Title: Dr Lisa Mielke, PhD

Year: 2024

Organisation: Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute

Qualifications: Laboratory Head

“UNLEASHING IMMUNE CELLS FOR DEFENCE AGAINST BOWEL CANCER.“

Dr Lisa Mielke is a Victorian Cancer Agency Fellow and Head of the Mucosal Immunity and Cancer laboratory at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute. She is a Cancer Program Lead for the La Trobe Institute of Molecular Sciences, La Trobe University. Dr Mielke is an expert in immune cell biology, gut homeostasis and bowel cancer.

She completed her PhD at the University of Melbourne and National Institutes of Health USA. She then performed postdoctoral studies at Trinity College Dublin and the Walter & Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research.

During this time, Dr Mielke led numerous studies revealing new interactions between our diet and function of immune cells in the gut. These studies opened an exciting frontier of research that underpin her current interest investigating the role of immune cells in bowel cancer.

Title: Professor H. Miles Prince AM

Year: 2023

Qualifications: MBBS (Hons) MD FRACP FRCPA AFRCMA AFRACD FAHMS

Professor Miles Prince is an internationally recognised Australian haematologist and Professor of Medicine at both Melbourne and Monash Universities. He is the Director of Cancer Immunology and Molecular Oncology at Epworth Healthcare and a Haematologist at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.

He is a very active clinician, also overseeing clinical and laboratory research – the latter involving stem cell research and cancer immunology. He has been involved in numerous clinical trials of new therapies for blood cancers and has been the Principal Investigator of over 100 clinical trials involving myeloma, lymphoma, leukemia, transplantation and supportive care. He has published over 500 peer-reviewed manuscripts.

He is the Chief Investigator for an NH&MRC Program Grant in Cancer Immunology, Victorian Cancer Agency translational grants in Epigenetics, Melbourne Genomics Health Alliance and holds large US and European research grants.

He is one of the establishing members of the Snowdome Foundation which focuses on “Harnessing the Immune System for Curing Blood Cancers; a ‘climate change’ moment”

He is a member of the Australian Blood Cancer Taskforce which has just developed Australia’s first national Strategic Action Plan for Blood Cancer.

He is a Fellow of the Academy of Health & Medical Sciences and in 2014 Miles was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for distinguished services to medicine particularly in the areas of blood cancer research, patient care and philanthropy leadership.

Title: Urological Surgeon and Urological Oncologist

Year: 2022

Organisation: Professor at the University of Melbourne, Department of Surgery, Head of Urology, Royal Melbourne Hospital and consultant uro-oncologist at Epworth Healthcare, Austin Hospital and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.

Qualifications: MB BS, PhD, FRACS.

Title: Deputy Director (Programs)

Year: 2019

Organisation: Burnet Institute

Qualifications: AM. MBBS, FRACP, PhD, FAFPHM.

“Transitioning from adolescence into young adulthood in the era of social media – risks, harms and health”.

Professor Hellard has considerable experience in translating research outcomes into health policy and practice. Her work has led to major new insights in several research areas, with her work having a strong influence on improving health practice through better clinical care and more targeted and informed prevention programs both within Australia and globally.

She is known both nationally and internationally for her research on the use of social network models to understand disease transmission and the use of new technologies as tools in health promotion.

For more than 10 years Professor Hellard has undertaken work that aims to improve the community by conducting high quality, policy-relevant and innovative research that addresses the major public health problems associated with infectious diseases, drug use and related behaviour. Her work has focused on HIV, Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), sexually transmitted infections and drug and alcohol use, aiming to reduce the impact of these diseases and behaviours, particularly in highly vulnerable populations.

There is an epidemic of risk in Australia impacting on young people. Young people experience high levels of substance use disorders, risky sex with consequent sexually transmitted infections or unplanned pregnancy, blood-borne viruses, unintentional injuries and interpersonal violence.

In order to intervene and reduce the impact of risk behaviours on young people’s health we must first understand the key influences and interplay of factors that result in risk, and better understand the role of social media in this setting.

Title: Associate Professor

Year: 2018

Organisation: Laboratory Head, Inflammation Division, Walter & Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI)

Qualifications: BSC (Hons) Melbourne, PhD Melbourne

Title: Professor

Year: 2017

Organisation: Department of Medical Biology in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne,

Qualifications: AO, FAA, FTSE, FAHMS

Professor Doug Hilton is the 6th Director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Head of the Department of Medical Biology in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne, and the immediate past President of the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes (AAMRI).

He is best known for his discoveries in the area of cytokine signalling (chemical messages sent by immune and blood cells to communicate with other cells in the body), his advocacy for health & medical research and for gender equity in science.

The Hilton lab aims to understand which of the 30,000 genes are important in the production and function of blood cells, and how this information can be used to better prevent, diagnose and treat blood cell diseases such as leukaemia, arthritis and asthma.

Professor Hilton has been awarded numerous prizes for his research into how blood cells communicate and have led major collaborations with industry to translate his discoveries from the bench to the bedside. He is an inventor of more than 20 patent families, most of which have been licensed, and is a co-founder of the biotechnology company MuriGen. He is an Officer of the Order of Australia, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, of Technological Sciences and Engineering, and of Health and Medical Sciences.

Title: Associate Professor

Year: 2016

Organisation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash University

Qualifications: PhD

Dr Caminschi received her PhD from the University of Western Australia, investigating ways of eliciting immune responses against cancer. Her interest in harnessing the immune system to combat disease lead to post-doctoral studies at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. Her special interest was related to specic cells that are the sentinels of the immune system (dendritic cells); they scan for foreign intruders and then actively control the immune response that protects the body.

Dr Caminschi studied the different types of these important cells, their role in immunity, and identied new genes that explained some of the specialized functions these sub-populations of cells could perform. The discovery of novel dendritic cell molecules have not only provided a greater understanding of these cells, but also provided new targets for immunotherapy including the prospect of harnessing the immune system to fight cancer.

Title: Professor

Year: 2015

Organisation: Burnet Institution

Qualifications: AC, Director and CEO

Research scientist Professor Brendan Crabb’s expertise is in the study of infectious diseases, particularly those affecting the developing world. The primary driver for his research is the development of a malaria vaccine and the identification of new drugs to prevent and treat malaria. Professor Crabb is the Immediate-Past President of the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes (AAMRI), and Chair of the Victorian Chapter. He holds Professorial appointments at The University of Melbourne and Monash Universities and is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences. He was awarded a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in the 2015 Australia Day Honours for his contributions to medical research and global health.

Title: Professor

Year: 2014

Organisation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology in the University of Melbourne

Qualifications: AO, MD, BS, BSC, DipBact, FRCPA, FRACP, MASM, FT

Professor Ian Gust is an Australian medical researcher, virologist, and former science administrator. His area of work is in the development of drugs and vaccines against viral diseases and he is best known for the development of vaccines against the Hepatitis A virus. He currently serves as a non–executive company director and consultant. After an initial residency at The Alfred Hospital, Professor Gust was appointed as a pathology registrar at the Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital, Melbourne; then spending two years in the United Kingdom at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the WHO Regional Virus Laboratory in Glasgow. He returned to Fairfield in 1970 and was appointed a medical virologist at the Infectious Diseases Hospital, a position he held for over twenty years.

During this period, Fairfield gained a world wide reputation for virology education, research and treatment. The laboratory was the first to isolate hepatitis A virus and one of the first strains of respiratory syncytial virus (the A2 strain, now a reference A group virus).

In 1985, Professor Gust was appointed as the inaugural director of the of Macfarlane Burnet Centre for Medical Research, Fairfield Hospital, now commonly known as the Burnet Institute, holding this position until 1991. Between 1991 and 2008, he served as director of research and development for the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, now listed as CSL Limited, where he was closely involved in the company’s successful expansion in Australia and internationally.

Since his retirement, he has been a Professorial Fellow in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in the University of Melbourne, and as a consultant to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; to UNICEF, the World Bank and the World Health Organisation. A non–executive director of biotechnology company, Biota Holdings Limited, since 2001, he is also a director of Promics Pty Ltd.

Professor Gust served variously as a member of WHO expert committees on viral hepatitis (1974, 1979, 1982), biological standardisation (1992), and virus diseases (1975, 1985-1991). He has been a Director of the National Hepatitis Reference Centre (1979-1990) and between 1989 and 1992 served as the Commonwealth Chief Medical and Scientific Adviser on AIDS

Title: Professor

Year: 2013

Qualifications: AC, OBE, CStJ

Making new discoveries in science and medicine requires strong commitment, a ‘prepared’ and creative mind and a striving for excellence. Sir Frank Macfarlane-Burnet arguably the greatest Australian Medical Scientist clearly excelled and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1960 shared with Sir Peter Medawar. Has the way we conduct medical and scientific research changed much since Macfarlane-Burnet’s time? Professor Rosenfeld will illustrate how new advances are made in medical science today with the example of a major project he and a group of scientists and engineers at Monash University are working on to develop a world first bionic vision device to be implanted in the brain.