Dr Anastazja Gorecki is a Teaching & Research Scholar in Biomedical Sciences at the School of Health Sciences, University of Notre Dame Fremantle, teaching across neuroscience, microbiology, gastroenterology and research & writing skills. In this role, she loves sharing evidence-based information about the gut-brain axis as well as the intersection between neuroscience and wellness. Her PhD explored the gut barrier in the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease, which involved a Fulbright Future Scholarship at Johns Hopkins University and resulted in several first-author and co-authored publications. Anastazja is interested in leveraging the connections between the brain and periphery to optimise health and wellbeing, and in the interplay between lifestyle, diet and sustainability. Her current research (with Notre Dame and the Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute) includes the effect of microplastics on the gut, and the role of the gut-brain axis in Parkinson’s disease and post-concussion neurodegeneration. In the future, she hopes to contribute to the implementation of current research into practice.

Cassandra Szoeke professor of medicine, doctor, scientist and clinical researcher-is an expert in women’s health. She is director of the Women’s Healthy Ageing Project at the University of Melbourne and has published hundreds of academic and clinical publications.

Benjamin Y. Fong is Honors Faculty Fellow at Barrett, the Honors College and Associate Director of the Center for Work & Democracy at Arizona State University. He is the author of Quick Fixes: Drugs in America from Prohibition to the 21st Century Binge (Verso 2023). He is also the co-editor (with Craig Calhoun) of The Green New Deal and the Future of Work (Columbia, 2022) and the author of Death and Mastery: Psychoanalytic Drive Theory and the Subject of Late Capitalism (Columbia, 2016). His writing can be found in Jacobin, Catalyst, The New York Times, Current Affairs, The Point, and other popular outlets, and it is collected at benfong.com.

Monique is an Autistic and ADHD’er Clinical Psychologist working in private practice in Brisbane Australia. She does training, has consulted on the National Autism Strategy and has co-authored ‘The Neurodivergence Skills Workbook for Autism and ADHD’ (2024) by New Harbinger which is a no. 1 bestseller. Monique has an interest in Autism and ADHD particularly in women and girls, and co-occurring chronic pain/illness, and trauma. Monique also co-hosts The Neurodivergent Woman Podcast with Clinical Neuropsychologist Dr Michelle Livock which share free clinical and lived experience information on Neurodivergence in Girls and Women for professionals, neurodivergent people and their loved ones. The podcast has over 1.5 million downloads and is in the top 1% of podcasts on Spotify.

Heather Douglas joined Melbourne Law School in 2021 and teaches and researches in the area of criminal law and procedure. Her expertise on legal responses to domestic and family violence is internationally recognised and she co-ordinates the National Domestic and Family Violence Bench Book. Heather is currently working on an Australian Research Council funded research project exploring the application of non-fatal strangulation offences. She was an Australian Research Council Future Fellow from 2015-2019 and her project explored women’s engagements with the legal system as part of their response to domestic and family violence. Her book, Women, Intimate Partner Violence and the Law, published by Oxford University Press in 2021, was awarded the 2021 Law and Society Association of Australia and New Zealand (LSAANZ) book prize. She is a member of the Melbourne Alliance to End Violence Against Women and Their Children (MAEVe). She is also interested in the operation and application of law in the context of Australian indigenous–settler relations. Her book, Indigenous Crime and Settler Law: White Sovereignty After Empire, co-authored with Professor Mark Finnane was published by Palgrave in 2012. With Dr Nicole Watson, she assisted in the coordination of the Indigenous Judgments Project and a co-edited collection, Indigenous Legal Judgments: Bringing Indigenous Voices into Judicial Decision Making, that was published by Routledge in 2021. In 2022 Heather was awarded an Order of Australia in the General Division (AM) for her service to tertiary law education, and the community. Heather is an elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and the Australian Academy of Law. Previously she was a Professor at the University of Queensland, School of Law. Heather has held visiting fellowships at Humboldt University, Faculty of Law (2018); Durham University, Institute of Advanced Studies (2016) and Oxford University, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies (2004).

Dr Paul Tescher is a distinguished medical professional and innovator in health technology. He currently serves as the co-founder and CTO of mAIscribe as well as co-owner and Clinical Director of 2 GP clinics. Dr. Tescher holds an MBBS and BMedSci from Melbourne University, and is a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (FRACGP). As a practicing GP, he has focused on integrating technology into healthcare to enhance patient outcomes. His work centers on improving patient care through technological innovations and efficient clinical practices, making him a leading voice in the evolving landscape of modern healthcare delivery.

A/Prof Samantha Hocking is an Endocrinologist at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and a Clinical Academic at the University of Sydney. A/Prof Hocking’s main research interest is precision medicine exploring how personalised medicine can both predict, prevent and improve the management of metabolic disease, particularly diabetes. In addition, she is working with fellow researchers at The Boden Institute and the CPC-RPA Clinic on projects in obesity, bariatric surgery, metabolic syndrome and diabetes and liver disease.
An experienced clinician, John is known globally for his breadth of clinical research into obesity and its complications as well as weight loss treatments and their effects on health. He rates in the top researchers worldwide in the fields of obesity; weight loss; morbid obesity; and bariatric surgery (expertscape.com). He has over 300 original research, review and guideline publications.
Focused on seeing findings translated into clinical practice and on patient advocacy for the obese, John is involved in a wide range of organizations both in Australia and internationally.
Clinical Associate Professor Ralph Audehm is a GP of 35 years experience. He is an Honorary Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of General Practice at the University of Melbourne. He has a broad interest in chronic disease management, diabetes, heart disease and transitional research.

A/Prof Ron Dick is the Chairman of Cardiovascular Institute at Epworth Healthcare, an Honorary Cardiologist at the Alfred Hospital and Bendigo Healthcare Group. In 2017, he received an OAM for service to medicine as a cardiologist.

Dr Richard Elsworthy is primarily interested in the mechanisms underlying neurological disease. Richard works with stem cells, modelling the brain to detect early pathological features of both neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseases. Richard also has an interest in how exercise can be used to improve brain health and prevent disease.

I’m a PhD student studying clinical trials methodology, specifically how exercise interventions can be optimised for people at risk of dementia, at the University of Birmingham. Previously I studied Psychology and Neuroscience, leading to my interest in user experience research. My previous research projects have been varied, and focused on: better understanding how environment affects alcohol use; understanding how dopamine receptors in the brain respond to electrical stimulation; and optimising exercise interventions for people at risk of dementia.

Debbie Rigby is a consultant clinical pharmacist from Brisbane. Since graduation with a Bachelor of Pharmacy from the University of Queensland she has obtained a Graduate Diploma in Clinical Pharmacy, Certification in Geriatric Pharmacy, Advanced Diploma in Nutritional Pharmacy and certification as an Asthma Educator; and credentialed as an Advanced Practice Pharmacist. Debbie has special interests in geriatric pharmacotherapy, deprescribing, health behaviour change and asthma/COPD management, regularly conducts medication review services (Home Medicine Reviews) in collaboration with GPs in a medical centre, as well as providing education to pharmacists, general practitioners, nurses, nurse practitioners and consumers. Over the last 20 years Debbie has served on numerous committees for pharmacy organisations including as Chair and Director of the Australian Association of Consultant Pharmacy (AACP), national vice-president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) and a PSA Qld Branch committee member. Debbie is currently the Chair of the PSA Interdisciplinary Team-Based Care Communities of Specialty Interest (CSI) and is on the Leadership Group of the Respiratory Care CSI. Debbie is a Fellow of PSA, Australian College of Pharmacy (ACP), Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia (SHPA) and the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) and a Life Fellow of American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP). Academic appointments include Adjunct Associate Professor at University of Queensland and Griffith University, and a Clinical Associate Professor at Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Debbie is a member of the QUT Bachelor of Pharmacy Course Advisory Group. Debbie also sits on numerous advisory boards and committees including: DVA Veteran’s MATES Practitioner Reference Group, International Pharmacists for Anticoagulation Care Taskforce (iPACT), Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) Medication Safety Oversight Committee, Active Ingredient Prescribing Advisory Group and National Quality Use of Medicines Project Advisory Group, Lung Foundation Australia COPD Clinical Advisory Committee and Primary Care COPD Advisory Committee, MIMS Australia Advisory Board, Glaucoma Australia Pharmacy Committee, Australian Pharmaceutical Formulary (APF) Editorial Board, Australian Deprescribing Network (ADeN), Deprescribing Taskforce, American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP) In 2001 Debbie was awarded the PSA Australian Pharmacist of the Year, in 2002 the PSA Qld Bowl of Hygeia, the inaugural 2008 recipient of the AACP Consultant Pharmacist Award and in 2016 awarded the Australian Clinical Pharmacy Award by SHPA. In 2020, Debbie was the first female awarded the PSA Lifetime Achievement Award.

Professor Weerasooriya is a UWA graduate of over 30 years who completed cardiology training at Royal Perth Hospital and Hopital Cardiologique Haut-Lévêque in Bordeaux, France. Rukshen has over 20 years experience as a sub-specialist cardiac electrophysiologist with a passion for all things heart rhythm related.