Professor John Carlin is internationally recognised for research and leadership in biostatistics. He is a leading figure in this key enabling discipline in Australia, having established the Victorian Centre for Biostatistics and previously co-founding the Biostatistics Collaboration of Australia. His reputation is built on a combination of influential methodological research, an extensive array of major collaborations with global impact in child and adolescent health and leadership in teaching and training in statistical methods. He is co-author of a very highly cited textbook in Bayesian statistical methods and has been Associate Editor of the leading international journals Biometrics and Statistics in Medicine.

Kim Bennell, a Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor and NHMRC Principal Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne, is a world-renowned physiotherapist and international research leader in nondrug management of musculoskeletal conditions, particularly osteoarthritis. Kim’s multidisciplinary high quality research, published in over 350 peer-reviewed publications, has influenced clinical guidelines and practice, improving outcomes for people with these conditions. She provides pivotal academic leadership through numerous national and international roles, including Executive Board member of the Osteoarthritis Research Society International. Kim has an outstanding record of mentoring early career researchers from various disciplines as well as translating research to stakeholders and general public.

Alan Lopez is a highly cited public health researcher whose contributions have had a major impact on health policy debates in Australia and worldwide, named in the top 10 most influential researchers worldwide by Thompson-Reuters in 2015. His seminal and continuing work on the Global Burden of Disease Study with Chris Murray is used by  the Gates Foundation to determine research priorities, and by government in Australia and WHO to prioritise major disease control programs ( e.g tobacco control). His research leadership on ‘verbal autopsy’ and vital registration systems is reducing ignorance about leading causes of death in developing countries.

Professor Beeson is an exceptional public health physician and malaria researcher at the Burnet Institute. With extensive research throughout Africa and Asia in the field of malaria, his research discoveries have significantly contributed to global scientific knowledge and have led to priority candidates for vaccines being developed. As a leader of the lnstitute’s flagship Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies program in Papua New Guinea, Professor Beeson’s high quality, innovative research is crucial to ensuring that the most effective interventions reach those in need in a highly cost efficient way. His work has also informed policy decisions, in turn improving maternal health.

Professor Clare Scott is a clinician scientist and head of the ovarian cancer laboratory at WEHI. Her expertise in novel pre-clinical mouse models of epithelial ovarian cancer complements her involvement in ovarian cancer genetics and key contributions to clinical trials of the DNA repair inhibitors, PARP inhibitors. The focus of Scott’s laboratory is discovery, leading to the design of novel treatments targeted to a range of specific molecular drivers and susceptibilities of epithelial ovarian cancers and other rare cancer subtypes. She has built strong links with the community and is improving clinical and research opportunities for Australians with rare cancers.