Dr Sushil Pant is a leading Australian-trained orthopaedic shoulder surgeon and the founder and medical director of the Sydney Shoulder Unit, a dedicated shoulder-only clinic in Edgecliff.

A doctor for over 20 years and a specialist shoulder surgeon for more than 10, he has performed over 5,000 shoulder surgeries, spanning sporting injuries and instability through to complex joint replacement.

A Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and the Australian Orthopaedic Association, he completed subspecialist fellowship training in Australia and internationally, gaining expertise in advanced arthroscopic and reconstructive techniques. He has provided expert care for NSW Rugby and AFL athletes.

Dr Phoon is Senior Medical Advisor at Westmead Hospital and Senior Staff Specialist in Nephrology at Westmead & Blacktown Hospital.He is a senior medical advisor, nephrologist, and experienced non executive director with over two decades of clinical leadership and substantial governance experience, including Treasurer of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Nephrology, Treasurer/Secretary of Ballet Without Borders, and Councillor of the Hospitals Contribution Fund of Australia (HCF).

Dr Maharaj was born and raised in South Africa where she completed her university studies; receiving her Paediatric Fellowship in 2010 and later, her Neonatal Fellowship in 2019. Whilst working in South Africa’s public and private facilities (regional and tertiary units), she gained a plethora of experience and knowledge working with newborns and general paediatrics. In 2022, Dr Maharaj and her wonderful family moved to Australia, where she provided care for both babies and older patients during a 6 month term at Mount Gambier Regional Hospital. Following on, the family relocated to Adelaide and Dr Maharaj commenced work at Flinders Medical Centre, where she contributed her knowledge to the acute medicine ward service, outpatient department, and child protection service. Additionally, she has been involved in supervising and mentoring medical students and junior colleagues. She was admitted to the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (Paediatrics) in 2024. Dr Maharaj works at Adelaide Paediatrics as a full-time paediatrician, where she operates her private practice at Adelaide Paediatrics Ashford rooms, consulting from Ashford Specialist Centre and providing neonatal care at nearby Ashford Hospital.

Dr Boyd is a Brisbane trained general paediatrician with 20 years’ experience. She has a special interest in the medical assessment and management of children and adolescents with eating disorders and currently leads the inpatient care at the Queensland Children’s Hospital for medically compromised children. She also works for public mental health services in a state-wide role, providing education and training to medical, mental health and allied health clinicians using education platforms such as the ECHO project. She is currently involved with Children’s Healthcare Australasia in a national project looking at hospital protocols for treatment of medically compromised children and adolescents to drive system improvements.

Dr. Heine is trained in Paediatric Gastroenterology and Allergy at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, where he worked as a Senior Staff Specialist from 1999 to 2017.As a clinician researcher at the University of Melbourne and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI), he was involved in several clinical trials on gastrointestinal food allergy, gastro-oesophageal reflux, and eosinophilic oesophagitis.From 2017 to 2023, Dr. Heine worked as the Global Clinical Development Lead in Paediatric Allergy at Nestlé Health Science in Switzerland, where he conducted clinical trials on hypoallergenic formulas and the gut microbiome in infants with cow’s milk allergy.In 2024, Dr. Heine returned to Australia and re-joined the MCRI in Melbourne as an Honorary Research Fellow.

Dr Nicholas Lotz is an Australian trained specialist Plastic Surgeon who performs Plastic, Reconstructive and Cosmetic Surgery.He studied medicine at the University of New South Wales, and then worked at the Royal North Shore Hospital during his intern and resident years. He had known for a long time that he wished to pursue a career in surgery. When he saw his first Plastic Surgery operation he realised how beautifully it combined the improvement of function with the restoration of form, and he knew then that Plastic Surgery was the career for him. Throughout his career he has dedicated himself to being the best surgeon that he can be. He was the first Australian surgeon to complete the extended Plastic Surgery training program which involved 3 years of general Plastic Surgery and then 2 years of specific training in facial surgery. After completing this he was awarded scholarships by both the Australasian Cleft Lip and Palate Association and the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, which allowed him to spend a year doing further work in France. His year in France (Paris and Nantes specifically) involved learning the art of ear reconstruction and facial aesthetic surgery, which enabled him to return home with additional skills to treat patients and to educate local surgeons.

Professor Bryce Vissel is Professor of Neuroscience at UNSW and Program Head of Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine at St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney, which is established to address a range of neurodegenerative disorders through an integrated collaborative multi-disciplinary effort.

Professor Vivienne Milch is Medical Director at Cancer Australia. Professor Milch is also Medical Advisor to the Australian Commonwealth Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing on cancer screening policy and Chair of the Expert Advisory Group overseeing the new National Lung Cancer screening Program. Vivienne holds a Master’s degree in Health Policy and is an Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor in the School of Medicine, Sydney Campus at The University of Notre Dame, Australia and Professorial Fellow at the Caring Futures Institute at Flinders University in Adelaide.Prior to joining Cancer Australia, Professor Milch was a General Practitioner and clinical researcher at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney.

Professor Jane Alty MA(Cantab.) FRCP(UK) FRACP MD is a Professor of Neurology at the University of Tasmania and a Staff Specialist in Neurology at Royal Hobart Hospital, Australia. Her work focuses on the early detection and prevention of neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, applying AI and digital biomarkers for more accurate diagnoses and better patient outcomes.

Jane has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers, 3 textbooks, and 2 book chapters. She is the Director of the ISLAND Cognitive Clinic, leading interdisciplinary research to improve dementia diagnostics and care. She has secured multiple research grants, including funding from the Australian Government’s NHMRC, to develop low-cost tools for early detection and monitoring of these disorders.

Previously, Jane held a position as Consultant Neurologist at Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust, where she led clinical trials and specialist clinics in Parkinson’s disease and movement disorders. She also co-led a Parkinson’s MOOC, reaching 25,000 people globally. Jane was promoted to Professor of Neurology in 2025 and won the Vice Chancellor’s Trailblazing Research Award in 2023.

Karin is a Registered Nurse with 20 years experience as clinical co-ordinator of IVF programs. She completed her PhD in 2006. Her main areas of research interest are the psychosocial aspects of infertility and infertility treatment including donor conception and surrogacy; health and development of children born as a result of assisted conception; infertility care in resource-constrained settings; fertility and preconception health promotion; the transition to parenthood; the healthcare needs of women diagnosed with breast cancer during pregnancy; and parenting of children with disabilities.

Catherine Mills is a Professor of Bioethics at Monash University, Australia. Her research addresses ethical, social and regulatory issues that arise around biomedical and technology innovation in human reproduction. She works collaboratively with industry partners such as Illumina and Monash IVF, as well as community and professional stakeholders to develop solutions to improve patient and consumer experiences. Her current projects include ethical and social research on prenatal testing, epigenetics, sperm and egg donation and mitochondrial donation, for which she has received funding from major national and international funders. She leads the engagement and implementation stream of mitoHOPE, the clinical trial of mitochondrial donation in Australia.

With a background in science and legal practice, Associate Professor Karinne Ludlow’s research primarily focuses on regulation of, and legal challenges to, innovative technologies, particularly biotechnology. That research addresses biotechnology across all species and in applications including health, agriculture and food. Karinne Ludlow has particular expertise in the regulation of reproductive technologies and her most recent book is on international responses to mitochondrial donation published by Oxford University Press. Current projects include the MitoHOPE project intended to clinically trial mitochondrial donation in Australia, and funded through a $15 million Medical Research Future Fund grant.