Mia Jessurun is an Associate in Grattan Institute’s Health Program. Her work focusses on how data can inform more equitable social policymaking, including through data linkage projects.

She previously worked in mental health data and research at the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care, contributing to Medicare and Primary Health Network mental health services reform. Prior to joining the public service, she worked in social research consulting at ORIMA Research.

Mia has a double degree in Policy Studies (Honours) and Development Studies from ANU. Her honours research specialised in sociology, focussing on children’s mental health and climate change.

Dr Vasant Rajan is a Brisbane-based colorectal and general surgeon with subspecialty expertise in the full breadth of colorectal disease, from bowel cancer and inflammatory bowel disease to anorectal and pelvic floor disorders. He offers patients and referring practitioners timely access to high-quality care from his Brisbane rooms. He has expertise and is experienced in robotic surgery, laparoscopic surgery, and complex colonoscopies.

Dr Rajan’s surgical training spans three continents. After completing his medical degree at the University of Mumbai in 2001, he undertook postgraduate surgical training in the United States, passing the United States Medical Licensing Examination before relocating to Australia in 2007. He completed advanced general surgical training at two of Sydney’s leading institutions, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and Concord Hospital, and was awarded his Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (FRACS) in 2015.

Committed to subspecialty excellence, Dr Rajan pursued a Master of Surgery at the University of Sydney before undertaking two dedicated years of colorectal surgical training at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Adelaide and Liverpool Hospital in Sydney. He holds accreditation from the Gastroenterological Society of Australia (GESA) for colonoscopy and is a member of both the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) and the Colorectal Surgical Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSSANZ).

Jeff is an Academic Surgeon, based at The University of Western Australia and is a Consultant General Upper GI and Bariatric Surgeon.

He was the inaugural Professor of Medical Education at The University of Western Australia (UWA), Jeff is the Director of CTEC, a world-class skills training centre and is UWA’s Professor of Surgical Education. Over an extended period of time he has been influential in teaching and learning, curriculum development, assessment and student progress. At the postgraduate level he has been involved with the education of trainees through simulation. Jeff was awarded Membership of the Order of Australia, 2019, for services to medical education and surgery, particularly in the area of bariatric surgery.

Involved in the formation and inaugural Chair of the Western Australia Patient Blood Management Group (2018). Scientific Associate and Board Member, International Foundation for Patient Blood Management. Recently he has been a member of the Steering Committee for the development of the WHO Policy Brief: The urgent need to implement patient blood management – a framework for global PBM implementation and following this the WHO Global document: Guidance on implementing patient blood management to improve global blood health status.

Research interests include: medical, surgical and nursing education; obesity especially relating to interprofessional team care; role of medical and surgical simulation in education and training; curriculum development; surgical skills assessment; human factors in surgery; proficiency based assessment in skills acquisition; Patient Blood Management, clinical implementation, education and training; digital anatomy methodology and, abdominal wall biomechanics.

Publications include books and book chapters and peer reviewed research papers numbering in excess of 90 publications.

Founding partner Indonesian Clinical Training and Education Center (ICTEC), Jakarta

Lexi Frydenberg is an experienced general paediatrician specialising in the care of children, from birth to age 18, who experience a wide range of acute and chronic medical conditions. Lexi has special interests in complex medical and genetic conditions, continence and toileting problems, allergy, asthma and eczema as well as chronic headache and migraine. She also deals with unsettled babies and sleep, feeding and growth and obesity issues. She has extensive experience helping children with developmental delay, learning difficulties, autism and ADHD.

Lexi graduated from Monash University, Melbourne in 1996. She has worked in Paediatrics at the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH), Victoria since 1998. She currently works at RCH in a General Medical public outpatient clinic and is the Education Co-ordinator for the Department of General Medicine. She also enjoys teaching and mentoring paediatric trainees.

A mother of three children, Lexi is passionate about child and family centred care. She works closely with each family alongside a wide range of allied health professionals including psychologists, speech pathologists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and Dietitian s. She also works closely with GPs, nurses and preschool and school educators to deliver the best care for each child.

Professor Tom Buckley is Professor of Advanced Practice Nursing at the Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, and an active clinical researcher within the Department of Cardiology at Royal North Shore Hospital. Since qualifying as a registered nurse in 1991, he has held senior clinical and academic roles in the United Kingdom, United States, and Australia, with expertise spanning nephrology, intensive care, and acute cardiology. He completed a PhD in 2009 examining the cardiovascular consequences of bereavement, supported by a Heart Research Australia scholarship.

Professor Buckley’s research focuses on understanding how psychological, social, and physical stressors influence cardiovascular health and broader patient outcomes. His program of research encompasses cardiovascular disease, bereavement and end-of-life care, and the effects of hospitalisation and serious illness on patients and family caregivers. His work aims to generate evidence that improves patient and family experiences while advancing understanding of the interactions between psychological wellbeing and cardiovascular health across the lifespan.

Dr Katherine Spira is a Consultant Neurologist with special interests in Headache, Obstetric Neurology and Neuroimmunology. Dr Spira has subspecialty level expertise in Headache care and provides care to adults of all ages, older adolescents, patients who are pregnant, having neurological issues connected with menopause or undergoing treatment for other health issues. She completed her Fellowship of the Royal Australiasian College of Physicians in 2017.

Dr Spira collaborated as a clinical researcher at the University of New South Wales and was an associate lecturer at that university. Dr Spira facilitated and lectured masters level courses in Neurology at the University of Sydney. She assisted in the physician training program at Prince of Wales Hospital.

Dr Spira currently works at Spira Neurology in Bondi Junction where she is the second generation of her family to run this neurology practice.