Dr Blair Adamczewski is a clinician educator and Geriatrician based at the Royal Hobart Hospital (RHH) in Tasmania. He graduated from the University of Tasmania before undertaking Geriatrics training with Alfred Health before working as a Fellow in Geriatric Medicine at Monash Health, Melbourne.

He now works as the Director of Training in Geriatric Medicine at the Royal Hobart Hospital and clinical Senior Lecturer at the University of Tasmania.

Professor Agar is the Director of the IMPACCT Research Centre, at the University of Technology Sydney. She is a clinical trialist with a specific interest in the supportive care needs of people with advanced illnesses who have impacts on the brain, including people with delirium, advanced dementia, and brain tumors.

She has published over 280 publications and received 48M in competitive research funding from various sources including NHMRC, Cancer Australia, and MRFF. She is on the Board of the European Delirium Association, the committee of the Australasian Delirium Association, and Scientific Advisory Board of NIDUS (NIA-funded Network for Investigation in Delirium)

Sarah Aitken is an Associate Professor at the University of Sydney; Head of the Specialty of Surgery in the Sydney Medical School; and a vascular surgeon at Concord Repatriation General Hospital, Sydney Local Health District. She has a broad range of research interests including health outcomes of patients with Peripheral Artery Disease, equity in surgical care, perioperative medicine, and medical education.

Qualifying with her medical degree (MBBS Hons) in 2006, she completed vascular surgical training (FRACS Vascular) in 2014 and was awarded her PhD in February 2021. She has extensive experience in research methodologies including analysis of routinely collected health data, prognostic factor research and synthesis, qualitative evaluation of patient and trainee experiences, health outcome measurement using patient surveys and risk tools, and disparities research.

She has successfully led large cohort studies and clinical trials (involving up to 19 study sites) and plays a lead role in numerous collaborative international projects, successfully obtaining >$3 million in research funding over the past 5 years.

Sarah Aitken’s current leadership roles include Chair of the Sydney Health Partners Clinical Academic Group in Perioperative Medicine and Surgery, Co-Chair of the Concord Institute of Academic Surgery, Founder and Consultant Lead for the Australian and New Zealand Vascular Trials network, and Deputy Chair of the Board of Vascular Training, providing a strong network for clinical and educational research support.

As a clinically active vascular surgeon and academic, AProf Aitken has combined clinical training and practice with a strong research focus and development.  Her clinical role allows her to incorporate emerging evidence into new models of care.  

Dr Pragya Ajitsaria is a Staff Specialist Anaesthetist, Conjoint Lecturer, and PhD student based in Newcastle, NSW.

Her specific areas of interest include Shared Decision Making for high-risk surgical candidates and multimodal preoperative prehabilitation models of care

Jane Alty is an Associate Professor of Neurology at the University of Tasmania and a Neurologist at the Royal Hobart Hospital. She is also Co-Director of the ISLAND Clinic, a ‘one-stop’ cognitive clinic that provides an interdisciplinary assessment and diagnosis for Tasmanian residents.

She is a lead investigator on the ISLAND Project, a 10-year public health initiative to reduce dementia risk, comprising ~14,000 participants. Her research investigates Artificial Intelligence methods to detect the preclinical stages of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, funded through the NHMRC.

She qualified from the University of Cambridge and completed general medicine and neurology training in the north of England. She undertook a movement disorders fellowship at Monash Medical Centre and was awarded an MD by the University of York for research evaluating computer technologies in neurodegenerative disorders.

Her research contributed to a new spin-out company, ClearSky Medical Diagnostics, that produces precision tools for clinical trials.

Angela Baker is a Senior Staff Specialist Anaesthetist.  Her special interests include prehabilitation (preparing people for surgery) and medical communication.  She is co-chair of the cardiopulmonary exercise testing/prehabilitation MDT for patients undergoing major surgery at the John Hunter Hospital. 

She is a current member of the NSW ACI’s Frailty Taskforce, as well as the Shared Decision Making and Prehabilitation Working Groups. 

Henry Brodaty AO, MB BS, MD, DSc, FRACP, FRANZCP, FAHMS, FASSA is a researcher, clinician, policy advisor and strong advocate for people with dementia and their carers.  At UNSW Sydney, he is a Scientia Professor of Ageing and Mental Health and Co-Director of the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing. He has published extensively and is a senior psychogeriatrician at Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney. He serves on multiple committees for the NSW and Australian governments and WHO.

He was previously President of the International Psychogeriatric Association, Chairman of Alzheimer’s Disease International, and President of Alzheimer’s Australia NSW and Australia. In 2000 he became an Officer of the Order of Australia and in 2016 received the Ryman Prize for the world’s best development, advancement or achievement that enhances the quality of life for older people.

Gideon Caplan is Director of Post Acute Care Services and Geriatric Medicine at Prince of Wales Hospital and Conjoint Associate Professor at UNSW.
 

His research interests include new health services and the pathophysiology and treatment of delirium.  He was the Founding President of the Australasian Delirium Association for 12 years and launched the Delirium Clinical Care Standards.

He is a consultant to Commonwealth and State governments.

Mark is a Senior Staff Specialist Anaesthetist at the John Hunter Hospital and with the Hunter Integrated Pain Service (HIPS). He is a long-term member of the Australia and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists Regional Anaesthesia Special Interest Group Faculty and has a particular interest in Regional Anaesthetic and Analgesic techniques.

His work with HIPS is primarily focused on interventional analgaesic techniques, principally in cancer and End-of-Life pain.

Professor Brian Draper AM is an old age psychiatrist and Conjoint Professor, Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of NSW, Sydney. He is an Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist, at Older Persons’ Mental Health Service, Prince of Wales Hospital, Randwick, and a member Medical and Scientific Advisory Panel, Alzheimer's Disease International.

He is a past Board Member of the International Psychogeriatric Association and General Councillor, of RANZCP. He has published over 300 peer-reviewed articles and chapters on old age mental health topics including mental health services, dementia, suicide, depression, professional development, and carer stress.

He authored the books "Dealing with Dementia' (2004), "Understanding Alzheimer's and Other Dementias' (2011, 2013), and 'Dementia and Old Age Mental Health: A History of Service Delivery in Australia' (2022). He received the RANZCP College Medal of Honour in 2019.

Dr Stephen Duma is a neurologist with a subspecialty interest in Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders. He is trained in the use of device-assisted therapies for Parkinson’s disease, and injectable therapies for various neurological disorders.

He works in private practice in Camperdown, Westmead, Bondi Junction and Tamworth, and is a Staff Specialist and Head of the Movement Disorders Service at St George Hospital.

Jeremy is an anesthetist and Intensive Care Specialist living in Toowoomba, Queensland.  He is the Director of the St Vincent's Private Hospital Toowoomba Intensive Care Unit and is the Perioperative Care Service Clinical Lead. 

He is the immediate past chair of the Australia and New Zealand Perioperative Medicine Special Interest Group and was the founding chair of the Perioperative Models of Care Working Group which developed the Perioperative Framework commissioned by ANZCA.

His current interests include high-risk perioperative assessment and collaborative health care delivery. He was the founding contributor to the Critical Care Compendium - an online, open-access critical care encyclopedia at www.lifeinthefastlane.com. 

He is also a lecturer for the Rural Clinical School, University of Queensland.

Dr Aisling has a keen interest in service development and the role of geriatricians in perioperative medicine. Outside of work, she is an open-water swimmer, reader of fiction and rock climber.

Dr Victor Fung is a Professor of Neurology and Motor Control, at Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, and Director of the Movement Disorders Unit, Department of Neurology, Westmead Hospital in Sydney, Australia.

He is President of the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society (MDS), Chair of the Asia Pacific Affairs Committee of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists, and a past president of the Movement Disorder Society of Australia and New Zealand (MDSANZ).

He was the founding Chairperson of the MDSANZ Clinical Research and Trials Group. He is or has been a member of the Parkinson's Australia, Parkinson's NSW, and Dystonia Network Australia Scientific Advisory Boards.

He serves on the Editorial Board of npj Parkinson's Disease, the Journal of Clinical Movement Disorders, previously Movement Disorders (2007-2010 & 2015-2021) and Movement Disorders Clinical Practice (2013-2021), and is a member of Faculty Opinions.

He has a clinical and research interest in Parkinson’s disease and movement disorders with over 200 peer-reviewed publications and an h-index of 57.

Professor Glenda Halliday is a career neuroscientist specialising in neurodegeneration. She has been a Fellow of the National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC) since 1990, appointed Professor of Medicine (2003) then of Neuroscience (2008), then NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow (2010) at the University of NSW, and is now a NHMRC leadership fellow at The University of Sydney until 2025.

Prof. Halliday started her research in neuroscience by studying the neurochemical dopamine and its systems in a variety of animal species, including humans. It has been her focus on understanding the brain and its workings in people that has distinguished her neuroscience career.

Her research has played a major role in shaping the international standards for neuropathological diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Lewy body diseases and frontotemporal dementias. Her research has also served as an evidence base for changes in the clinical diagnosis of these patients.

Her contributions have been recognised by membership to the Australian Academy of Science the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences and an Order of Australia, as well as through the following and other awards;

2022 NSW Scientist of the Year, 2021
Robert A. Pritzker Prize for Leadership in Parkinson’s Research by the Michael J Fox Foundation,
2020 and 2014 NHMRC Elizabeth Blackburn Awards,
2016 Cozzarelli Prize for outstanding 2015 paper, National Academy of Sciences, USA;
2011 Nina Kondelos Prize for Outstanding Neuroscience, Australian Neuroscience Society

Dr Ruth E. Hubbard is currently supervising 6 clinicians undertaking PhDs as well as numerous student projects.

In the last 5 years, she has generated $19.9M in grant income: including as CIA on the recent MRFF Dementia Ageing and Aged Care Mission ($5M), a Centre for Research Excellence in Frailty ($2.5M), an Ideas Grant ($1.6M) and the NHMRC Targeted Call for Frailty Research ($1.5M).

Clinical Professor Charles Inderjeeth is a Clinical Epidemiologist and Consultant Physician in Rheumatology and Geriatric Medicine in Western Australia. He is a Clinical Professor at the School of Medicine & Pharmacology, University of Western Australia, and Clinical Dean, at Curtin University. He is an actively practicing clinical academic with strong education links to General, Specialist, and Hospital Practice.

He has numerous advisory/executive roles to the Department of Health (WA), the Arthritis and Osteoporosis Foundation of WA, Osteoporosis Australia, the Australian Rheumatology Association, Australian and New Zealand Society of Bone Mineral Research and the Australia and New Zealand Society for Geriatric Medicine. He has been involved in education and research in the fields of rheumatology, osteoporosis, vitamin D, dementia, and geriatric syndromes. He is a recipient of an NHMRC – NICS – DVA Fellowship 2007-2009.

He has been involved in basic science and Clinical research including Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4 research through Linear Research, at the University of Western Australia,  North Metropolitan Health Service, and Western GerontoRheumatology.  His main research interests are the clinical aspects and treatment of degenerative bone conditions including dementia, Frailty syndromes, osteoarthrosis, and osteoporosis.

He has published over 173 publications in international peer-reviewed journals, presented over 170 abstracts, and edited and published 2 books (3 chapters). He has 25024 citations and 1853 reads as of 26 June 2023. He has collaborated extensively in bone and frailty research nationally: University of Western Australia (3 active projects), Edith Cowan University (1 active project), Peron Institute (1 project), Guardian of the WARDER Linked Dataset (multiple Masters and PhD Projects), Arthritis and OP WA (2 projects) and internationally -Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University and multiple International Drug Trials. 

He has received over $ 4,500,000 in collaborative research grants in the last 5 years. He has been involved in over 46 projects with successful competitive grants up to $ 3,500,000. 

Dr Rajni Lal is a Geriatrician and serves as the Perioperative Care Medical Lead at Blacktown Hospital. Her approach to patient care is recognised for its emphasis on shared decision-making and individualised treatment.
 

 Holding a Master’s in Public Health and a Fellowship with the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP), Rajni further specialised with a Clinical Fellowship in Perioperative Care of Older People at Guy’s and St Thomas Hospital, UK.
 

 Rajni is committed to compassionate, patient-focused care. She actively participates in committees for the Australian and New Zealand Society for Geriatric Medicine (ANZSGM) and contributes to the Agency for Clinical Innovation, reflecting her dedication to advancing geriatric perioperative care

Simon Lewis is a Consultant Neurologist, NHMRC Leadership Fellow, and Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Sydney. 

He has published over 300 peer review papers, 2 books, and 8 book chapters and has attracted funding from various sources including the NHMRC, ARC, and Michael J Fox Foundation to support his research interests targeting quality of life in neurodegenerative diseases. 

He was on the International Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Task Force for validating the revised diagnostic criteria for PD and is on their working groups developing new rating scales for psychosis, evaluating postural instability and gait disturbance, and redefining PD dementia. 

He is also a member of the International Dementia with Lewy Bodies Consortium and the International Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Behavior Disorder Study Group MDS working groups, as well as the inaugural Chair of the International Consortium for Freezing of Gait. 

He is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease and sits on the editorial boards of the Journal of Neurology, Movement Disorders, Parkinsonism and Related Disorders, and Translational Neurodegeneration.

Jenny Mackney (PhD) is a Clinical Specialist Physiotherapist (Perioperative Medicine) and a Respiratory Scientist (Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing) at John Hunter Hospital (JHH), and an Honorary Lecturer at The University of Newcastle.

Jenny is part of the core clinical team that has developed the JHH CPET service for patients planned for major, high-risk surgery and is the lead for prehabilitation services in HNELHD. Her passion lies in driving innovation, and increasing engagement in clinical and translational research programs with a focus on equity of service delivery and outcomes.

Elie Matar is an Australian-trained neurologist, sleep physician and NHMRC-funded clinician-scientist at the University of Sydney with a unique combination of subspecialty expertise and interest across movement disorders, cognitive neurology, and sleep medicine. He has undertaken competitive clinical and research fellowships at internationally recognized institutions including Cambridge University, the Mayo Clinic, and Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London.

As an NHMRC emerging leadership fellow, he undertakes a program of research using a wide range of techniques including clinical phenotyping, neuroimaging, and sleep measures to understand disease mechanisms and biomarkers of neurodegeneration with a specific focus on Lewy body disorders. He has authored textbook chapters and peer-reviewed publications in high-impact international journals with over 1600 citations.

He has given invited talks at the local and international level and received several prestigious awards including the International Movement Disorders Society Junior Research Award. He has attracted > $1M funding from various sources including the NHMRC and US Department of Defence and co-leads a team of postdoctoral researchers and PhD students.

Steve became a psychiatrist in 2003, and moved to Alfred Health in 2008 as Associate Professor and Director of Aged Psychiatry, before becoming Head of Clinical Services for Dementia Support Australia in 2016.
 

Steve is a past Chair of the Faculty of Psychiatry of Old Age for the RANZCP and has been running Alzheimer’s disease clinical trials for over 20 years. He has clinical interests in frontal lobe disorders and senile squalor.
 

His work with DSA has him overseeing a group of geriatricians and old-age psychiatrists around the country. He has been intimately involved in developing the new Commonwealth Special Dementia Care Program and with the Aged Care Royal Commission, testifying before the Royal Commission in May 2019 and July 2020.

Alison is a general physician, health services researcher, and educator based at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, and Professor at the University of Queensland. She leads the Eat Walk Engage program, a ward-based delirium prevention program which has been successfully implemented in 19 Queensland hospitals. She serves on the steering committee of the Queensland Dementia, Ageing and Frailty Network. Alison leads a multidisciplinary research team embedded in the healthcare system and has published more than 100 peer reviewed papers and several book chapters.

Jem is a consultant rheumatologist from Adelaide with a special interest in Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA). His research areas include the epidemiology of GCA, investigating disease mechanisms, and the development of diagnostic pathways for patients with suspected GCA. He hopes to improve the diagnostic certainty in patients with GCA by combining imaging with biomarkers, thereby minimising overexposure to glucocorticoids.
 

Affiliations
University of Adelaide
Basel Hetzel Institute
Modbury and Lyell McEwin Hospitals
Australian Society for Ultrasound in Medicine

Anita Nitchingham is a Geriatrician at the Prince of Wales Hospital and a Conjoint Lecturer and PhD candidate at the University of New South Wales.
 

She serves as a Board Member of the Australasian Delirium Association and is a member of the ANZSGM Scientific and Research Committee. Anita’s research interest is delirium, with a particular focus on clinical trials

Tom is a specialist anaesthetist working at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne. His interests include the perioperative care of high-risk surgical patients, especially those undergoing major intra-abdominal surgery; digital health; and using data to drive improvements in patient care and outcomes.

He is a member of the Sprint National Anaesthesia Project (SNAP 3) study team investigating delirium, frailty, and multimorbidity in the older surgical population.

Professor Christopher Rowe is a nuclear medicine physician and neurologist, Director of the Australian Dementia Network, Director of Molecular Imaging Research at Austin Health, and a Professor at the University of Melbourne. His research focus is molecular imaging and blood biomarkers of neurodegenerative diseases, particularly AD, for better understanding, earlier more accurate detection, and to facilitate the development of early therapeutic interventions.

He is in the 2023 Highly Cited Researcher list of the top 1% worldwide for neuroscience and has received the 2011 US Society of Nuclear Medicine Kuhl-Lassen Award for Outstanding Contribution to Brain Imaging and the 2016 Christopher Clark Award for advancing human amyloid imaging.

Prof Robert D. Sanders is the Nuffield Chair of Anaesthetics at the University of Sydney and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and Executive Board member of the Institute of Academic Surgery, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. He trained in anesthetics in the UK before spending five years at the University of Wisconsin, USA before his appointment in Sydney. Prof Sanders' interests are in mechanisms of consciousness, cognition, and postoperative delirium.

Eddy Strivens is a Geriatrician and Clinical Director for Older Persons, Subacute and Rehabilitation in Cairns, Far North Queensland, a Professor with James Cook University School of Medicine and a former President of the Australia and New Zealand Society for Geriatric Medicine.

Clinically, Eddy is based in Cairns, where he came for a 12-month job in 1996 and is still there 27 years later. His medical interests include integrated community and sub-acute care, dementia in acute care and regional outpatient memory clinics, including outreach to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities in the Torres Strait and Cape York.

His clinical research interests include Successful Ageing and Dementia in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities and Models of Integrative Service Delivery, including Tele geriatrics and Transitions in Sub-Acute Care and Community Care. He leads the Healthy Ageing Research Team at James Cook University, with 8 years of continuous NHMRC grants over $6milllion in competitive grants funding and over 40 peer-reviewed publications.

Eddy was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2023 Australia Day Honours for significant service to geriatric medicine and to professional organisations. Previously in 2015, Eddy was awarded the Public Service Medal (PSM) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to Queensland Health in the area of Aged Care and the biennial Louis Ariotti Award for Excellence and Innovation in the field of Rural and Remote Health. In 2019, Eddy was appointed to Pre-Eminent Status within Queensland Health.

Outside of medicine, Eddy is married to Mary Anne, with 3 children and is a keen photographer/videographer, hiker, scuba diver and travel enthusiast.

A/Prof Joel Symons is a Specialist anesthetist and Chair of the Perioperative Medicine Content and Assessment Working Group at the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA). He is a co-founder of the Monash Short Course and Master of Perioperative Medicine and has co-edited the book “Perioperative Medicine for the Junior Clinician” (Wiley).

He is a member of the Executive of the Perioperative Medicine Special Interest Group and on the ANZCA Perioperative Medicine Steering Committee, Perioperative Medicine Advisory Group, and Recognition Pathway Working Group. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Critical Care at the University of Melbourne and is well-recognised locally and internationally in the field of Perioperative Medicine Education.

Professor Andrew Teodorczuk practices as a Consultant Old Age Psychiatrist and is the Director of Clinical Training at The Prince Charles Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.  He is also an Adjunct Professor at UQ, QUT and Griffith University. Since 2023 he has been the President of the Australasian Delirium Association.
 

His research expertise is in educational approaches to best delirium practice. He has a keen interest in interprofessional education, work-based learning, and wellbeing and seeks to translate understandings from the education field to drive innovative pedagogical approaches in clinical workplaces.
 

Professor Andrew Teodorczuk has a well-established track record with over 100 peer-reviewed publications. He has received numerous awards in recognition of his teaching and research including the Principal Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA).

Dr Janani Thillainadesan is a Staff Specialist Geriatrician at Concord Hospital, an early career researcher at the Centre for Education and Research on Ageing (CERA) and a Conjoint Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney.

She is an NHMRC Investigator Fellow (EL1), commencing in 2024. Her research focuses on improving the care of and optimising outcomes for older people in hospitals through implementing innovative models of care and education.

Dr Whyte is a neurologist on the Central Coast, and previous Head of the Department of Neurology, Head of the Division of Medicine, and Board member of the Area Health Care Advisory Committee.
 

He has a special interest in neurodegenerative disorders including movement and cognitive disorders.

Botox therapy for neurological disorders including migraine, dystonia, and hemifacial spasm.