Dr Russell Basser Expand Dr Russell Basser is a qualified physician and spent 10 years in an academic clinic Medical Oncology/Haematology. Since joining CSL (a leading biopharmaceutical company specialising in plasma-derived, recombinant protein therapeutics and influenza vaccines) in 2001, he has worked in a wide range of therapeutic areas and overseen clinical development, clinical operations, regulatory affairs, drug safety and biometrics/medical writing. He was responsible for globalising the Clinical R&D group and rebuilding the development capabilities in Japan and in 2014 was appointed to the role of Chief Medical Officer in Melbourne, Australia. He recently took up the role of SVP R&D at Seqirus (a fully owned subsidiary of CSL Ltd), a new specialist influenza vaccine company formed from the merger of bioCSL which acquired influenza vaccine assets of Novartis. Seqirus is the second largest influenza vaccine company globally.
Alan Liddle Expand Alan Liddle has over 30 years' experience in developing and commercialising medical and biological therapeutics and over 30 years’ research & executive management experience in the medical and the biotechnology research sector encompassing immunology and bio-therapeutics for cancer and auto-immune diseases, cardiology, neuroplasticity, the microbiome, regenerative medicine & rehabilitation. Alan is Executive Director of Sangui Bio a company he cofounded in 2014. Sangui is commercialising its discoveries in the role of red blood cells in immune system activation and regulation. Alan co-founded and was CEO & Director of Immune System Therapeutics Ltd from 2001 to 2011. He was also the Founder, CEO & Director of MicroMedical Industries Limited from 1986. He built the company from a start-up to an ASX listed, international provider of medical monitoring and diagnostic products and a developer of artificial heart technologies. Prior to his biomedical career Alan was a neuropsychologist researcher at the University of Sydney specialising in rehabilitation of patients following traumatic brain injuries. He was the co-inventor of the rehabilitation software program: Dynamind3D. Alan holds a BA (Hons) from the University of Sydney and MBA from the University of NSW and is a fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors
Dr Gabby Goldberg Expand Dr Gabby Goldberg is Operations Manager of Synthesis Research and its investee companies Anaxis Pharma and Catalyst Therapeutics – joint ventures with the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. She has over 15 years’ experience leading translational research. Her PhD with Prof. Richard Boyd at Monash University resulted in several high-impact publications and a multi-centre clinical trial. She went on to do post-doctoral fellowships in translational immunology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Baylor Institute of Immunology Research. Upon her return to Australia, she accepted a Senior Research Officer position with Prof. Ian Wicks at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. Working on a CSL Ltd. funded project, she undertook and coordinated a preclinical drug development program involving clinical, academic and industry staff. A year after joining the lab, she was awarded an NHMRC Career Development Fellowship (Industry) which afforded her the opportunity to work on secondment at CSL and play an integral role in the research leading up to the IND filing of a novel drug targeting inflammatory diseases.
Dr Michal Milgrom-Hoffman Expand Dr Michal Milgrom-Hoffman is currently a Research Fellow in the Department of Biochemistry, Latrobe University and a member of the Humbert Cancer biology, cell polarity and tissue architecture research team under Prof Patrick Humbert looking at how cell asymmetry and tissue organization can regulate cancer initiation, progression and metastasis with the ultimate aim to devise therapeutics to help tumours ‘reorganize’ themselves, thereby stopping the cancer’s growth and spread. The team works closely with cancer clinicians, pathologists, immunologists, a geneticist and a crystallographer.
Prof Jeffrey Zajac AO Expand Prof Jeffrey Zajac is Professor and Head of the University of Melbourne, Department of Medicine at Austin Health. He is a Clinical Endocrinologist and General Physician with research interests in molecular endocrinology. He is Chairman of Medicine and Director of the Department of Endocrinology at Austin Health. Prof Zajac trained in Medicine at the University of Melbourne and undertook a PhD in the Department of Medicine, Austin & Repatriation Medical Centre. Following postdoctoral work in the Endocrine Genetics Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, he returned to the University of Melbourne initially at Royal Melbourne Hospital and now Austin Health. His research group has embarked on a major research program investigating the effect of androgen deprivation therapy in patients with prostate cancer. These investigations include effects on bone, muscle, cardiovascular risk and metabolic state. He also heads a molecular endocrinology group investigating the androgen receptor using genetically modified mice.