Dr Prerna Varma is a Research Fellow and an NHMRC Cogsleep Research Fellow in the Sleep and Circadian Medicine at the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University. Her current research focuses on two primary themes:
i) design, development, and delivery of personalised digital interventions to address sleep, fatigue, and circadian disruption in shift workers; and
ii) examining sleep and mental health from a public health perspective.

An early career researcher, Dr Varma is deeply interested in involving communities into the design and implementation of their care. She has worked with healthcare and defence sectors, and communities living with dementia to identify optimal areas of support. Her work has received funding from the Medical Research Futures Fund, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, NHMRC funded Cogsleep Program, Defence, Science and Technology group, Dementia Australia and Monash University’s Sleep and Circadian Medicine internal grants.

Dr Varma completed her PhD in psychology from the RMIT University. Her thesis focused on examining family dynamics in sleep. A family intervention designed during her PhD is now being translated to support families living with dementia. Prerna has a background in digital marketing industry and supporting development of smartphone applications, which she brings into her research roles.

Dr Katherine Armour is a Melbourne based medical and cosmetic dermatologist. Her subspeciality interests include biologic treatments to treat inflammatory diseases such as psoriasis, urticaria, and atopic dermatitis; immunobullous diseases; and prevention and treatment of skin aging through the use of cosmeceuticals and energy-based devices.
Dr Armour has posts at the Skin Health Institute, the Alfred Hospital and The Dermatology Institute of Victoria where she attends biologics, photobiology, and general dermatology clinics. She is a member of the Australasian Psoriasis Collaboration, the International Psoriasis Council, and sits on numerous advisory boards in the field of biologics. She is also on the board of the Australasian College of Cosmetic Dermatologists and is a part of the Editorial Committee of Opinions and Progress in Cosmetic Dermatology.

Dr Hunt has expertise in diagnosis of conditions of the retina. He operates weekly on patients with cataract, pterygium and eyelid conditions. He also manages many diabetic and glaucoma patients. Dr Adrian Hunt was awarded a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) from the University of Sydney in 1995 and a Master of Biomedical Engineering (MBiomedE) from the University of NSW in 2000 where he investigated the biomechanics of the human cornea. He then went on to train in Ophthalmology at the Sydney Eye Hospital, becoming a Fellow of The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (FRANZCO) in 2006. Dr Hunt is a medical retina sub-specialist in addition to being a general ophthalmologist. Since completing a Retinal Surgery Fellowship with Professor Paul Mitchell at Westmead Hospital, he has been a prominent contributor to the field, which focused on the management of age-related macular degeneration, diabetic and vascular retinopathies. He continues to research this important field as a University of Sydney PhD Candidate under the supervision of Professor Mark Gillies at the Save Sight Institute at Sydney Eye Hospital. His thesis examines real world outcomes of intravitreal treatment for retinal vein occlusion. He has authored, presented and reviewed international and national peer reviewed research. As a Senior Staff Specialist at Westmead Hospital he is involved in training future Ophthalmologists at his clinic and theatre list. At his main practice in Miranda, Dr Hunt offers expert care of cataract, glaucoma and delivers intravitreal injections for macular degeneration, diabetic and vascular retinopathies. He also consults in Macquarie Street in the CBD, and visits Bathurst fortnightly confining his practice to medical retinal conditions in those locations. Dr Hunt is a Shire local married with four young children, plus two dogs. When he is being’ Adrian’, rather than Dr Hunt, he really enjoys taking his kids to Shelly Beach ocean pool and walking on The Esplanade. Special Interests * Cataract surgery (complex and routine) * Macular disease * Retinal laser * Intravitreal injections * Diabetic eye disease

Leanne Rowe is a rural GP and medical author. She has recently published the 2nd edition of ‘Every Doctor: healthier doctors = healthier patients’ with Professor Michael Kidd and Dr Vihangi Abeygunawardana. Every Doctor advocates for a transformational change in the way GPs protect their mental health, look out for their
colleagues, co-create a kinder, more humane practice culture and co-lead health system reform.

Leanne is also a past Deputy Chancellor of Monash University and past Chairman of the RACGP.

Mr McIntosh is an active researcher in breast cancer, and is an Honorary Senior Lecturer within the Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology in Queen’s University Belfast. His interests are in: * the pre-surgical treatment of breast cancer, to try and reduce the amount of surgery necessary for women with a diagnosis of breast cancer * the use of drugs to reduce the risk of developing breast cancer in women with a high genetic risk * decision making and the provision of information for women making decisions about breast reconstruction following a mastectomy for breast cancer * the outcomes of breast reconstruction surgery, and the use of novel technology such as three dimensional photography to assess the outcomes of surgery He has published research papers in medical journals on these topics, and in 2014 was granted the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) from the University of Ulster for research in the field of surgical techniques in breast cancer. As Deputy Clinical Director of the Northern Ireland Cancer Trials Network, Mr McIntosh supports many research studies running across the United Kingdom and globally. He is a member of the National Cancer Research Institute Breast Clinical Studies Group, which is the body responsible for developing and promoting clinical trials in breast cancer to ensure that patients have access to the best possible standard of evidence-based treatment.

As an academic breast cancer surgeon Professor Cutress works both within the University of Southampton, and the Breast Unit at University Hospital Southampton, in clinics and the operating theatre. Surgery is a key treatment for early stage breast cancer, and the focus of his research is to develop improvements in treatments and outcomes for our patients.

Cutress is also Consultant Surgeon at Southampton University Hospitals Trust. He completed his medical degree at Oxford University and during clinical surgical training he won a National Breast Reconstructive and Oncoplastic Fellowship. He wrote his Ph.D on the significance of BAG-1 isoform expression in breast cancer funded by a Robertson Trust fellowship from Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, and the ninth Guernsey Research Fellowship from Hope.

Ramsey divides his time between the clinic and research. Clinical research interests include investigation of patient and host determinants of breast cancer outcomes including genetic predisposition, immunological and lifestyle factors. Ramsey is involved in various national research studies, clinical trials and translational projects and is Chair of the Academic and Research Committee of the Association of Breast Surgery (ABS) and led on the ABS Research Gap analysis. In the NHS he is the Southampton breast

Dr Michael Head is a Senior Research Fellow in Global Health, based in the Clinical Informatics Research Unit at the University of Southampton, UK. He has a background in public health research and infectious disease epidemiology, with research links in Ghana, Togo, Ethiopia and Brazil. His main research interests are pneumonia and also Neglected Tropical Diseases, including scabies and onchocerciasis. Michael also analyses portfolios of research, to review levels of funding for different diseases and to provide insight into research strength, knowledge gaps, and future priorities. He has communicated extensively with the written and TV media throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

David is a Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics and CyberSecurity at Griffith University’s School of Information & Communication Technology in Brisbane/Gold Coast.

David is a high-profile academic who appears regularly on local, national and international media (newspaper, radio and TV) commenting on the social impact of technology. Since 2005, his global audience reach will be in excess of a hundred million. David’s articles published in The Conversation and republished in newspapers like the Washington Post and Chicago Tribune have reached over 2.25 million readers. His work has been translated into German, Chinese, Indonesian and Japanese.

Among several other high-profile events, David was a guest panelist in the 2017 World Science Festival, and guest speaker at the 2019 Festival (see Ockham’s Razor link below).

David spends a month each year since 2016 at Humboldt University in Berlin, the high technology capital of eastern Europe, and San Jose/San Francisco where he studies innovation culture.

David’s formal qualifications include a PhD (Software Engineering), M Phil (Information Systems), Graduate Certificate in Higher Education (Griffith University), Bachelor of Arts (Psychology, English Literature, Anthropology) (Queensland).

David writes on a broad range of topics; from Comparative Religion, Anthropology, Psychology, Ancient and Modern History, Linguistics, Rhetoric, Philosophy, Architectural History, Environments and Ecosystems.

With over 60 titles in print and eBook and millions of verified downloads, David is a non-fiction author of international significance. Beyond the English-speaking world, his work has been translated into Chinese, German and Japanese.

David is Director and Founder of Altiora Publications. Established in 1994, Altiora is one of the oldest book-sellers on the Web, pre-dating Amazon. Altiora’s Software Engineering project management titles have been selling continuously since 1994. Altiora offers its titles at reasonable rates for both print and eBook versions to make them accessible to low-income readers for whom the high price of books is a barrier.
See http://www.altiorapublications.com/

See author Bio at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/davidtuffley

At the University of Sydney I am based at the Charles Perkins Centre, a collaborative approach to the treatment of obesity and metabolic disease. Working with a broad client portfolio, my work focuses on the causes, prevention and treatment of obesity and associated mental and physical health disorders. I have worked in both industry and academic appointments across a diverse range of areas, including dietary and exercise treatments, conventional and complementary medicines, commercial weight loss programmes, medical devices, bariatric surgery and appetite regulators. I am particularly passionate about translating science to the broader population and implementing a holistic approach for the treatment of overweight and obesity. More information on my translational work can be found at intervalweightloss.com

Gideon is an epidemiologist working in chronic disease in western Sydney. He is currently finishing his PhD at the University of Wollongong, after finishing his Bachelors and Masters of Public Health at the University of Sydney. He is also a science communicator, with a regular blog, podcast, and writes for the Guardian and other publications as a columnist.

Dr Emma Beckett is a food and nutrition scientist with multifaceted experience and qualifications including PhD (Food Science), Masters of Science Management, Graduate Diploma in Epidemiology, Graduate Certificate in Human Nutrition and Bachelor in Biomedical Science with honours in Immunology and Microbiology. She is a sought after science communicator who appears regularly on national TV and radio and in print for the likes of the ABC and BBC.