Theresa A. McHugh, PhD, is a scientific writer at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, where she focuses on neonatal and child health and disease expenditure research.

Nicholas Kassebaum, MD, is an Adjunct Associate Professor in Health Metric Sciences at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) and an Associate Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at University of Washington. He has been involved with the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study and the Cost-Effectiveness research teams since 2010 and now leads the GBD research team on maternal, neonatal, and child health (MNCH). In this role, Dr. Kassebaum researches the burden of disease and effectiveness of interventions for improving survival and health of women, children, and adolescents. He has a special interest in women’s health and equity, pregnancy health, and multiple child health issues including congenital birth defects, hemoglobinopathies, prematurity and low birth weight, child growth failure, anemia, oral and dental health, and neonatal complications arising from infections, jaundice, and asphyxia.

I am a global health researcher interested in the political economy of health and health inequality, global maternal and child health, and universal health coverage.

I currently work as a Research Scientist at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. I work on the Global Burden of Disease study, modeling the disease burden due to neonatal infectious diseases, impairment due to anemia, disease burden attributable to a variety of nutritional and environmental risk factors, and coverage of essential obstetric care interventions.

Dr Christopher Rudge is a lecturer in private law at Sydney Law School and a member of Sydney Health Law. Christopher has degrees in arts and law. Christopher has a broad network of research collaborators in the sciences and social sciences across the world. His research analyses legal issues relevant to the regulation of innovative medical technologies, including genome editing (somatic and germline cells; CRISPR, TALENs and ZFN-based systems), stem cell-based interventions (including extracellular vesicles) and other innovative medical treatments in Australia.

Christopher was previously (2021) postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Tasmania’s Centre for Law and Genetics under supervision of Distinguished Professor Dianne Nicol, Chair of the NHMRC Embryo Licensing Committee. Together with other researchers, they held the first citizens’ jury on genome editing in the world. This was a project devoted to developing legal policy about genome editing in Australia. See https://www.australiancitizensjury.org/

Before then (2019), Christopher was postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Melbourne. There he worked under supervision of Professor Megan Munsie, Convenor of Stem Cells Australia, on a project investigating the regulation and governance of autologous stem cell therapies in Australia and globally.

In 2018, Christopher conducted a major review of the scope of disciplinary powers exercisable by the NSW medical regulator under the relevant health practitioner law. I have also published original research on the history and politics of novel psychiatric devices, including the e-meter and telepsychiatric devices. I have also published work on the legal frameworks regulating stem cell interventions in Australia and internationally.

Dr Ashleigh Hamilton is an Academic Clinical Lecturer in the Centre for Public Health at Queen’s University Belfast. She graduated from Medicine with Honours at Queen’s University Belfast in 2010, and worked as a junior doctor in hospitals across Northern Ireland and New Zealand, before taking up a training post in Medical Oncology at the Northern Ireland Cancer Centre in Belfast in 2016. After completing a PhD in Cancer Epidemiology from 2019 to 2022 at Queen’s University, she has recently taken up her current post with a view to developing a career as a Clinical Academic. She splits her time between the Northern Ireland Cancer Centre where she works as an Oncologist, and Queen’s University, where her research focuses on early onset cancers.

Her research focuses on early onset colorectal cancer. Currently she is investigating the molecular epidemiology and survival of early onset colorectal cancer, along with qualitative research into the experience of patients with the disease.

Dr. Suresh V. Kuchipudi’s educational journey began in India with a bachelor’s degree in veterinary science from Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, followed by a master’s degree in microbiology from Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University. Driven by his passion for virology, he pursued a doctorate from the University of Glasgow. To further enhance his expertise, he obtained a postgraduate certificate in higher education from the University of Nottingham and a master’s degree in business administration from Penn State Smeal College of Business. In addition, with prior experience as a veterinary clinician and diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Microbiologists, he brings extensive knowledge and expertise in clinical virology and immunology.

Prior to joining the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Kuchipudi held various academic and clinical positions. He served as the Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Chair Professor in Emerging Infectious Diseases at the Penn State Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences and acted as the interim Director of the Penn State Animal Diagnostic Laboratory. Additionally, he worked as an assistant professor of molecular virology at the University of Nottingham and as an assistant professor at Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University in Tirupathi, India.

At the core of Dr. Kuchipudi’s expertise lies his research focus on emerging and zoonotic viruses and their profound impact on global health. He investigates the complex interactions between pathogens and their hosts using a multi-disciplinary approach. The overall goal of his research is to unravel the factors that govern zoonotic virus transmission and adaptation. His research encompasses basic and translational aspects, including developing innovative diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics to combat these viruses and improve global health outcomes.

Dr. Nicole Winter is an upper gastrointestinal, bariatric and general surgeon. Nicole completed her medical degree at the University of Melbourne in 2007. She was awarded her fellowship in general surgery by RACS in 2016. Nicole subsequently completed subspecialty training in upper gastrointestinal surgery through ANZGOSA. This was undertaken at Box Hill Hospital in Melbourne and Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane. Nicole completed a further bariatric fellowship at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and at St Vincent’s Hospital Northside with renowned bariatric surgeon, Dr George Hopkins.

Nicole has a special interest in a patient-centred approach to the treatment of oesophageal and gastric cancer, hiatus hernia repair, anti-reflux surgery, and bariatric surgery. Nicole is also passionate about the education and training of junior doctors and improving the surgical training experience. Nicole currently sits on the ANZGOSA board.

Michael Orsini is Professor in the Institute of Feminist and Gender Studies and the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa

I am a critical disability studies scholar who draws on feminist new materialism to examine disabled and mad students’ experiences in higher education. My scholarly contributions lie at the theoretical and pedagogical intersections of disability, mad, and fat studies and include socio-historical examinations that surface the interconnections of colonialism, racism, ableism, sanism, and queer- and transphobia. I have published scholarly articles on disability-related issues in higher education, on Canadian disability history, and on community-based learning. I am an assistant professor at the Pauline Jewett Institute of Women’s and Gender Studies at Carleton University. I conduct this research diversely-positioned as a disabled, fat, POC, immigrant and settler who is living, working and creating on the ancestral and traditional territories of the Algonquin nation.

Dr Thorlene Edgerton is a Senior Lecturer and Post Grad Program Coordinator for the Physiotherapy Department at the University of Melbourne. She teaches a subject where coursework masters students studying Sports Medicine, Clinical Rehabilitation, or Pelvic Health Physiotherapy learn to conduct a high quality systematic review and prepare a draft manuscript.

Hannah Dahlen is the Professor of Midwifery, Associate Dean Research and HDR and Midwifery Discipline Leader in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Western Sydney. She has been a midwife for 30 years and still practices. She is one of the first midwives in Australia to gain Eligibility and access to a Medicare provider number following government reforms in 2010.

Hannah has strong national and international research partnerships, has received 15 grants since 2000, including being CI on two NHMRC grants in 2011 and has had over 200 publications. She has spoken at over 100 national and international conference in the past five years and given invited keynote addresses at half of these.

Hannah has been interviewed in print, radio and TV hundreds of times and featured in four documentaries. Hannah is a past President of the Australian College of Midwives and received Life Membership in 2008 for outstanding contributions to the profession of Midwifery.

In 2019 Hannah was awarded a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia (General Division) in the Queen’s birthday honours list for her significant services to midwifery, nursing and medical education and research. In November 2012 she was named in the Sydney Morning Herald’s list of 100 people who change our city for the better A panelist on the selection panel for the special feature in the (Sydney) magazine described Hannah as probably the leading force promoting natural birth and midwife-led care in Australia. Hannah was named as one of the leading science and knowledge thinkers for 2012.

Dr Dani Susic is a Clinical Academic in obstetrics at Liverpool Hospital. She is also a Senior Lecturer with an education focus at UNSW Sydney teaching and developing the Women’s Health Curriculum across both the undergraduate and post graduate programs. Dani has undertaken speciality training through the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) and ran the Microbiome Understanding in Maternity Study (MUMS) trying to establish if there are causal links or associations between the action and composition of microbiome during pregnancy and adverse pregnancy outcomes as the subject of her PhD. She practices with the principles of shared decision making and trauma informed care for all the women she cares for, and instills this in the students and junior doctors that she mentors.