AUSTRALASIAN BRAIN CLUB 2024

Linda S. de Vries trained as a pediatrician and neonatologist in the Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital in Utrecht, the Netherlands. She did her PhD in London, the UK and subsequently trained as a pediatric neurologist in Belgium. From 1989 till 2019, she worked in the department of Neonatology in Utrecht. She is now an emeritus professor in Neonatal Neurology. 

Her research focuses on prediction of neurodevelopmental outcome. She has a special interest in neonatal stroke and brain plasticity. She co- authored three books, The Atlas of Neonatal Brain Sonography; The atlas of amplitude-integrated EEGs in the newborn and Beyond the NICU. She co-authored more than 500 articles.

A/Prof Michael Stark is the Deputy Director of The Robinson Research Institute at the University of Adelaide and Head of Neonatal Services at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital Adelaide. His research is centred on improving neonatal survival free of neurodevelopmental impairment. He leads a multi-disciplinary team of clinician and basic scientists, with projects encompassing pre-clinical research, large-scale perinatal randomised controlled trials and research implementation and evaluation. A particular focus of this research is a better understanding of fundamental oxygen physiology in the very preterm newborn with a specific focus on early acquired neonatal brain injury.

Helen is a neonatologist at Mater Mothers’ Hospital, Brisbane and Professor at The University of Queensland. She is Neonatal Life Support convenor for the Australian Resuscitation Council and chairs the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation’s Neonatal Life Support Task Force. She is author of national guidelines on neonatal resuscitation, ethics of research in children and paediatric/neonatal patient blood management, over 120 peer-reviewed journal articles and several book chapters. Among other research roles, she is chief investigator on the PAEAN study - a multicentre trial to improve the outcomes of neonatal hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy, and other research to improve outcomes of resuscitation in newborns.

CEO and CoFounder of Miracle Babies Foundation, proud mother of 3 surviving children. Board Director Miracle Babies, Parent & Patient Advisory Board EFCNI, founding and chair committee GLANCE and PSANZ SIG for Perinatal Ethics. Advisory Board of parent organisation Prematuridade in Brazil.  She co-authored the article Impact of current Australian paid parental leave on families of preterm and sick infants published in the Journal of Paediatric and Child Health and also contributed to the published book Neonatal Nursing: A Global Perspective.

As a neonatologist and developmental paediatrician, I have been interested in developmental brain injury that leads to functional deficits in children suffering from such conditions. I have directed numerous research projects both at the University of Bern, Harvard Medical School and University of Geneva, aimed at better understanding early human brain development and its alterations both from a nature and nurture perspective.

To study the developing brain non-invasively, I have been involved in the application of magnetic resonance techniques since its beginning in 1987 and have contributed many hallmark studies on new imaging modalities for the developing brain.

Overall, the development and use of advanced magnetic resonance imaging in these infants from birth to school age has greatly improved our understanding of the injury and also of developmental changes that can be further linked to functional neurodevelopmental outcome and therapies to improve outcome. Long-term neurodevelopmental consequences of preterm birth ask for global changes in care focusing on development and we have therefore created a research association for developmental care (EADCare) to address ways to change care in order to improve development.

Dr. Steven Miller is Head and Professor of the UBC Department of Pediatrics and the Chief of Pediatric Medicine at BC’s Children Hospital & Sunny Hill Health Centre in the Provincial Health Services Authority. He holds the Hudson Family Hospital Chair in Pediatric Medicine and James & Annabel McCreary Chair in Pediatrics, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and was previously a Canada Research Chair in Neonatal Neuroscience.

Esther is a paediatric neurologist and works in the Sydney children’s hospital network of NSW – predominantly based at Children’s hospital westmead. Esther became the medical lead of the cerebral palsy early diagnosis (CP EDC) in 2018. This multidisciplinary clinic was formed as a partnership between the Cerebral Palsy Alliance and the Children’s Hospital Westmead and serves to assess and diagnose children with cerebral palsy using the latest evidence-based guidelines for early diagnosis, recruitment to clinical trials and CP early intervention. 

Esther also works with the neuromuscular team in the Sydney Children’s hospital Network helping to use the latest advanced therapies for children with neuromuscular conditions.

Esther has been awarded a CP Research Grant for a ‘Gene-CP project’ which aims improve identification and testing of children likely to have a genetic contribution to their diagnosis of cerebral palsy.  

Beth Piscopo is a PhD graduate from the Ritchie Centre, Monash University who recently submitted her PhD. 

The theme of Beth’s PhD was broadly to examine whether an altered developmental profile of the cerebrovasculature in infants with fetal growth restriction contributes to an elevated risk of perinatal brain injury. Her PhD contributions to this field have been acknowledged by the Tania Gunn award for the best student presentation at the FNPS conference in June 2024 and the Thomas McDonald award for the best student abstract at the 2023 SRI meeting. 

Professor Marcel F. Nold is a clinician-scientist, pediatrician and neonatologist. His work, carried out in Germany, the USA and for the last ~15 years in Australia, is focused on interventional immunology and anti-inflammatory cytokines. Marcel is passionate about his research making a meaningful difference to his patients and their families. Therefore, aiming to lay the foundations for, and then establish, much-needed new therapies, he employs bedside-to-bench-and-back approaches to explore the molecular and microbiome-related mechanisms underpinning severe illnesses that affect infants and children, eg infection and sepsis, neonatal chronic lung disease, pulmonary hypertension, necrotising enterocolitis and brain injury. In addition to early life-diseases, his work in translational molecular medicine aspires to develop and advance novel cytokine-based therapeutics towards clinical application, thus bringing urgently needed relief to patients with autoimmune and viral illnesses such as systemic lupus, influenza and Covid-19.

Associate Professor Flora Wong

MBBS, FRACP, PhD

A/Professor Flora Wong is a Consultant Neonatologist at Monash Newborn, with a joint appointment at the Department of Paediatrics, Monash University and the Ritchie Centre (The Hudson Institute of Medical Research). She is head of the Neonatal Brain Protection Laboratory at The Ritchie Centre. Her research expertise is in neonatal brain development, brain injury and neuroprotection; with 110 publications and >3600 citations. She is one of Australia’s foremost experts in neonatal neurovascular research and cerebral haemodynamics, and has successfully obtained >$8.2M of research funding ($5.5M as CIA). 

Associate Professor Mark Mackay is Director of the Department of Neurology and the PaediatricStroke Program at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, Australia. He is a Clinician-Scientist Fellow at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, where he leads the paediatricstroke research group. He is on the Board of the International Pediatric Stroke Organization, is a member of the International Pediatric Stroke Study Executive Committee, is a member of the Stroke Foundation of Australia Clinical Council.
 

Mark established a dedicated paediatricstroke program at RCH in 2004; the first of its kind in Australia. His research focuses on understanding causes of and consequences of neonatal and childhood stroke, and improving accuracy and timeliness of stroke diagnosis. He has authored 7 book chapters and over 200 publications, and has secured more than 7 million dollars in research funding.

He chaired the development of the Australian best-practice guidelines for the acute management of childhood stroke. He is co-chairing statewide perinatal stroke guidelines, which are due for completion in late 2023. He is the lead investigator on the NHRMC funded multi-centreNIMBUS study, which aims to answer important questions about cause and consequences of perinatal stroke, by looking at blood proteomic signatures and using advanced MRI imaging to study brain networks in 50 babies with stroke. 

Associate Professor Atul Malhotra is a neonatologist at Monash Children’s Hospital, and clinician-scientist at the Ritchie Centre, Hudson Institute of Medical Research, with the Department of Paediatrics, Monash University in Melbourne. His research interests include neonatal neurodevelopment, neuroprotection and regenerative cell therapies for neonatal conditions. He is also the co-founder of the global health oriented ONE-Sim program, an interprofessional obstetric and neonatal emergency simulation based skills training initiative. Twitter handle: @Atul_Monash 

Professor Iona Novak holds the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Chair of Allied Health at The University of Sydney, Australia. Recognised with the Member of the Order of Australia award, she is an international keynote speaker and Fulbright Scholar, renowned for evidence-based practice. With a focus on innovative treatments, Iona’s research directly addresses priorities set by people with cerebral palsy. She has made substantial global contributions, particularly in early diagnosis and novel therapies. Recognising the urgency, Iona spearheaded the establishment of XCellerate, an Australian and American Cerebral Palsy Stem Cell Research Network aimed at brain injury repair.

Owen Shemansky is father to three-year-old Cleo and thirteen-year-old Maya, husband to his wife Jen, and Director of Melbourne Professional Education at the University of Melbourne. After Cleo’s premature birth at 32 weeks, she suffered a critical bowel rupture on her fifth day in the world, requiring emergency surgery. Following the subsequent three months of Cleo's recovery spent between the Monash Newborn and the Royal Children’s Hospitals, Owen joined the Monash Newborn Consumer Advisory Committee (MNCAC). Owen’s journey through the medical system continued when a year later, he became a living kidney donor for Jen, after her kidney disease accelerated rapidly post pregnancy. Owen has an educational background in psychology and management, and contributes to improving the family experience of premature birth through the MNCAC. Originally from Brisbane, Owen also speaks fluent Polish.