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.

Katherine Spira is a headache subspecialist and general neurologist from Sydney. She runs a private practice, Spira Neurology, in Bondi Junction and is an Honorary Medical Officer at Prince of Wales Hospital.

Her medical career focus and passion is the delivery of intimate, compassionate and best practice patient care in a community setting. In parallel, she is involved in migraine advocacy and education.

Catherine Hughes AM is a consumer research leader, immunisation advocate and public health communicator. She founded the Immunisation Foundation of Australia (IFA) in 2016, following the death of her infant son Riley from whooping cough at 32 days old, before he was old enough to be vaccinated. At the time, pregnant women in most of Australia were not offered a funded whooping cough vaccine. Her Light for Riley campaign helped raise national awareness of the risk to newborns and the case for vaccinating in pregnancy. Funded maternal whooping cough vaccination is now available in every state and territory.

Catherine is a Consumer Investigator on more than a dozen NHMRC, MRFF and philanthropically funded immunisation studies, including maternal immunisation research. She chairs consumer advisory groups across several of Australia’s leading research institutions and is Honorary Community Co-Researcher at the Kids Research Institute Australia. She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2022 and named Patient Advocate of the Year at the 2025 Patients Australia Awards.

Dr Michael Bogwitz is the senior genetic counsellor at Cabrini Family Cancer Clinic with more than 20 years’ experience in both public and private genetics services. He also heads the Victorian Family Cancer Program within the Cancer Council of Victoria, and serves on several boards including the Melbourne Health Human Research Ethics Committee, and the Board of Censors for the Human Genetic Society of Australasia. Michael completed a PhD in Genetics before completing his postgraduate studies in Genetic Counselling.

Meg is a Paediatric Speech Pathologist with over 15 years’ experience supporting children and their families. She has a strong neuroaffirming practice and takes a holistic approach to functional communication. Meg is passionate about AAC, multimodal communication, feeding support, and the early childhood space. She creates a supportive, inclusive environment where children are empowered to communicate, participate, and thrive.

Dr Kilian Brown is a specialist colorectal surgeon at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, treating patients with a wide range of colorectal conditions. He has particular expertise in advanced colorectal cancer, complex pelvic tumours and minimally invasive robotic surgery. He also manages haemorrhoids, diverticular disease and inflammatory bowel disease, and performs routine colonoscopy and endoscopy procedures.

After completing general surgical training in Sydney, Dr Brown undertook two years of subspecialty fellowship training in advanced colorectal surgery at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, one of the leading cancer centres in the United States. During this time, he specialised in complex pelvic cancer surgery, including pelvic exenteration, and minimally invasive robotic techniques.

Dr Brown is a Clinical Senior Lecturer at The University of Sydney, where he completed both his Masters and PhD. His research, based at the Surgical Outcomes Research Centre, focuses on improving outcomes for patients undergoing major surgery for advanced rectal cancer.

Mr Jason Winnett is the founder and director of The Winnett Specialist Group, which was founded in 2001. He has specialist qualifications in a number of areas, and per¬forms the following surgical procedures at The Winnett Specialist Group:

• The LAP-BAND® System / Gastric Banding Procedure
• Orbera Intragastric balloon
• Endoscopic Sleeve Gastroplasty
• Upper GI Surgery
• Hepatobiliary Surgery
• Colorectal Surgery
• Vasectomy Surgery

As a specialist in these fields, Jason’s primary areas of expertise include laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding, laparoscopic ingui¬nal, femoral, incision hernia repair, laparoscopic cholecystec¬tomy, laparoscopic appendicectomy and laparoscopic colorectal surgery.

A practicing surgeon with over 23 years experience, Jason Winnett has performed over 1700 weight-loss surgical procedures, 15,000 endoscopic procedures and has successfully treated thousands of patients with obesity, or weight-related issues.

Jason has a reputation for his excellent personable skills, which, when combined with his expertise and knowledge in his field gives him a wonderful bedside manner that countless patients have commented on. In a discipline where many surgeons are very clinical, and simply view their patients as a “case number”, Jason is an exception. He likes to learn about his patients – their families, their lifestyle, their hobbies, where they work – because this not only helps him to form a far more accurate picture of the individual he is treating, but it helps put his patients at ease.

Undergoing any surgical procedure can be a very confronting, even traumatic experience for some individuals; Jason understands this and he strives to make the entire process as easy as possible for his patients, which not only helps to reduce their anxiety toward the procedure itself, but creates an immediate sense of trust between patient and doctor, a connection that is imperative when a patient is required to place their faith in a surgeon who is about to perform a complex procedure on them.

Dr Fernandes is a Gastroenterologist and IBD specialist at Mater Hospital Brisbane and the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, and the Deputy Director of Gastroenterology at STARS. Dr Fernandes is currently the chair of the Young GESA Network, secretary of the Gastroenterology Network of Intestinal Ultrasound (GENIUS), and treasurer of the Gastroenterological Society of Queensland (GESQ). Dr Fernandes undertook advanced training at hospitals across the Metro North Hospital Health Service, followed by a clinical and research fellowship in IBD and advanced IBD endoscopy at Mater Hospital. Dr Fernandes is an active translational clinician-scientist, undertaking original research an investigator in multiple international clinical trials of new treatments for IBD. He is currently completing a clinical and laboratory-based clinical and basic sciences PhD focusing on improving our understanding of post-operative Crohn’s disease recurrence, including exploring the role of the mesentery and microbiome. His other interests include IBD intestinal ultrasound and the endoscopic management of IBD strictures.