Queensland Health Research Excellence Showcase 2024

Professor Angela Ratsch is a Queensland-born registered nurse and midwife with an interest in life course epidemiology – specifically, pre- and gestational- environmental exposures and their association with foetal, childhood, adolescence and adult health and disease risk. Angela spent many years working in the Northern Territory and consequently established a research partnership with the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (NPY) Women’s Council and Northern Territory Health Service to oversee her Doctoral studies through The University of Queensland.

Her PhD examined and compared with smoking, the impact of chewing Australian wild tobacco plants (pituri), on Indigenous maternal and perinatal outcomes. Her findings provided new information for the over 90 million women globally who chew tobacco, and to the health professionals and researchers who work with these often disadvantaged and marginalised groups of women.  The findings also form the basis for Angela’s current study which extends into regional and rural Indigenous populations. Angela was awarded a Centaur Fellowship in 2013 and has previously been awarded a Queensland Health Research Fellowship (2012-2017- $525,000) and is a current recipient of a Queensland Health Clinical Research Fellowship (2020-2024 - $300,000). Angela is the Director of Research at the Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service.

Professor Jonathan Golledge holds a conjoint position between the College of Medicine and Dentistry at James Cook University (JCU) and The Queensland Health facility at Townsville University Hospital, where he works as a vascular surgeon. In addition to providing a high quality clinical service, his principal aspiration is to improve management of peripheral vascular diseases. The research impact of this is evidenced by external grant support from the NIH, NHMRC, Queensland Government, MRFF, NHF and other bodies. Of note in 2010 Professor Golledge led a successful bid to establish a NHMRC funded centre of research excellence for Peripheral Vascular Disease.

Professor Golledge is Head of the Queensland Research Centre for Peripheral Vascular Disease and its pre-clinical arm The Vascular Biology Unit at the College of Medicine and Dentistry, JCU and Townsville University Hospital. Professor Golledge joined JCU in 2002 and established the Vascular Biology Unit with the aim of carrying out research intended to be translated into improved management of abdominal aortic aneurysm and other peripheral vascular conditions. We continue to seek high quality students and researchers to join our group. Trained as a vascular specialist, Professor Golledge took 2 years out of specialist training to obtain experience in research techniques as part of a Cambridge MChir (Doctoral equivalent), UK. His research commitment is illustrated by a large number of presentations at International and National meetings and publications in peer-reviewed journals, including a large number in top specialised journals.

Professor John F Fraser MB ChB PhD FRCP(Glas) FFARCSI FCICM FELSO is Founder/Director of the Critical Care Research Group at The Prince Charles Hospital, Metro North Hospital and Health Service, Director of Intensive Care at St Andrew’s War Memorial Hospital, and Immediate Past President of the Asia Pacific Extracorporeal Life Support Organisation (APELSO).

Consisting of a world-leading collaborative of clinicians, engineers and scientists, the Critical Care Research Group (CCRG) is Australia’s largest multidisciplinary medical research groups. It boasts 8 purpose-built labs including the largest preclinical ICU in the southern hemisphere with connections across all major international cardiothoracic hospitals.

He and the team completed a five-year body of work to assess machine perfusion in optimising conditioning of donor hearts. This pre-clinical work led to an international clinical trial that has revolutionised the practice of heart transplantation by allowing hearts to remain outside the body for up to 9 hours. This practice has been adopted worldwide.

Professor Fraser developed an "inhalable epipen" equivalent for treatment of anaphylaxis, co-founded the BiVACOR total artificial heart company with Dr Daniel Timms, the device’s inventor, and in 2020 established the COVID-19 Critical Care Consortium with CCRG colleagues A/Prof Gianluigi Li Bassi and Dr Jacky Suen. The Consortium has created what is now widely regarded as the world’s largest and most in-depth COVID-19 ICU database spanning >460 hospitals in 64 countries resulting on over 35 manuscripts and treatment changing discoveries.

John has five professorships, over 650 publications many in peer-reviewed journals, has received more than AUD 90 million in competitive grants and co-wrote and edited the most comprehensive textbook on mechanical circulatory support.

Professor Julie White, as the Executive Director, Office of Research and Innovation in the Clinical Planning and Service Strategy Division of Queensland Health, is responsible for matching Queensland research capabilities – in hospitals, universities, research institutes and businesses – with partners, and translating research into improved health outcomes for patients.

Julie leads the strategic direction of medical research, including ethics and governance for clinical trials, at all Queensland public hospitals.  She oversees the Australian Teletrial Program which is making clinical trials more accessible for patients in remote regions of Australia. She also leads the Department of Health’s international business development activities.

Prior to joining Queensland Health, Julie was the Director of Health, Research and Enterprise Development at Deakin University.  She has held Chief Executive roles at companies and research centres in Australia and Europe.

Professor Michael Schuetz is the inaugural Director of the Jamieson Trauma Institute and Chair of Trauma at the Queensland University of Technology. Previously he was the Chair for Trauma and Reconstructive Surgery at the Charité / Berlin. He remains a practicing orthopaedic surgeon and international research leader in the field of orthopaedic trauma and trauma systems. Over three decades, Michael is actively involved in Medical Device Development partnering with industry, universities, and government. Since 2017, he is the Chair of the AO TechTransfer and Incubator Board / Zuerich CH selecting, supporting and mentoring global innovations into approved products.

Michael chairs the Queensland Trauma and Burns Quality Assurance Committee, the Research Committee of the Australian Orthopaedic Association, and is Member of the Evaluation Subcommittee advising the Australian Department of Health for funding on new technologies. He was invited to be on the Australian Delegation to Germany as member of the MedTech Delegation and invited to be on the German Delegation to Australia as member of the Medical and Research Delegation.

Prof Michael Schuetz is the 2024 Falling Walls Jury Chair for the global breakthrough in LifeScience.

Professor Clair Sullivan is an internationally-recognised leading practising and academic clinical informatician who helps drive digital health transformation in Queensland and globally.

Clair is the Director of the new Queensland Digital Health Centre within the Centre for Health Research at The University of Queensland.

A specialist endocrinologist, Clair graduated with Honours in Medicine from The University of Queensland and earned a Research Doctorate in Medicine from the University of Leeds. In 2014, Clair began a parallel career in the emerging field of digital health and has held significant leadership roles in digital health practice and governance across government and academia. Her work is regularly translated into practice and informs policy in Australia and globally.

Clair was appointed the inaugural Professor of Digital Associate Professor of Medicine in Clinical Informatics at UQ and is an Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology, and an Adjunct Professor, School of Health and Biomedical Sciences at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

She is a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, the Australian College of Health Informatics and the Australasian Institute of Digital Health.

Clair serves on several national advisory boards for digital health. She is the recipient of several awards including the 2021 Premier's Award for Excellence for her team's work on the digital response to COVID-19 and the 2022 Telstra Brilliant Connected Women in Digital Health Award.

She has generated over $30M in grant funding and has deep collaborations with government and industry. She is ranked in the top 1 per cent of Medical Informatics researchers globally.

Dr Iris Depaz, PhD EMBA GCHEd is the Head of Medical, Vaccines, Sanofi ANZ & South Korea. Iris obtained her PhD in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Queensland, Australia. Following this she conducted post-doctoral research in the area of neuronal drug metabolism and alcohol dependency. She received her eMBA with Honors from the IMD Business School in Lausanne Switzerland in December 2020.

She first moved into industry in 2007 working as a Scientific Advisor and Medical Science Liaison (MSL) in Diabetes for GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Australia in Diabetes. In 2009 she moved into Vaccines as an MSL, and during her time in Australia held increasing senior roles as an MSL manager and Senior Medical Advisor. Iris moved in 2012 to the GSK Global Vaccines Head Office in Belgium, where she was first a Global Medical Affairs Senior Manager then Global Medical Access Lead for the MMRV vaccine franchise.

Iris joined Sanofi in 2015 as the Global Head of the MSL Centre for Excellence based in Lyon France. During this time Iris also served as the Chair of the Sanofi Global Cross-GBU MSL Task Force. In 2018, Iris launched the Medical Effectiveness Department where she led the establishment of the Medical Capabilities, Insights, Content Development and Medical Education platforms.

Her current role leverages her long experience in vaccines as well as her country experience in Australia/New Zealand, to enhance and strengthen local external scientific interactions with stakeholders.

Dr Melissa Byrne has more than 15 years of experience in the life sciences sector, with expertise in multiple therapeutic areas, medical research, translation, strategy, and commercialisation.

Melissa holds a PhD in Cardiovascular Physiology from Monash University/Baker Institute, has completed a Postdoc from Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore and made significant contributions to various biotech start-up companies.

She was part of the founding team for Cardiac Dimensions Inc, Osprey and V-Kardia, and has had roles in both Research & Development and Clinical Operations for a number of biomedical startups.

Dr Noel Chambers is currently Chief Executive Officer of the National Foundation for Medical Research and Innovation. He has a PhD in pharmacology/medicinal chemistry from the University of Sydney. His work experience includes positions in research, research translation, commercialisation, start-up companies, biotechnology and philanthropy.

In the early 90s his patented discoveries in Type II diabetes led to a commercial partnership where he led a team of researchers at the University of Sydney and for which he was presented the Royal Australian Chemical Institute’s Biota Award for Medicinal Chemistry. Noel then moved into industry where he held senior management positions in research and business development before becoming the CEO of a number of listed (ASX) and unlisted biotechnology/health related companies. In 2009, Noel’s attention turned to philanthropy where he led the establishment of Research Australia’s successful philanthropy program as the Director of Philanthropy. He was a member of the Federal Government’s Advisory Council for Intellectual Property (ACIP) from 2009-2014, advising the Federal Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research and was Chair of the ACIP review into collaborations between Publicly Funded Research Organisations and Industry.

Dr Timothy Evans is the Director of Business Development at the Office of Research and Innovation within the Clinical Planning and Service Strategy Division of Queensland Health where he provides leadership in expanding partnership initiatives and capacity building for research commercialisation and translation.

Timothy comes to Queensland Health with over a decade of experience in the life sciences sector from leadership roles within the Australian biopharmaceutical manufacturing and university technology commercialisation sectors.

Timothy holds a PhD in Biochemistry and Cell Biology from The University of Queensland and was a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of California, San Francisco. Timothy combines business acumen and scientific proficiency to bridge the gap between research and commercialisation. Timothy is dedicated fostering innovation and cultivating impactful collaborations that drive positive outcomes in healthcare and beyond.

Professor Mark Kendall is a biomedical engineer, inventor, scientist, entrepreneur and business-builder. He is the founder and currently the CEO of WearOptimo, a Brisbane based company advancing Microwearable sensors for precision medicine.

This builds on more than 26 years of experience researching and developing commercial technologies focusing on the delivery of drugs to the skin and skin-based disease diagnostics across the University of Oxford (1998-2006), The University of Queensland (2006-2018) and Australian National University (2018-present), where Mark is currently a Vice-Chancellor's Entrepreneurial Professor.

Previously Mark was the founder, CTO and director of Vaxxas (2011-2015), established to commercialise the Nanopatch vaccine delivery patch he invented while at the University of Queensland. Before that while at the University of Oxford, Mark was an inventor of the biolistics delivery technology, commercialised with PowderJect (sold to Chiron Vaccines for $1 Billion in 2003), and then PowderMed, purchased by Pfizer for $400 million in 2006. The companies licensing Mark’s patents/technologies have generated a combined economic value of $2 Billion.

Dr Michelle Williams holds a PhD in cellular and molecular biology, in cardiovascular research. She currently works with a team of dedicated professionals in healthcare to translate scientific discoveries into practical solutions.

Michelle’s focus lies in vaccine development, where she facilitates collaborations between Australian scientists and research teams to advance mRNA vaccine technology.

With more than 15 years of experience in clinical trials, Michelle is committed to bridging the gap between our researchers and global opportunities.

Dr Alisa Selimovic has always been interested in translational science but did not always know that working as a VC would be her dream job. In her current role as Senior Investment Manager in the Life Sciences, Alisa has the privilege of working with exceptional scientists every day - both within the IP Group team, and within Australia’s university research ecosystem - to build new companies working at the cutting edge of medical research.

Alisa joined IP Group Australia from the University of Sydney where she was the Business Development Manager for the Faculty of Medicine, responsible for developing new industry-academia partnerships with both local and global industry players. Prior to her return to Australia in 2017, Alisa spent eight years in Oxford, UK, where she worked in life sciences strategy and M&A consulting at PharmaVentures, and in the Corporate Development team at Circassia, where she worked on the company’s £275m acquisition of Prosonix and Aerocrine. Alisa holds a DPhil in Biomedical Engineering from Oxford, and a Bachelor of Engineering / Bachelor of Life Sciences from Flinders University.

Dr Mark Ashton is the Director, Griffith Enterprise at Griffith University. He has over 25 years’ experience in numerous roles in the biotechnology, technology transfer and pharmaceutical industries. Mark joined Griffith University as the Director, Griffith Enterprise in April 2023 to lead their commercialisation activities. Prior to this, he spent 12 years with UniQuest Pty Ltd, the commercialisation company of The University of Queensland and led the commercialisation team as the Executive Director, Commercialisation.

Prior to joining UniQuest, Mark was the Executive Vice President, Business Development and a member of the Executive Management Committee of Evotec AG, a publicly listed, European-based Biotechnology company. At Evotec he led the business development team and also worked in other senior management roles during his 15 years. During his career Mark has led numerous strategic collaborations with global biotech and pharmaceutical companies, enabling mutually beneficial partnerships and has raised investment for start-ups and licensed technologies to international and domestic companies. He also has experience as a Director on the Board of a number of private companies in Australia.