Professor Vanessa McDonald is co-director of the NHMRC CRE in Severe Asthma, Co-director and research leader in the Priority Research Centre for Healthy Lungs and an academic clinician in the Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine. She also leads the Chronic Disease and Older Person Research group within the School of Nursing and Midwifery.

Professor McDonald joined the University of Newcastle in 2011, following the completion of her PhD. Prior to this, she worked clinically within the Hunter New England Local Health District as a Respiratory Clinical Nurse Consultant. She has been a nurse for over 20 years and it is her clinical background and experience that drives her innovation in research.

Vanessa’s research program is centred around the development of innovative approaches to the management of chronic diseases. Her translational research program links biomedicine, clinical effectiveness and health policy development.

At 8 years post-doctoral, Prof Vanessa McDonald established a productive track record publishing over 110 peer reviewed journal articles. Her work is published in high impact journals including the Lancet, the AJRCCM, Thorax and the Eur Resp J. Complimenting her publication catalogue is a suite of other outputs. She has authored 10 book chapters, six separate national clinical practice guidelines for Asthma and COPD, national reports, multimedia resources, and national patient education publications.

John Blakey is a Consultant in Respiratory and Sleep Medicine at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Perth. He has clinical expertise in asthma and airways diseases.

His main research interest is in health service delivery, particularly the move toward assessment of future risk as a key aspect of asthma care, and the use of newer connected techologies.

His research has been published in leading journals such as The Lancet, JACI, Thorax, and AJRCCM. He continues to be research active through adjunct positions with Curtin University and UWA. He undertakes advisory and committee work for Asthma Australia and Asthma WA, and is WA branch President of TSANZ.

Dr Diem Pham is a General Practitioner who balances clinical work with her role as a Senior Medical Officer role at a Federal Government Department. She has further training in Public Health, Occupational Health and Environmental Medicine. She is particularly passionate about medical education and helping to improve health literacy in the general community.

Stuart is a British born and trained medical doctor and general practitioner who emigrated with his family to Australia in 2016. He now works as a GP in Queensland and as a Clinical Editor for Health Pathways. Prior to reading medicine in his early 30’s, Stuart originally trained as a nurse, subsequently working in a range of clinical, operational and strategic management roles across a wide range of health sectors.
Stuart is passionate about family general practice due to the breadth of medicine it allows him to practice, as well as the long-term relationship and continuity of care it enables him to offer patients. He enjoys being a medical generalist but has special interests in male health, chronic disease management, occupational medicine and is increasingly exploring an interest in medical writing.
Stuart is married to Lizzie, who is also a GP and enjoys spending time with his young family, travelling, being in the water and the great outdoors.

Rosemary has been a Clinical Psychologist in Sydney for over 20 years treating sleep, mood, anxiety and substance use disorders.

She completed a Masters degree in Clinical Psychology at Adelaide University, then worked as a Clinical Psychologist with SWSAHS, and since 2008 has been Snr Clinical Psychologist at The Sydney Clinic, Bronte. From 2014 she has been the specialist sleep psychologist at Sydney Sleep Centre, and the Director of LetSleepHappen.

Rosemary holds the following Professional accreditation and memberships: Psychologist Registration with AHPRA (Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency), Medicare Registered Provider of Clinical Psychology Services (Better Access scheme), Workcover registered provider, AHPRA and APS – approved clinical supervisor, Full member of the Clinical College of the Australian Psychological Society, Full member of the Australasian Sleep Association and Member of AACBT (Australian Association for Cognitive Behaviour Therapy).

Prof Hayden Homer is Brisbane’s leading fertility specialist and one of Australia’s most highly accredited Reproductive Endocrinologist and Gynaecologists. He is the only fertility doctor in Queensland to hold the most advanced accreditation in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility (CREI) from both Australia and the UK.
Prof Homer draws on his extensive knowledge to design highly individualised and personalised treatments for every one of his patients geared towards maximising success.
Prof Homer is an internationally renowned researcher. He holds Australia’s highly prestigious fully-endowed Chair in Reproductive Medicine at The University of Queensland and set up and directs Queensland’s first and only research laboratory dedicated to studying eggs.

Caring and engaging, highly regarded CREI qualified fertility specialist Manuela Toledo approaches all fertility patients with a holistic view applying her extensive experience in fertility and the genetics of reproductive medicine.

Manuela is interested in all aspects of infertility with a special interest in fertility preservation and complementary medicine in fertility care. She is particularly interested in complex IVF and providing second opinions.

After graduating from The University of Melbourne and completing residency at St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne, Manuela specialised in obstetrics and gynaecology becoming a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 2004.

Manuela is the only female CREI (Certificate in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility) qualified fertility specialist in Tasmania.
Manuela has enjoyed consulting at both Melbourne IVF and TasIVF, and has strong family ties in Hobart. Manuela also holds a long standing VMO position at The Women’s Hospital in Melbourne and is responsible for training future fertility specialists.

Prof Brendon Yee is a Staff Specialist in Respiratory and Sleep Medicine and Medical Director of Respiratory Failure Services at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. He is also a consultant for Rural Outreach Services in Sleep and Respiratory Medicine in Central Western NSW, previous Chair of the Professional Standards Committee of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand and a member of the Clinical Committee of the Australasian Sleep Association. Prof Yee is a graduate of the University of Otago, New Zealand and completed his sleep fellowship in Wellington, New Zealand and then Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney. He has a PhD from his research on the metabolic effects of sleep apnea and the effect of weight loss, and is a previous Young Investigator Award Winner of the Australasian Sleep Association.