Professor Andrew Wilks is an accomplished academic scientist who worked at the LICR (Melbourne) between 1983 and 1997 and made transformative discoveries in the signal transduction field, as well as in neurogenesis and angiogenesis. He has completed a rare ‘trifecta’ – discovering and patenting a number of important drug discovery targets (e.g. JAK1 and JAK2); founding one of Australia’s most successful biotech companies, Cytopia; and co‐inventing and leading the team that delivered the JAK inhibitor, Momelotinib.

Co‐founder and CEO of the SYNthesis Group, Professor Wilks is a serial entrepreneur and founder or co‐founder of ten companies in the drug discovery arena

Professor Andrew Forbes has an international reputation for leadership in biostatistics, stemming from his development and innovation in statistical methods to solve practical issues in health and medical research studies, as well as collaboration on major practice-changing research in substantive clinical areas. He chairs the pre-eminent multi-university national training program in biostatistics and has major roles with the Australian Clinical Trials Alliance (ACTA) in promulgating innovative clinical trial design methodologies.

Professor Forbes heads the nation’s largest biostatistics group and for over a decade has been an Editorial Board member of one of the leading international journals, Statistical Methods in Medical Research.

Professor Melanie Bahlo is a cross-disciplinary researcher at the intersection of statistics and genetics. She has developed innovative methods and software for genetic analysis, working closely with clinicians and geneticists to gain insights into complex genetics data. Her work has helped to understand the genetic architecture of several complex diseases, in particular the causes of neurogenic disorders, where her identification of ~20 novel genes has enabled genetic diagnosis of patients worldwide.

Professor Bahlo is the ‘Healthy Development and Ageing’ Theme Leader at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, and winner of the AAS Moran Medal and the Genetics Society of Australia’s Ross Crozier medal.

Professor Julie Bernhardt is a Co-Head of the Stroke Theme at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, a clinical scientist and highest ranked researcher in the field of stroke rehabilitation. She has established new standards and global collaborative partnerships for stroke rehabilitation trials, including completing the first landmark international trial in acute stroke rehabilitation in 56 sites in five countries.

In addition to her clinical research excellence, Professor Bernhardt has driven numerous initiatives to improve the retention and career advancement of women in health and medical sciences.