, when a few dietary changes drastically improved the arthritis that Dr. Knobbe had suffered with for more than 15 years, he was compelled to learn everything he could about nutrition. And that is how and why he eventually asked himself that critical question regarding the genesis and progression of macular degeneration. On February 25, 2015, after four years of nutrition research and enough compelling evidence to support his hypothesis that AMD was caused by “Westernization of the diet,” Dr. Knobbe left his full-time practice of general ophthalmology to pursue full-time investigative research on this very subject. It would be nearly a year-and-a-half of intensive study, research, investigation, interviews, and writing, before he had completed his research and was ready to deliver this scientific breakthrough to the world. That message would come in the form of presentations, a scientific paper, a book, and ultimately, the founding of this very organization. The hypothesis that Dr. Knobbe would proffer holds that macular degeneration, which is the leading cause of irreversible vision loss and blindness in developed nations, is not only preventable, but treatable in the early to moderate stages, with an ancestral diet. Research shows us that somewhere in the range of 190 million people currently are affected by AMD, worldwide. Yet, just a century ago, the disease was an extreme medical rarity, worldwide. If Dr. Knobbe’s hypothesis is correct, every single patient’s macular degeneration is caused by diet. And every single case of early to moderate dry AMD is treatable with diet. That’s right, every single one. And now it is the goal of Dr. Knobbe, affiliated colleagues, and the Cure AMD Foundation™ team, to bring this revolutionary hypothesis and research to you, for free (we have no markup on books, and ebooks are “sold” for the cost of a credit card transaction to maintain security).
Dr Sarah Hellewell is a Research Fellow at the Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University, and The Perron Institute for Neurological and Translational Science. Her research incorporates both clinical and preclinical research programs spanning the spectrum of brain injury severity, enabling her to rapidly identify clinical problems and translate “bedside to bench” and back again. Dr Hellewell’s clinical neuroimaging research focuses on the development and implementation of objective tools to quantify and monitor progression of brain pathology in concussion and neurodegenerative disease.
Dr Anju Joham is a Senior Research Fellow at Monash at the Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation, Monash University. She is an endocrinologist at Monash Health, Melbourne. Dr Joham was awarded her PhD focusing on Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, obesity and insulin resistance in 2015. During her PhD, she was involved in a mechanistic insulin resistance study that examined insulin resistance in lean and obese women with PCOS compared to controls. She also worked on a large epidemiological study, the ongoing Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health (ALSWH). Key areas examined were PCOS prevalence, key predictors of PCOS, the relationship of PCOS to obesity and reproductive and metabolic complications. Dr Joham was an awarded a NHMRC Early Career Fellowship to conduct her postdoctoral studies in the area of women’s health, with a particular focus on Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. In her postdoctoral studies, she worked with two large longitudinal cohort studies, the ALSWH and the Raine cohort from Western Australia to understand the interplay of body weight in the development of metabolic, reproductive and psychological sequelae in women with PCOS compared to women without PCOS, with the aim of studying the natural history of PCOS over the reproductive lifespan from adolescence, young adulthood to menopause. Dr Joham established a statewide multidisciplinary Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) Service based at Monash Health in 2018 in response to consumer needs identified following stakeholder engagement. She was involved in the international 2018 Evidence-Based Guideline for PCOS diagnosis and management guideline development group to provide the updated International guidelines and will be co-leading the upcoming guideline update.
Dr Chau Thien (Jillian) Tay is an endocrinologist and clinical academic. After obtaining her medical degree at the University of Tasmania, she completed her RACP Basic and Advanced Physician Training in Endocrinology rotating though Flinders Medical Centre, Lyell McEwin Hospital and Monash Health. Jillian attained her PhD from Monash University in 2021 and has since then continued to pursue her research interest in polycystic ovary syndrome and women’s health. Jillian has received several prestigious awards including the Outstanding Abstract Awards from the Endocrine Society Annual Meeting in 2020, the AHRA Women’s Health Research and Translation Network Early and Mid-Career Researcher Funded Award in 2021, and the Roger Bartop Research Establishment Fellowship from RACP in 2022. She also holds several leadership roles including the Chair of the international Androgen Excess and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Society (AEPCOS) Early Career Special Interest Group, Chair of the national Centre of Research Excellence in Women’s Health in Reproductive Life (CRE WHiRL) Early to Mid-Career Researcher Collective, Co-editor of the AEPCOS newsletter and a member of the CRE WHiRL’s Training and Mentoring Committee. Research interests Polycystic ovary syndrome Women’s health Reproductive endocrinology Translational, implementation and evaluation research Epidemiology research Clinical activities Monash Health Department of Diabetes and Vascular Medicine Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):