AAHMS Mentorship Workshop 2025

Professor Emily Banks is a public health physician and epidemiologist. She uses large-scale evidence to identify actions to improve health and health care, at an individual and population level. Her main areas of work are in chronic disease, tobacco control, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and healthy ageing. She is Head of the Centre of Epidemiology for Policy and Practice at the Australian National University, an NHMRC Investigator Fellow, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, a Visiting Professor at the University of Oxford and a Member of the Order of Australia.

Professor Kiaran Kirk AM FAHMS has PhDs in Biochemistry (Sydney) and Physiology (Oxford) and has had a research career focused on the biology of the malaria parasite and its susceptibility to antimalarial drugs.  He has, for most of his career, tried to balance university research and teaching commitments with leadership roles, having served as a Head of department for 12 and a half years, a Director of a ‘Research School’ for five years, and Dean of a College/Faculty for 11 and a half years.  He is currently the Dean of the College of Science at Medicine at the Australian National University in Canberra.

Professor Marshall AM is a clinician researcher and NHMRC Investigator L2 Fellow. She is a Consultant and Professor in Vaccinology at the Adelaide Medical School and Clinical Research Director, Women’s and Children’s Health Network. Professor Marshall is Medical Director of the Vaccinology and Immunology Research Trials Unit, at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, and is the Research Leader, Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Group in the Robinson Research Institute where she leads a team of 22 researchers. She was the 2023 South Australian Scientist of the Year and the 2022 SA Australian of the Year and SA Woman of the Year. In 2022 she was awarded Member of the Order of Australia.

Professor Robyn Norton AO FAHMS is one of the two Founding Directors of The George Institute for Global Health. Professor Norton has had a longstanding commitment to improving the health of women and girls and co-established The George Institute’s Global Women’s Health Program in 2018 and more recently the Centre for Sex and Gender Equity in Health and Medicine, a partnership with the Australian Human Rights Institute at UNSW and Deakin University. She currently chairs the Advisory Board of Franklin Women, a social enterprise that connects individuals and organisations committed to creating a health and medical research sector where women thrive.

Associate Professor Weranja Ranasinghe is a consultant urologist  and the Clinical Lead of Urologic Oncology Surgery at Monash Health. He is the leader of the Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand Genito-Urinary Oncology Special Advisory Group. Associate Professor Ranasinghe graduated from the University of Bristol, UK and was awarded a PhD at the University of Melbourne. He completed his urology training (FRACS Urology) and the Society of Urologic-Oncology fellowship at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA.  Associate Professor Ranasinghe is also a US DOD Early Career Research fellow at the University of Monash Biomedical Discovery Center.

Professor Renea Taylor co-leads the Cancer Program at the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute and is a leader in translational prostate cancer research. She heads a cutting-edge laboratory, working at the intersection of science and clinical care. Using patient-derived models, her team collaborates closely with clinicians and industry partners to fast-track therapeutic development. A passionate advocate for consumer engagement, Professor Taylor is deeply embedded in multidisciplinary teams and drives research that is both impactful and patient focused. With significant experience in building clinician-scientist partnerships, she offers practical, inspiring insights into how collaboration can accelerate discovery and deliver real-world outcomes.

Distinguished Professor Maree Teesson AC FAHMS is Director of the Matilda Centre and an NHMRC Leadership Fellow at The University of Sydney. She is Chair of Australia’s Mental Health Think Tank and a member of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences Council. She is a Former National Mental Health Commissioner (2018-2021), a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales.

Professor Teesson was announced as a Companion of the Order of Australia in the Australia Day 2018 Honours List, awarded a Westpac/Australian Financial Review 100 Women of Influence (Innovation), and awarded an Australian Museum Eureka Prize for Outstanding Mentor of Young Researchers.

Professor Teesson has made a major contribution to Australia’s health and medical research effort in the field of mental health and substance use. In particular, she is known nationally and internationally for her research on the comorbidity between mental health and substance use disorders.

Professor Gail Risbridger a Distinguished Professor at Monash University Biomedicine Discovery Institute. She is one of Australia’s leading authorities in prostate cancer and men’s health and her multidisciplinary program is centred on using patient specimens to translate research discoveries to the clinic. Professor Risbridger established one of the world’s largest cohorts of prostate cancer PDX’s to underpin research discoveries and their translation. This is a significant advance for a field hampered for decades by a paucity of models to generate and translate new knowledge.