Dr. Wang is an Associate Professor of Community Health Sciences at the Boston University School of Public Health and an Adjunct Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She is globally and nationally recognized as a researcher, educator, and thought leader on health equity, racial justice, and community-based research targeting chronic diseases. Dr. Wang has generated over $6 million in federal and foundation funding for her program of research and published over 60 peer-reviewed manuscripts and policy documents. Her prior leadership roles included serving as Chair of the Narrative Office at the BU Center for Antiracist Research and Chair of the Civic and Public Engagement Committee at the Society of Behavioral Medicine. One of her current studies is a randomized controlled trial of a youth empowerment intervention to reduce consumption of sugary drinks and obesity risk through youth narratives. As an expert in curriculum development, case-based teaching, and digital learning design, Dr. Wang has developed and taught graduate courses on the social determinants of health at Harvard and Boston University since 2010. Dr. Wang has received numerous national, regional, and institutional awards for her research, teaching, and service, including the 40 Under 40 Leaders in Health Award from the National Minority Quality Forum, the Society of Behavioral Medicine Leading the Narrative Award, the Society of Behavioral Medicine Early Investigator Award, the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Ten Outstanding Young Leaders Award, and the Boston University School of Public Health Excellence in Teaching Award and Excellence in Public Health Practice Award. At the national level, she advanced science communication initiatives through her former role as Chair of the Civic and Public Engagement Committee of the Society of Behavioral Medicine. Dr. Wang has served as a consultant to one of the largest social media companies in the world on COVID-19 health misinformation management. Her work and insights have been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Public Radio, The Boston Globe, and CBS. She obtained her doctoral and master’s degrees from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and completed her postdoctoral training at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

Mina has a medical background and is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Research in Evidence-Based Practice, Bond University. His key interests include public health, evidence synthesis, shared decision making, antimicrobial stewardship programs and improving quality of reporting. His research focuses on patient-clinician communication and decision making about antibiotic use in primary care. He has a special interest in antibiotic resistance development and decay. My key research and teaching interests include evidence synthesis (using systematic reviews and meta-analysis as well as primary research), shared decision making, antimicrobial stewardship programs and supporting research in general practices. Specific areas of illness that I work on include acute respiratory infections, any self-limiting disease including infections, and antibiotic resistance, in primary care.

Jane Tomnay is Director of the Centre of Excellence in Rural Sexual Health in Victoria. This Centre has supported the development of rural sexual health services, the skills and coordination of rural health professionals, and improved access to and awareness of sexual health care for young people, GLBTIQ people and Aboriginal people across rural Victoria. Jane is passionate about improving access to sexual health services in confidential and appropriate ways for their users. Her research has focused on improving the sexual health of Victorians and access to services for those living in rural areas.

Richard MacIsaac is professor and director of Endocrinology and Diabetes at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne and the University of Melbourne. Prior to taking up his current position he was head of diabetes at Austin Health, Melbourne. His main research interest is diabetes and its complications, especially those related to cardiovascular and kidney disease. He has published over 180 research articles. Prior to embarking in a career in medicine, he completed a PhD at the Howard Florey Institute, Melbourne where he examined the development of the foetal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and then embarked on a 2-year post doctorial fellowship at St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne examining foetal calcium metabolism. He graduated from the University of Melbourne’s Medical School in 1995 and was awarded his fellowship with the Royal Australasian College of Physicians in 2002. Currently specific research interests are inpatient glycaemic control, defining the albuminuria and glomerular filtration rate relationship in diabetes, investigating new biomarkers for renal and vascular disease in diabetes and studying renal function in indigenous Australians.

Madeline is a Research Fellow in the Body Image & Eating Disorders Research Group in the Department of Neuroscience at Monash University.

Madeline holds a Bachelor of Human Nutrition (La Trobe University) and a Bachelor of Food & Nutrition Sciences honours (Deakin University). She is also in the final stages of her PhD at Deakin University.

Madeline is leading the Talking About Weight in General Practice Study, a project to identify how GPs, Practice Nurses, and Medical Students raise and discuss weight with patients. Madeline is also involved in research projects developing digital technologies to detect and prevent eating disorders. Madeline’s other research interests include eating disorders in individuals with higher weight and weight stigma, as well as the nutritional treatment of eating disorders and gut symptoms.

Madeline is Co-Chair of the Australian and New Zealand Academy for Eating Disorders (ANZAED) Special Interest Group Committee and Secretary for the Australasian Human Microbiome Research Network (AHMRN).

You can keep up to date with Madeline’s research on Twitter @madilouwest

Gemma leads the Body Image & Eating Disorders Research Group in the Department of Neuroscience at Monash University. She is currently an NHMRC Emerging Leadership 2 Fellow (2023-2027) and a former NHMRC Early Career Research Fellow (2018-2022).

She holds a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology (University of Adelaide), Bachelor of Science Honours degree in Microbiology and Immunology (University of Adelaide), a Masters degree in Oncology (University of Cambridge), a Diploma in Languages in Japanese (University of Adelaide), a Graduate Diploma in Psychology (University of Adelaide), a Bachelor of Behavioural Sciences Honours degree in Psychology (Flinders University) and a PhD in Clinical Psychology (Flinders University). Her research career in both Medical Science and Mental Health has seen her study and work in Australia, Japan and the UK.

Gemma was awarded a PhD from Flinders University in Adelaide in 2017 which investigated the psychological predictors and outcomes of female genital body image concerns and cosmetic genital surgery. She worked as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate and Academic at Curtin University in Perth and extended this genital self-image research to other genders. She continues this genital self-image research program across the gender spectrum.

Gemma then commenced an NHMRC Early Career Research Fellowship at Monash University (2018-2022) and more recently an NHMRC Emerging Leadership 2 Fellowship (2023-2027). Gemma and her Body Image & Eating Disorders Research Group investigate the factors leading to body image concerns and eating disorders and novel therapeutic interventions using digital technologies (such as chatbots and mobile apps) to address these concerns. Gemma has led collaborative technical projects with national eating disorder support organisations across the globe.

Gemma’s research has received extensive coverage on mainstream media and she makes regular appearances on television. She was named one of ABC Radio National’s Top 5 Under 40 Scientists in 2017 and also was invited to deliver a TED talk in Brisbane in 2017. More recently, she won the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia Paul Bourke Award for Early Career Research (2022), Club Melbourne Fellowship (2022), Rising Star for the Association for Psychological Science (2021), two time national finalist for the Bupa Health Foundation Emerging Researcher Award (2021, 2019), Flinders Universiry Early Career Alumni Awardee (2021), one of The Educator’s Rising Stars (2020), Australian Psychological Society Early Career Researcher Awardee (2020), a national finalist for a Eureka Prize (2020), received a national AMP Tomorrow Maker Award (2019), and was a Young Tall Poppy Award winner for Victoria (2018). She also served as a host on Melbourne radio Triple R Radiotherapy program (2018-2022) and continues to make regular appearances on Triple R programs.

In addition, Gemma is a registered clinical psychologist and has had clinical experience in the public and private sectors in Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne. She led her own private practice from 2019 to 2022 and is currently the Senior Clinical Psychologist at the Statewide Women’s Mental Health Service at Alfred Health. She is a Credentialed Eating Disorder Clinician (CEDC) and a Board Approved Supervisor with the Psychology Board of Australia. She formerly served on the Australia and New Zealand Academy for Eating Disorders (ANZAED) Executive Committee as well as the Chairperson of the ANZAED Membership Committee. She also served on the Executive Committee of the Australian Society for Psychosocial Obstetrics and Gynaecology (ASPOG).

You can follow Gemma’s latest research and other activities on Twitter @gemmasharp11

Cognition abilities are critical to educational and occupational achievement, daily function, and even movement. Unfortunately, cognitive performance declines on average in late life and the prevalence of dementia nearly doubles every five years after the age of 65 years. My research identifies has two focuses: 1) to optimize cognition across the life course and to prevent dementia in late life; 2) to promote strategies to ‘live well’ with dementia. In particular, I investigate the role of physical activity in the prevention of dementia and improvement of well-being among people living with dementia.

An Affiliate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at McGill University, and former Chief Research & KTE Officer at the Alzheimer Society of Canada, Dr. Sivananthan is an accomplished international strategy and policy advisor on dementia care.

She oversaw a tripling of the Alzheimer Society Research program funding, a dementia research priority setting leader and the only research funder who engages people living with dementia in all aspects of research. She is co-lead for the inaugural non-pharmacological interventions working group of the Canadian Consensus Guidelines on Dementia which developed the first Canadian recommendations on psycho-social interventions for the management and treatment of dementia.

She is a neuroscientist and health data scientist who has focused her work on dementia care.

In 2020, she was appointed by the Federal Minister of Health to the ministerial advisory board on dementia. Previously, Dr. Sivananthan served as a senior strategy and policy advisor consulting for the World Health Organization (WHO) on its global dementia strategy. She co-drafted the WHO’s Global Action Plan on the Public Health Response to Dementia.

Dr. Sivananthan earned her PhD from the University of British Columbia.

My foremost passion is to explore the feasibility, safety, and efficacy of metabolic therapies, particularly fasting and ketogenic diets, in creating alternative metabolic states that may lead to improvements in symptoms, function, and quality of life for people with neurological disorders.

Dr Neera Bhatia is an Associate Professor. She holds an LLB (Hons), Master of Laws (from the UK) and a Doctorate in Law from Deakin University.

Neera is the author of ‘Critically impaired infants and end of life decision making: Resource allocation and difficult decisions’, published by Routledge Cavendish (UK). Her research interests are in end-of-life decision-making for critically ill infants and children, organ donation, voluntary assisted dying, definition and determination of death, emerging health and reproductive technologies – and more broadly contemporary issues in health law. She has published in national and international journals on a wide range of health law issues. Neera actively engages with the wider community as an expert commentator in the media on topical issues in health law.

She teaches Health Law in the undergraduate and postgraduate programs. She is currently the Deputy Chair of the University Human Research Ethics Committee. She has previously sat on several clinical ethics committees.