Professor Kaarin Anstey is an ARC Laureate Fellow and Director of the UNSW Ageing Futures Institute. She is also co-Deputy Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing as well as a conjoint Senior Principal Research Scientist at Neuroscience Research Australia. Anstey’s research programs focus on the causes, consequences and prevention of cognitive ageing, and dementia. She has developed risk assessment tools interventions to reduce risk of cognitive decline and dementia and conducted epidemiological and data synthesis projects. Anstey currently leads ‘MyCoach’ – a randomised controlled trial of a multidomain intervention for older adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Subjective Cognitive Decline. A second focus of her work is on older driver safety and in this field Anstey has also developed and validated risk assessment tools and interventions. Anstey was a member of the WHO Guideline Development Committee for the Guidelines on Risk Reduction for Cognitive Decline and Dementia and is a member of the Governance Committee of the Global Council on Brain Health.

Brenton Prosser is Professor of Public Policy and Leadership at the University of NSW and the Director of the UNSW Public Policy Hub. Brenton has held senior research positions at at Australian and UK universities. In these roles, he has led national health, education and social service evaluations for Australian Government, while he also specialises in capability building with the public sector. Brenton also specialises in education, public health, mental health, medicalisation and policy, while he is known for his expertise in ADHD. He has also researched extensively in governance, policy networks and democratic engagement. In the UK, he has co-led research into citizen’s assemblies and devolution, as well as explored avenues for research impact in Westminster. As a former political Chief-of-Staff, he has worked extensively in the area of minority government and public policy, publishing a handbook on this area in 2016. He has published four books, including a guide to ADHD, which has sold over 5,000 copies internationally. His latest book, Minority Policy (MUP), looks at the influence of independents and marginal members on contemporary public policy. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor (Medicine) at Notre Dame University.

Peter is a clinical pharmacist who has worked in the hospital, academic and community sphere during a career that has spanned over 40 years. He has conducted thousands of medication reviews for patients in nursing homes and in the community. Dr Peter Tenni M Pharm (Curtin), PhD (UTAS), Cert Pain Sci

Dr Reema Kohli is a consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology accredited by the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG), with special interest in the management of pelvic floor disorders, pelvic floor reconstructive surgery and minimally invasive laparoscopic and vaginal surgery. Dr Kohli believes in ensuring personalised care for her patients by focusing on informed and shared decision making and keeping her patients’ wishes at the core of her practice. She has extensive experience in the field of obstetrics and gynaecology that she has gained through training and working as a specialist across rural, regional and tertiary hospitals in Australia and India over the last 15 years. She has completed her advanced training in obstetrics and gynaecology at Box Hill Hospital in Victoria before achieving Fellowship of RANZCOG. After completing specialist training she spent an additional year of training in urogynaecology at Gold Coast University Hospital in Queensland. Working with an excellent team of urogynaecologists headed by Dr Malcolm Frazer helped her learn specialised techniques of pelvic floor surgery. Reema has also worked under the apprenticeship of Dr RK Mishra, a pioneer in advanced laparoscopy in India to hone her skills in pelvic floor surgery/endoscopy. Her current public appointments are at Eastern Health and Monash Health as a specialist in obstetrics and gynaecology. She is also a RANZCOG-accredited training supervisor and a member of Board of Examiners for Specialist trainees in the field of obstetrics and gynaecology. Dr Kohli has been awarded for her research on predictors of fetal growth restriction and new techniques to better visualise urinary tract in laparoscopy at various national and international conferences. She has been actively involved in teaching medical students at Griffith University on the Gold Coast. In addition to her role as a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, she engages in teaching medical students at Epworth Clinical School. She has recently been awarded the prestigious Brown Craig Travelling Fellowship By RANZCOG Women’s Foundation to pursue further research and training in advanced vaginal surgery. When not working, she loves to paint and travel with her husband Rohan who has been a GP for 10 years and is now pursuing specialist training in pain medicine. She works with multiple media on canvas and is now learning the ancient Indian art of Tanjore painting. She is fluent in English, Hindi, Urdu. In addition to looking after all aspects of gynaecological care, Dr Kohli’s clinical interests include: • Treatment of common urogynaecological conditions such as pelvic organ prolapse (through non-surgical and surgical approaches like vaginal hysterectomy), urinary incontinence, prevention of prolapse procedures (vault suspension) and procedures like colpocleisis (in patients not fit for major/extensive surgery). • Advanced laparoscopic roscopic surgical approaches including surgery for complex ectopic pregnancy, cysts in ovary, removal of uterus (hysterectomy), removal of fibroids and treatment of endometriosis. • Treatment of vulval disorders like chronic itching, discharge and warts, vulval skin diseases and precancer.

Dr Vakulin is a Research Fellow at the Adelaide Institute of Sleep Health, Flinders University and an affiliate researcher at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research and University of Sydney. His broad research interests and expertise are investigating the impact of sleep disorders and sleep loss on day time function and vigilance impairment, particulary in realtion to operational perfomrance such as fatigue realted motor vehicle and workplace accident risk. His current research focus is the exploration of novel neurophysiological, neurobehavioral and biological measures or “biomarkers” that may be useful in clinically identifying individual patients who may be more vunerable to sleepiness-related impairments and accident risk. Dr Vakulin’s further research interests include investigating the efficacy of sleep apnoea treatment in improving day time function and examining the prevelance and co-morbib health outcomes and costs of obstructive sleep apnoea in Australia.

Dr Karam Kostner is Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Queensland and Director of Cardiology at Mater Hospital Brisbane. Dr Kostner’s clinical interest is preventative cardiology and lipid disorders. He has also been actively involved in cardiovascular research for fifteen years, mainly in the area of lipoproteins, lipid lowering and atherosclerosis. Having published approximately 90 peer reviewed papers, four book chapters and several review articles and editorials, Dr Kostner has also given numerous invited lectures at cardiovascular meetings and is secretary of the Cardiac Society of Australia and NZ, Queensland branch. Dr Kostner is an editorial board member and section editor of the European Journal Clinical Investigation and a regular reviewer for many journals, as well as being a NHMRC Grant Reviewer. Dr Koster has also organised or been on the committee of several national and international conferences.

Virologist at the MRC – University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, I study viruses and how they interact with host cells during infection. With a particular focus on respiratory infections caused by SARS-CoV-2 and how the capacity to spread in the human airway changes along with the virus evolving. All together, my research projects aim to understand how the virus transmits and the pathogenesis associated with the infection. This to provide further knowledge on respiratory infections informing vaccine design and development of new therapeutics. Thus, paving the way to get better prepared for future pandemics.

I am a bioinformatics scientist working at the Medical Research Council – University of Glasgow Centre for Virus (CVR), focussing on viral evolution and virus discovery (metagenomics).

Dr. Melanie R. McReynolds is a HHMI Hanna H. Gray Fellow and Rising Assistant Professor at the Pennsylvania State University, where her research focuses on the intersection of metabolic decline and aging. Melanie holds a B.S. degree in Chemistry and Physics from Alcorn State University. She participated in the NIH funded Alcorn State to Penn State Bridges to the Doctorate Program where she obtained her M.S. degree in Biological Sciences. Dr. McReynolds completed her Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Microbiology and Molecular Biology at the Pennsylvania State University. Melanie was recognized as a Rising Star on the CellPress list of Top 100 Inspiring Black Scientists in America during her postdoctoral tenure at Princeton University and aims to inspire the next generation of scientists to trust that all things will work together for those who believe. Melanie a biochemist specializing in understanding the connection between metabolic stress and aging. She has over a decade of research, mentoring, and teaching experience that she is excited to offer back to the Penn State Community. Melanie is on the trajectory to establish her independent research group, where her lab will shed light on metabolic aging and disease. She is returning to Penn State as the Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Early Career Chair in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology—effective January 2022.

Dr Aspasia Stacey Rabba is an educational and developmental psychologist and lecturer at Monash University. She leads an adult autism service in the Mental Health Program at Monash Health, Victoria’s largest public health service. Dr Rabba has over 15 years of experience supporting individuals with neurodevelopmental conditions. As a scientist-practitioner, she is committed to translational research that is co-designed with the community and has quality impact. Dr Rabba’s interests centre on assessment and diagnosis of neurodevelopmental conditions (i.e., autism, ADHD) and the intersectionality with mental health; school engagement; family wellbeing; and factors that lead to resilience and belonging. Dr Rabba combines her academic interests and knowledge as a practitioner with continued clinical practice, education, and collaboration with a firm belief that we never stop learning.

Sarah Allinson has been carrying out cancer research at Lancaster University for almost two decades, having received a North West Cancer Research Fellowship in 2004. She began her career as a chemist, completing a PhD in nucleic acids chemistry at the University of Southampton before moving on to work on DNA repair at the Medical Research Council in Oxfordshire. Her research focuses on how cells respond to damage to their genetic material with a particular interest on the effects of ultraviolet radiation, the main cause of skin cancer. Sarah also lectures at the University on genetics and cancer biology and works with local charity North West Cancer Research on community outreach activities to raise awareness of issues related to cancer.