Chair: Professor Antony Basten AO FAA FTSE MBBS DPhil(Oxon) FRCP FRACP

Tony is a distinguished clinician scientist who holds fellowships of the Australian Academies of Science and Technical Sciences and Engineering. He is an Emeritus Professor at University of Sydney, a Senior Principal Research Fellow at the Garvan Institute and until recently was the foundation Executive Director of the Centenary Institute of Cancer Medicine & Cell Biology. He was winner of the inaugural Wellcome Australia medal for distinguished discovery and its demonstrated use, a Florey lecturer of the Royal Society, London and the chief Commonwealth advisor on the medical and scientific aspects of HIV/AIDS. He is also a director of Biotech Capital. His research spans the interface between the laboratory and the bedside. On the commercial front he has secured, together with colleagues, a number of industry grants, has experience in the running of clinical trials, and has served on the scientific advisory boards of biotechnology companies. In recognition of his contributions to medicine and health and medical research he became an Officer in the General Division Order of Australia and was elected to Fellowship of the Australian Academies of Science and Technological Sciences and Engineering and received a Centenary Medal from the Prime Minister of Australia.

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Professor Nick Hunt BSc(Hons) PhD

Professor Hunt studied for a BSc(Hons) PhD in the UK, which was followed by a postdoctoral period in Sheffield. In 1977 he moved to the John Curtin School of Medical Research at the Australian National University in Canberra where he was research fellow, later senior research fellow, until February 1988, at which time he joined the Department of Pathology at the University of Sydney. In July 1989 he was appointed to the chair of pathology and was head of that department for over eight years. Since early 2003 he has been director of the Institute for Biomedical Research at the University of Sydney. He has been president of the Australian Society for Medical Research (1989) and Australasian Society for Free Radical Research (1996). In 2005 he was awarded the Dintenfass Prize by the Rebecca L Cooper Foundation for the best research grant proposal. His research interests are in the immunopathology of infectious diseases, in particular malaria. His work has concentrated on cerebral malaria and, more recently, lung complications in severe malaria. His research group has expertise in histopathology, immunohistochemistry, quantitative RT-PCR, microarray analysis and laser capture microdissection. His laboratory is located in the Medical Foundation Building, the strategic focus of genomics developments at the University of Sydney. He has 150 publications and is on the editorial boards of three scientific journals. He has supervised or co-supervised to a successful completion the work of 17 PhD students. He teaches undergraduate students in Medicine, Dentistry and Science.

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Professor Peter Schofield BScAgr(Hons) PhD DSc

Professor Schofield was appointed executive director and chief executive officer of the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute in July 2004. He previously worked at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research for 15 years, most recently as director of the neurobiology research program. Peter holds a National Health and Medical Research Council senior principal research fellowship and appointments in both medicine and biotechnology at the University of New South Wales. Peter's research interests focus on understanding how signalling in the brain occurs, through studies of neurotransmitter receptors, and identifying genes that lead to disorders such as manic depressive illness and Alzheimer's disease. His work has been recognised by several awards including the AW Campbell award by the Australian Neuroscience Society in 1990, the Boehringer Mannheim medal by the Australian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 1995, and the Gottschalk medal by the Australian Academy of Science in 1997. He has published over 160 scientific papers in leading international journals and holds several patents. Peter has held many other professional appointments and served on many internal and external committees. He was formerly president of the Australian Society of Medical Research, a foundation director of Research Australia Ltd and chair of the Advisory Board of LifeScience. He is a member of the Pharmaceutical Subcommittee of the Australian Drug Evaluation Committee, an external member of the scientific advisory board of Biotron Pty Ltd, and a member of the executive committee for NISAD (Neuroscience Institute for Schizophrenia and Allied Disorders). He was also founder and managing director of the Garvan Institute spin-out company PsyGene Pty Ltd, and he has provided input as an expert witness on a number of biotechnology patents.

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Professor Simon Sheather BSc(Hons) PhD

Professor Sheather is the head of the department of statistics at Texas A&M University, one of the largest and most prestigious statistics departments in the US. Simon has extensive consulting experience, particularly in process improvement and the application of statistical methods to business situations. He has worked with clients from a range of industries including banking, hospitality, fashion, transport, real estate and consumer products as well as public sector organisations. In 2001, Simon was named an honorary fellow of the American Statistical Association. In 2002, he was the co-winner of the inaugural Australian Graduate School of Management Award for Excellence in Research. From 2002 to 2004 Simon was a member of the Australian Research Council's expert advisory committee on mathematics, information and communication sciences. In 2003, Simon was ranked among the top 200 mathematicians worldwide based on citations of his published work. From 1991 to 1993 Simon was an associate editor of the Journal of the American Statistical Association. From 1998 to 2001, he was the inaugural managing editor and the theory and methods editor of the Australian & New Zealand Journal of Statistics. Simon holds a BSc(Hons) degree (Melbourne) and a PhD in Statistics (La Trobe). From 1987 until early 2005, Simon was a faculty member at the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM). In 1991, 1997 and 2000, Simon won the Australian Graduate School of Management Alumni Association Award for excellence in teaching. In 1994, he was awarded a University of New South Wales vice chancellor's award for teaching excellence.

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Professor Alan Trounson MSc PhD

Alan Trounson is professor of stem cell sciences and director, Monash immunology and stem cell laboratories at Monash University, and the founder and executive vice chairman of the National Biotechnology Centre of Excellence Australian Stem Cell Centre, as well as global scientific strategy advisor. Professor Trounson graduated from the University of New South Wales in 1971 with an MSc in wool and pastoral sciences. In 1974 he was awarded a PhD in animal embryology by Sydney University. From 1974 to 1976 he was awarded the Dalgety research fellow at the ARC Institute of animal physiology and biochemistry at Cambridge University. In 1977 he was appointed senior research fellow at Monash University, and by 1984 was a reader in the department of obstetrics and gynecology. He was appointed director of the Centre for Early Human Development in 1985, was awarded a personal chair in obstetrics and gynaecology/paediatrics in 1991 at Monash University, and in 2003 was awarded a personal chair as professor of stem cell sciences, also at Monash University. The faculties of medical sciences and physical education and physiotherapy, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium, awarded Professor Trounson a Doctor Honoris Causa in 2003. His scientific accomplishments include: the pioneering of human in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and associated reproductive technologies: the diagnosis of inherited genetic disease in pre-implementation embryos; the discovery and production of human embryonic stem cells and their ability to be directed into neurones, prostate tissue and respiratory tissue. He is on the Victorian government's innovation economy advisory Board, and is a director of the Victorian endowment for science, knowledge and innovation (VESKI). His present research interests are focused on human embryonic stem cells and their suitability for transplantation for the treatment of inflammatory lung disease and cystic fibrosis.

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Professor Paul Zimmet AO MD PhD FRACP FRCP FTSE

Professor Zimmet AO is one of the world’s leading diabetes researchers, and chairman of Apollo’s diabetes advisory board. He is Director of the International Diabetes Institute and the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Centre for the Epidemiology of Diabetes, Professor of Diabetes at Monash University and a Professor at Deakin University and the Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh in the United States. Professor Zimmet’s current research includes the molecular mechanisms of type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance and obesity, and the effects that lifestyle changes have had on the development of diabetes, obesity, coronary heart disease and hypertension in developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region. In 1993, he was made a member in the Order of Australia (AM) for services to medicine and education, particularly in the field of diabetes.  In 2001, he was further honoured as an officer in the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished services to medical research of national and international significance, particularly in the field of diabetes, as a leader of investigations into social, nutritional and lifestyle diseases, and to biotechnology development in Australia. Professor Zimmet has served on the Australian government’s strategic taskforce on diabetes, published more than 600 scientific papers, chapters and reviews in peer‑reviewed journals and books, and was co-editor of the major and widely used "International textbook of Diabetes Mellitus”. He also co-edited “The epidemiology of diabetes”. In addition to his government honours, Professor Zimmet has received many awards, including the Kelly West Medal from the American Diabetes Association, The Lilly Award of the International Diabetes Federation, the Harold Rifkin Award of the American Diabetes Association, the Kellion Award of the Australian Diabetes Society, the 2004 Helmut Mehnert Award of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, the Banting Award from Diabetes UK and the Charles Best Award from the Toronto Diabetes Association. He has also been a member of numerous WHO, international and national committees addressing the issue of chronic diseases and nutrition.

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