Lena James is an Allergy & Eczema Nurse Practitioner working in a large private specialist immunology practice in Brisbane. She has worked in Allergy & Eczema for almost 10 years as a clinical nurse and has previously worked across emergency and intensive care environments. She is passionate about the early intervention management of eczema and allergy, and effective management and care collaboration strategies to optimise patient care and empowerment.

Gavin joined the Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry (SGDP) Centre at King’s College London as a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow in 2023. He co-leads the ReSpect Lab (Researching Autism across the Spectrum and Lifespan) with Professor Francesca Happé.

Gavin has several strands of active research. He is primarily interested in the 1) health, cognition, life experiences, and support needs of autistic (and other neurodivergent) people in midlife and older age. He is also interested in the 2) impact of social isolation and loneliness in older age. Additionally, his research also explores the 3) provision and accessibility of adult autism assessments in historically overlooked populations.

To explore these areas, Gavin works with a range of longitudinal cohorts, including the AgeWellAutism study (a cohort he first formed in 2019 and followed-up in 2023 that tracks age-related change in autistic/non-autistic adults in midlife and older age) and the PROTECT study (a healthy ageing cohort formed in 2015 with annual follow-ups that tracks adults across midlife and older age). He also works with smaller bespoke cross-sectional cohorts collected throughout his PhD and postdoctoral positions. These cohorts enable him to explore cross-sectional differences and longitudinal changes in ageing using categorical (i.e., those diagnosed with autism or who self-identify as autistic) and dimensional (i.e., those with autistic traits) approaches. Gavin also collaborates with clinical colleagues, who work with healthcare record and clinic data.

Beyond his current role at King’s, Gavin is also the coordination lead and a founding working group member for NHS England’s Autism Practitioner Network, a quarterly forum for clinicians and allied health professionals working in NHS/private autism-related services in England.

Prior to joining the SGDP Centre as a staff member in 2023, Gavin was an ESRC-funded Postdoctoral Research Fellow at University College London (2022-2023), a Clinical Study Manager for an autism diagnostic tool development study at East London NHS Foundation Trust (2021-2022), and an Associate Lecturer at Goldsmiths (2018-2021).

Gavin completed his PhD in Developmental Psychiatry at the SGDP (2018-2021), with a thesis titled ‘Ageing and Autism Spectrum Disorders’, supervised by Prof Francesca Happé and Dr Rebecca Charlton (Goldsmiths). Prior to beginning his PhD studentship, Gavin studied MSc in Genes, Environment and Development in Psychology and Psychiatry at King’s College London (2017-2018) and BSc (Hons) in Psychology at Goldsmiths (2014-2017).

When he’s not working, Gavin enjoys listening to audiobooks, exploring art galleries and museums, and enjoying food from different cultures.

Dr Melissa Beitner is dual-certified in General and Bariatric Surgery, as well as Obesity Medicine. She is passionate about providing her patients with expert, comprehensive care in both general and bariatric surgical services. Together with her team, Dr Beitner delivers the highest standards of medical care, combined with compassion for every patient. She has also completed fellowships in Australia at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and St George Hospital in Sydney.

Dr Annika Smith is a consultant dermatologist with clinical and academic roles across public and private centres in Sydney, including St Vincent’s Hospital, The Skin Hospital, and the Melanoma Institute. She completed specialist training at St John’s Institute of Dermatology in London, followed by further clinical experience at NYU, New York.A Fellow of the Australasian College of Dermatologists, Dr Smith’s interests include psoriasis and other chronic inflammatory skin diseases, advanced therapeutics, and multidisciplinary care, with a particular focus on chronic inflammatory skin diseases and their systemic sequelae, as well as skin cancer medicine and prevention.Her research encompasses optimising care pathways and outcomes in chronic inflammatory skin disease, with a particular emphasis on psoriasis, alongside research into skin cancer prevention and broader aspects of skin health.

Dr Mahoney graduated from Bond University in 2013. She completed her general paediatric training in Queensland before moving to Melbourne to pursue specialty training in Paediatric Allergy & Immunology at Epworth Hospital Richmond and The Royal Children’s Hospital. She now calls Melbourne home, and works as a consultant allergist at the Royal Children’s Hospital immunisation service, at Sunshine Hospital paediatric allergy clinic, and in private practice at MACCS Medical Group (MACCS is pronounced ‘Max’, long version Melbourne Allergy Centre & Children’s Specialists). Gabby’s areas of interest include food, medication and vaccine allergy, chronic urticaria, eczema, allergic rhinitis and asthma.

Chris Blyth is a Paediatric Infectious Diseases Specialist and Clinical Microbiologist. He is director of the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases and Professor of Paediatrics. Based at Perth Children’s Hospital, The Kids Research Institute Australia and University of Western Australia, his focus is treating children with complicated infections and prevention infection through vaccination. His PhD evaluated the effectiveness of influenza immunisation in children, data critical to inform current influenza policies. He previously has served on the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation.

Sanjay is an infectious diseases epidemiologist with extensive experience in vaccinology research and vaccination policy and program development. He is a Senior Research Fellow at the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS) and a Senior Lecturer of the Children’s Hospital at Westmead Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney. He is also a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Emerging Leadership Fellow. He currently chairs the Enhanced Invasive Pneumococcal Disease (IPD) Surveillance working group that oversees national IPD surveillance. Sanjay’s PhD was on pneumococcal disease epidemiology and effectiveness of pneumococcal vaccines.

Lucinda is an early career Radiation Oncologist, working as a Staff Specialist at Westmead Hospital NSW, treating thoracic malignancies and brain metastases and undertaking a PhD focusing on the optimal treatment of ultra-central lung cancers. She has a passion for medical education, working as a Clinical Lecturer at the Sydney University Medical School for 10 years. This year she has joined as the Chair of the Targeting Cancer Reference Panel, a committee coordinating the international Targeting Cancer campaign to advocate for patient access to radiation therapy, a highly effective, safe and cost-effective treatment for cancer.

A/Prof Ralph Audehm is a GP of 35 years experience. An Honorary Clinical Associate Professor, University of Melbourne, Department of General practice. He has a broad interest in chronic disease management, diabetes, heart disease and transitional research. He has owned his own practice, worked for NGOs as well as in the community health sector. He believes that primary care and general practice is the key to providing better health outcomes for all Australians.

A/Prof Jeremy Grummet is a practising urologist and Director of Urology at Alfred Health in Melbourne and Clinical Associate Professor at Monash University where he supervises PhD and Masters students on research in prostate cancer diagnosis. He was a member of the EAU Guidelines Prostate Cancer Panel for 6 years and is co-founder of MRI PRO, an online training program for reading prostate MRI, accredited as a Monash University Short Course. He is Co-Principal Investigator of the LIBERATE registry of Focal Brachytherapy for prostate cancer. A/Prof Grummet is currently on the government-funded committee to update Australian guidelines on early detection of prostate cancer.

A/Prof Spiros Fourlanos is a consultant endocrinologist and the Director of the Royal Melbourne Hospital Department of Diabetes and Endocrinology and honorary Associate Clinical Professor with the University of Melbourne. He obtained his medical and PhD degrees at the University of Melbourne. His doctoral thesis was performed at the Walter & Eliza Hall Institute on ‘Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults (LADA): New Clinical, Immunogenetic and Metabolic Perspectives’. He has authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications and is currently a stream lead in the University of Melbourne Australian Centre for Accelerating Diabetes Innovations collaborative. In conjunction with Professor Peter Colman he developed the BioGrid Diabetes Database which is now being used in multiple institutes in Australia for clinical care and benchmarking. He oversaw the Royal Melbourne Hospital becoming the first Australian hospital to have a complete automated networked blood glucose monitoring system. His clinical research interests include diabetes management in the hospital, medical device technologies for diabetes and adult-onset autoimmune diabetes. Spiros is currently a board member and honorary treasurer of the Australian Diabetes Society.

Samantha Stuk is an Accredited Practising Dietitian (APD) with 13 years of clinical experience across the public and private health sectors. In additional to her role as Principal Dietitian and Founder of The Nutrition Code, she is a senior dietitian within the Royal Melbourne Hospital endocrinology team. She has a special interest in diabetes (Type 1, Type 2 and Gestational), weight management and bariatric surgery. She is also skilled in heart disease and digestive health – including IBS and coeliac disease, and sports nutrition.

Professor Craig Beall, Department of Clinical and Biomedical Sciences, Research Theme Lead: Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism.The lab is currently funded by Diabetes UK, Medical Research Council, the Royal Society, the Steve Morgan Foundation and NIHR. He is a committee member for the Society for Endocrinology Science Committee, Diabetes Wellness Sweden Research Advisory Board, Diabetes UK Professional Conference organising committee.Association of British Science Writers.

I’m a Diabetes UK funded PhD candidate exploring how metabolism and inflammation shape brain health, particularly in the context of diabetes and dementia. My work combines cell biology and neuroscience, using iPSC-derived microglia, endothelial cells, and brain organoids to study how diabetes drugs influence neurovascular and immune interactions. I have hands-on experience with live-cell imaging, metabolic profiling, and cytokine/growth factor analysis. Skilled in experimental design, data analysis, and interdisciplinary collaboration, with a strong academic foundation and presentation experience at national scientific meetings.