Dr Errol Katz Chair Expand Dr Errol Katz currently works in Private Equity and on a number of start-ups. Errol completed studies in Law and Medicine at Monash University and a Master of Public Policy at Harvard University. Errol has worked as a Management Consultant with The Boston Consulting Group, with Visy and the Pratt Group, and as an Investment Manager at Co-Investor Capital Partners. Errol is a director of Primary Healthcare, an ASX listed company, is Deputy Chair of Monash Health, and sits on the boards of a number of private companies.
Dr Russell Basser Board Member 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.
Dr Phillip Brenner Board Member Expand Dr Phillip Brenner was previously head of St Vincents urology unit in Sydney, New South Wales. A practicing urological surgeon for well over 20 years, Dr. Brenner specialized in treating patients with urological cancers, with a particular emphasis on treating cancer of the prostate as well as cancer of the kidneys. Dr. Brenner, who completed a fellowship at the renowned Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center based in New York, performed more than 1,000 radical prostatectomies along with more than 750 laparoscopic procedures throughout the course of his illustrious and achievement-laden career. During his truly remarkable career, Dr. Brenner undertook extensive research within his multiple fields of expertise and published countless articles concerning his findings in medical journals and other publications.
Lynda Brest Board Member Expand Lynda Brest is a Director at Publicis Sapient Strategy & Consulting and has extensive experience working with large, complex organisations, in both the private and public sectors, to improve their effectiveness and achieve break-through performance. Her focus is on aligning business, leadership and people management strategies as well as developing new operating models, process and organisational blueprints to improve the performance and impact of leadership teams. Lynda combines her background in psychology and business with a human-centred approach to design pragmatic solutions that will deliver sustainable outcomes. She holds a Master of Business Administration, Higher Diploma in Personnel Management, Bachelor of Social Science (Psychology).
Ron Finkel AM Board Member Expand Ron Finkel AM is a well-known Melbourne-based businessman. He is the Managing Director of Momentum Ventures Ltd., one of the first venture capital funds established in Australia. He is a graduate of law and commerce from the University of Melbourne. A leading member of the Australian Jewish community, Ron has been President and Chairman of a number of communal organisations and is President of Hadassah Australia, the Australian “Friends” of Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem and Project Rozana, an organisation working to build bridges to better understanding between Israelis and Palestinians through health. Under Ron’s leadership, Hadassah Australia has become a national Jewish communal organisation raising significant funds annually for projects associated with the Hadassah Hospital. Ron is also the founder of HAMRC as an ATO-endorsed health promotion charity to facilitate medical research collaborations between Hadassah Hospital and Australia. In 2018 Ron was appointed a member of the Order of Australia (AM), in recognition of his outstanding achievements and service.
Prof Sharon Lewin AO Board Member Expand Prof Sharon Lewin is the inaugural Director of the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, a joint venture between the University of Melbourne and the Royal Melbourne Hospital. A leading infectious diseases expert, and is also a Professor of Medicine at The University of Melbourne and a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Practitioner Fellow. As an infectious diseases physician and basic scientist, Prof Lewin’s laboratory focuses on basic, translational and clinical research aimed at finding a cure for HIV and understanding the interaction between HIV and hepatitis B virus. Her laboratory is funded by the NHMRC, the National Institutes of Health, The Wellcome Trust, the American Foundation for AIDS Research and multiple commercial partnerships. She is also the Chief Investigator of a NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence (CRE), and works to bring together Australia’s leading experts in clinical, laboratory and public health research to address the key components required for a rapid and effective emergency response to infectious diseases.
Alan Liddle Board Member 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
Dug Pomeroy Board Member Expand Dug Pomeroy is the founder and Executive Chairman of Pomeroy Pacific Pty Ltd. Founded in 1971the Pomeroy Group of Companies has an extensive background in Development Services, Project Management, Construction Management and Property Investment. Dug’s knowledge and over 40 years of building, construction, management and development experience, is highly sought after throughout the industry with his team having completed some of Melbourne’s Landmark developments comprising, inner city Commercial buildings, Retail Centres, Industrial Parks and some of the most prestigious Residential properties. He is a qualified builder, holding dual unlimited Licences both in Commercial and Domestic Construction. Dug has served as President and Chairman for several not-for-profit organisations and held advisory positions on building-related Government steering committees.