Dr (Elizabeth) Emma Palmer is a Clinical Geneticist at Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network (SCHN) and university lecturer at the University of New South Wales, in Sydney Australia. She is passionate about improving the patient journey for all with rare genetic conditions and their families. Her work aims to improve the recognition of the possibility of genetic conditions by improving clinicain education about rare diseases, maximising the diagnostic yield of genetic tests and optimising patient care by linking families to best practice guidelines, treatments and supports. She has over 45 peer reviewed journal articles, including those describing 9 new genetic conditions.
She leads the following collaborative research programs:
1. Gene2Care, an innovative rare genetic disease program at SCHN, to ensure all families with genetic conditions have the option of participating in research and being linked to undiagnosed disease pathways and clinical trials.
2. GeneEQUAL a co-design project to improve equity and accessibility of genomic testing and counselling to people with intellectual disabilities and
3. CoGENES an interdisciplinary research team improving diagnoses, support and treatments for children with rare genetic epilepsies and their families, and
4. RArEST a collaborative project to improve awareness, education, training and support for rare disease across Australia.
She is also a chief investigator on many national and international rare disease programs including the newly launched national undiagnosed disease program UDN-Aus, the Australian Functional Genomic Network and the Diagnostic Working Group of the Undiagnosed Disease Network International.
She strives to ensure that the patient and family voice is always central to all her research.

Kate is a fertility specialist, gynaecologist and reproductive endocrinologist. She completed university in Melbourne and trained in obstetrics and gynaecology at The Women’s Hospital and The Mercy Hospital, with further work and experience in this field during two years in the UK.

Kate then spent three years specialising in infertility and reproductive endocrinology and is CREI qualified. She has led and participated in many research studies, both at Melbourne IVF and with other researchers. Kate has authored and co-authored over 45 research papers published in scientific journals.
She is Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Melbourne, Royal Women’s Hospital, and the Head of the Endocrine and Metabolic Service and Acting Head of Reproductive Services both at the Royal Women’s Hospital Melbourne. She is also the Clinical Director and Head of Clinical Research at Melbourne IVF.
Kate’s special interest is in medical fertility preservation and she established and coordinates the Fertility Preservation Services at the Royal Women’s Hospital and Melbourne IVF.
She currently co-chairs the COSA Medical Fertility Preservation Guidance development group and is also a member of the international Pancare working group for development of the European Fertility Preservation Guidelines.
Kate’s patients appreciate her accessibility and strong commitment to research guiding best practice. She is dedicated to ensuring every patient is given the best chance of having a family.

Dr McMahon is a Nephrologist and Executive Clinical Director, Specialty Medicine at Eastern Health Clinical School
Prof McMahon has been principal investigator or co-investigator on many investigator-initiated studies over the last 25 years.

Associate Professor Kelly Allott is a senior research fellow and clinical neuropsychologist and she leads the cognition research at Orygen.

Kelly works mainly with young people who have either had their first experience of psychosis or who are at risk of developing psychosis, but also other disorders including depression. Her research focuses on the role of cognition, including memory, language and reasoning, in youth psychiatric disorders. This work is aimed at helping us understand more about cognition and how cognition affects and influences functional and symptomatic aspects of psychosis and other mental illnesses.

Kelly is developing and trialling youth-friendly interventions that address the barriers to helping young people in their recovery.

Dr Dana Wong is a Clinical Neuropsychologist and Associate Professor in the School of Psychology and Public Health at La Trobe University. She leads the eNACT (Neurorehabilitation And Clinical Translation) Research Group and Clinic, which focuses on innovative neurorehabilitation techniques to improve the lives of acquired brain injury survivors, and enhancing clinical implementation of these evidence-based intervention techniques. She received the La Trobe University 2020 Research Engagement and Impact Award. She has published over 60 peer-reviewed journal articles, several book chapters, and a treatment manual on Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Adapted for Brain Injury (CBT-ABI). Dana’s focus on training top scientist-practitioners as a key element to clinical translation has been recognised with several awards for teaching excellence and clinical innovation. She is President-Elect of the Australasian Society for the Study of Brain Impairment and an Editorial Board member for the journal Brain Impairment. In 2017 she led the development of BRAINSPaN, a multidisciplinary community of practice of clinicians and researchers in the brain impairment field. She also leads an advocacy group for the Australian Psychological Society’s College of Clinical Neuropsychologists, advocating for better community awareness and funding to support the training and workforce of clinical neuropsychologists.

After 11+ entry to Bristol Grammar School David was awarded an Open Scholarship to Downing College Cambridge and then completed his medical training at Guy’s Hospital London, continuing in neurology to MRCP. After completing his psychiatric training in Oxford, he continued there as a lecturer and then later as a Wellcome Senior Fellow in psychiatry. He then spent two years as Chief of the Section of Clinical Science in the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in NIH, Bethesda, USA. On returning to England in 1988 he set up the Psychopharmacology Unit in Bristol University, an interdisciplinary research grouping spanning the departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology before moving to Imperial College London in December 2008 where he leads a similar group with a particular focus on brain imaging especially PET.
David is currently Chair of DrugScience (formally the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD) and President of the European Brain Council. previously he has been President of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP), the British Neuroscience Association (BNA) and the British Association of Psychopharmacology (BAP). In addition he is a Fellow of the Royal Colleges of Physicians and of Psychiatrists and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. He is also the UK Director of the European Certificate and Masters in Affective Disorders Courses and a member of the International Centre for Science in Drug Policy. He has edited the Journal of Psychopharmacology for over two decades and acts as the psychiatry drugs advisor to the British National Formulary. He has published over 400 original research papers, a similar number of reviews and books chapters, eight government reports on drugs and 27 books.
Previously he has been a member and then Chair of the Advisory Committee on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD 1998-2009), a member of the HEFCE/NHS Senior Lecturer Selection Panel and of the MRC Neuroscience Board. Other previous national contributions include serving as the medical expert on the Independent Inquiry into the Misuse of Drugs Act (2000 Runciman report), and membership of the Committee on Safety of Medicines, the Committee on NHS drugs and the Ministry of Defence Science Advisory Board. He was the clinical scientific lead on the 2004/5 UK Government Foresight initiative Brain science, addiction and drugs that provided a 25-year vision for this area of science and public policy.
David broadcasts widely to the general public both on radio and television including BBC science and public affairs programmes on therapeutic as well as illicit drugs, their harms and their classification. He also lecturers widely to the public as well as to the scientific and medical communities; for instance has presented three time at the Cheltenham Science Festival and several times for Café Scientifiques. In 2010 The Times Eureka science magazine included him in the 100 most important figures in British Science, and the only psychiatrist.

I am a Clinical Nurse Consultant & Clinical Sexologist. I have been nursing for 45 years & have qualifications in the areas of Midwifery, Family Planning, Masters in Sexual Health & currently completing my Doctorate in Public Health. I am the Nurse Manager of the HIV/Sexual & Reproductive Health Clinic & I also run my own nurse-provider LARC clinic at Barwon University Hospital Geelong. I work privately within a group practice as a Clinical Sexologist at Barwon Consulting Suites, Geelong. I have presented nationally & internationally across a variety of sexual & reproductive health topics, including contraception, termination, sexual dysfuntion, & sexual pleasure. I have 4 adult children I am proud of, I love cooking & entertaining & I look forward to travelling anywhere, once again!

Nurse Educator for Epidermolysis Bullosa with Independence Australia, current administrators for the National Epidermolysis Bullosa Dressing Scheme, funded by the federal Government.
Clinical Nurse Consultant Dermatology/Epidermolysis Bullosa at Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick.
Experienced paediatric clinical nurse consultant specialising in dermatology, rare disease work, with primary focus in Epidermolysis Bullosa. Demonstrated history of chronic and complex care coordination within hospital and community settings. Highly skilled in health education, Health Promotion, and Project development. Masters of International Public Health from UNSW.

Prof Dominic Dwyer is a medical virologist and infectious diseases physician in the Centre for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology Laboratory Services, located in the ICPMR at Westmead Hospital, Sydney. He has a clinical and research interest in viral diseases of public health importance. This includes HIV (where he coordinates an active program in antiretroviral drug resistance and HIV molecular epidemiology in Australia and the region), influenza and other respiratory viruses, and arboviruses. He leads an antiviral trials unit that has participated in over sixty studies of antiviral drugs and vaccines. His influenza research includes assessing interventions to prevent influenza transmission in closed environments, and developing assays for seasonal and pandemic influenza. CIDMLS has enhanced the laboratory investigative capacity in NSW for infectious disease outbreaks, with his particular focus being rapid detection and molecular epidemiology of outbreak and emerging viruses.

Rick Doblin, Ph.D., is the founder and executive director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). He received his doctorate in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, where he wrote his dissertation on the regulation of the medical uses of psychedelics and marijuana and his Master’s thesis on a survey of oncologists about smoked marijuana vs. the oral THC pill in nausea control for cancer patients. His undergraduate thesis at New College of Florida was a 25-year follow-up to the classic Good Friday Experiment, which evaluated the potential of psychedelic drugs to catalyze religious experiences. He also conducted a thirty-four year follow-up study to Timothy Leary’s Concord Prison Experiment. Rick studied with Dr. Stanislav Grof and was among the first to be certified as a Holotropic Breathwork practitioner. His professional goal is to help develop legal contexts for the beneficial uses of psychedelics and marijuana, primarily as prescription medicines but also for personal growth for otherwise healthy people, and eventually to become a legally licensed psychedelic therapist. He founded MAPS in 1986, and currently resides in Boston with his wife, dog, and empty rooms from three children, one of whom is in college and two have graduated.

Dr Blackwell is a general adult Psychiatrist in private practice with a long standing interest in sleep and insomnia and their intimate relationships with all psychiatric illnesses and general psychological development.

Wendy has a medical degree and worked for many years in general practice. She has completed post graduate training in allergy through the University of Western Sydney and worked in the allergy department at the Royal Melbourne Hospital until 2021. She also currently works part time at the Centre for Food Allergy Research (CFAR) which is part of the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) in Melbourne. Wendy has done volunteer work for Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia (A&AA) for 15 years and since the start of 2021 has been employed there as a Health Management Educator.
Two of Wendy’s three teenage children are at risk of anaphylaxis to multiple foods (egg, dairy, fish, kiwi fruit, sesame seed, cashew, and pistachio) and so she has many years’ experience with the daily management of food allergies.
Wendy is an associate member of the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA). She has been involved with the National Allergy Strategy since its inception in 2015 on steering and project committees and is passionate about improving the lives of people living with allergy.