Marianne Tomlin is a Melbourne based Accredited Practising Dietitian, with extensive experience in childhood food allergies both in the UK and Australia. Marianne has a particular interest in feeding difficulties children with food allergies and has recently established an allergy specific feeding clinic at Monash Children’s Hospital where she has helped set up the new paediatric allergy clinic service. Marianne also works privately from Kids Nutrition Clinic and Offspring Health, and is an active member of the ASCIA Dietitians Group.

Out of work, Marianne is a keen cyclist and enjoys exploring Melbourne with her husband and two boys.

Associate Professor David Scott is an exercise scientist who completed a PhD on lifestyle factors associated with skeletal muscle mass and function in older people at the University of Tasmania in 2010. He was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Australian Institute for Musculoskeletal Science from 2012-15, and a Senior Research Fellow at the School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health, Monash University from 2015 to 2020, where he led the Sarcopenia, Obesity and Lifestyle Laboratory within the Bone and Muscle Research Group. He joined Deakin University’s Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition in 2020. He is the Chair of the Australian and New Zealand Society for Sarcopenia and Frailty Research’s Sarcopenia Diagnosis and Management Task Force and a member of the International Osteoporosis Foundation’s Committee of Scientific Advisors.

The adaptive immune system depends on the vast proliferation of anti-pathogen lymphocytes. In order to proliferate in this way, lymphocytes have to maintain their replicative capacity in the face of anti-proliferative signals delivered by inflammation. My prior work has studied how the signal for terminal differentiation in these cells could be linked to the magnitude of their proliferation.

My current focus is the study of how responding adaptive immune lymphocytes avoid the anti-proliferative signals of inflammation. This work has received substantial support from the MRC and hopes to identify new pathways for the therapeutic manipulation of immune responses. These scientific objectives stem directly from my clinical work, based at Addenbrooke’s hospital, where I look after patients with primary and secondary immunodeficiency. An ongoing research priority within our clinical department is the identification of novel immunodeficiencies and therapies.

My team studies the molecular and physiological pathways involved in the regulation of human appetite and body weight and their disruption in obesity. Some of the molecular pathways involved in regulating weight also regulate blood pressure and lipid metabolism, and affect an individual’s risk of cardiovascular diseases.

One of the links between obesity and cardiovascular disease is leptin. We have identified mutations in leptin gene using candidate gene approach in patients with severe, early onset obesity, and have demonstrated that leptin contributes to hypertension in obese individuals. These results suggest that pharmacological approaches that modulate leptin’s effects on cells could represent a useful therapeutic strategy for the treatment of obesity-associated hypertension and might help prevent a subset of obesity-associated cardiovascular disease.

I am a Clinical Lecturer in Metabolic Medicine at the University of Cambridge. My research aims to understand the consequences of obesity on hormone regulation and immune function to improve treatment for people living with obesity.

Obesity leads to more frequent and severe infections, which became poignantly visible during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, immune dysfunction in obesity is poorly understood and understudied. Treatment and clinical outcomes of (severe) infections in people with obesity may be improved by understanding the underlying processes that drive immune dysfunction.

BSc (hons/1st) in Biology (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece), MSc in cognitive neuroscience (Aston University, UK), and PhD in neuroimmunology (Cardiff Metropolitan University, UK). Interested in the biology of neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration, and especially in how certain factors can push an inflamed brain towards neurological or psychiatric disorders. In the past I have investigated the changes of certain immune system biomarkers which are observed in patients with Multiple Sclerosis and Covid-19, while currently my focus has shifted to the immune basis of psychosis.

It is difficult to explain to many what I do, so I have started by saying that I am like a platypus full of unique features, but no one knows what to do with me. Currently serve as the Associate Chief Medical Officer for Critical Care at the University of Virginia and the Vice Chair of Patient Safety and Quality Improvement for the Department of Medicine at the University of Virginia. Before these roles, I served as the Associate Hospital Epidemiologist and Medical Director for the Medical Intensive Care Unit and Special Pathogens Unit. My background is in Pulmonary and Critical Care as well as Epidemiology. My research interests are improving population outcomes in Hospital Settings, mainly through the lens of information overload. Outside of my work, I am an avid runner and optical course racer (there is even a photo of me in Trail Runner years ago as an advertisement for Spartan Race). I am also an active volunteer with the Boy Scouts of America, specifically supporting the development of troops for Girls, DEI, and summer camp programs in my local council. Mostly though I am a father, human, and well a platypus.

Dr Chris Wever is a child, adolescent and family psychiatrist working in private practice on the Gold Coast. Previously he worked in Sydney at the Rivendell Unit where he started the OCD and school refusal programmes. He is currently a Senior Lecturer at Griffith University. Dr Wever is the author of several cartoon books for children on mental health problems.

Internet Safe Education creator, Brett Lee, worked as a Queensland Police Officer for 22 years, 16 of those as a Detective in the field of Child Exploitation. In the 5 years prior to his retirement from the QPS, he was a specialist in the field of undercover internet child exploitation investigations. He has been personally involved in the online investigation, arrest and prosecution of numerous offenders whose medium for preying on children is the internet.
He has worked with the FBI Innocent Images Unit, Maryland USA, the Department of Homeland Security Cyber Crimes Centre, Virginia USA and the San Jose Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, California USA.

Associate Professor Christian Girgis is an endocrinologist and a clinician researcher with a strong interest in osteoporosis, metabolic bone disorders and vitamin D. After completing a PhD in molecular biology at the Garvan institute of medical research, he undertook an NHMRC Peter Doherty Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research and a visiting scholarship at the Salk Institute of Biological Studies USA. A/Prof Girgis runs the Osteoporosis and Metabolic Bone Disorders service at Westmead Hospital and leads an active research program in musculoskeletal disorders and osteoporosis therapies.

Dr Fleur Cattrall is a Gynaecologist and Reproductive Endocrinologist, and Medical Director at Melbourne IVF. She is a recognised subspecialist in the field of reproductive endocrinology and infertility, and is also a subspecialist examiner for the CREI qualification with RANZCOG and the Medical Director of Melbourne IVF.

Dr Rebecca South is a fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and holds a Diploma with The Royal Australian College of Obstetrics & Gynaecology and is a member of the Australasian Menopause Society.
With a strong interest in sexual and reproductive health, she worked for 12 years at Family Planning NSW as a clinician and as a medical educator. She is now the clinical lead at Inner West Women’s Health in suburban Sydney and also works in mainstream general practice.
Rebecca really enjoys teaching and she has developed and delivered training modules for GPs in cervical screening, IUD and Implanon insertion and medical abortion.