BioGrid 2026 Symposium Speakers

A/Prof Phillip Antippa is a specialist cardiothoracic surgeon and the Head of Thoracic Surgical Services at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, as part of the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre.

His major research interests include lung cancer, pulmonary metastasectomy and traumatic rib osteosynthesis. His special interest in medical informatics has led Phillip to develop systems including electronic patient records and audit and research databases including the construction of Australasia’s Registry for Thoracic Surgery (ANZTHOR) and the international Registry for Rib Fixation (CWIS CIID).

A/Prof Antippa is an Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Melbourne. He is also the thoracic surgery representative for the Australasian College of Surgeons Board of Studies for Cardiothoracic Surgery and also sits on the board of the Thoracic Oncology Group of Australasia. He sits on many other national and international committees involved with lung cancer, thoracic surgery and chest wall surgery.

In January 2020, Phillip received the Medal of the Order of Australia for his services to thoracic surgery and to music.

Associate Professor Lisa Devereux has been a member of the Research Division at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre since 1982.  Since 2001 Lisa has focused her efforts on biobanking with almost 8 years managing the Peter Mac Tissue Bank and since 2010, establishing and managing the Lifepool cohort, alongside Principal Investigator Ian Campbell and colleagues. Lifepool is a population cohort of over 55,000 women recruited nationally but with a very strong Victorian focus through a key collaboration with BreastScreen Victoria. Lisa also manages two rapid autopsy programs, namely the CASCADE study with colleague Heather Thorne and the breast cancer focused BROCADE program led by Principal Investigators Robin Anderson and Alex Swarbrick and colleagues. BROCADE includes a library of patient derived xenograft models. 

Lisa is a founding member of the Australasian Biospecimen Network Association which has provided information and support to the biobanking community across Australia and New Zealand for over 20 years. 

Associate Professor Peter Foley graduated MBBS, BMedSc from Monash University in 1987, and MD from The University of Melbourne in 1996. He completed his dermatology training in Melbourne, obtaining Fellowship of the Australasian College of Dermatologists in 1997. He is Director of Research at the Skin Health Institute and the Head of Dermatology Research at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne. He currently holds the position of Associate Professor, Department of Medicine at The University of Melbourne. In addition to running a busy private practice, he is a visiting medical officer to the Photobiology, Dermatology Biologics, and Dermatology Investigation clinics at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, and the Phototherapy, Atopic Dermatitis, and Psoriasis Advanced Targeted Therapies clinics at the Skin Health Institute.

His interests include psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, hidradenitis suppurativa, photosensitivity disorders, and non-surgical management of nonmelanoma skin cancers. Associate Professor Foley is co-convener of the Australasian Dermatology Registry and a Board Member and Past-President of Skin Health Institute.

He has been an investigator in over 180 clinical trials and has over 200 published manuscripts.

Ms Khanina  is an experienced clinical pharmacist and early career researcher specialising in quality improvement for antimicrobial prescribing and infectious disease management in hospital settings.

She leads an innovative project aimed at developing an automated surveillance program for infections in cancer patients, emphasising the extraction and transformation of data from electronic medical records to create robust infection detection algorithms.

Ms Khanina is currently pursuing a PhD focused on developing tools to enhance antifungal stewardship on a national scale.

Elise is a Drug Allergy and Immunology Pharmacist and the Inpatient Drug Allergy Service Lead at the Centre for Antibiotic Allergy and Research and Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology at Austin Health. Elise co-ordinates the Austin Health inpatient antibiotic allergy delabelling service, aiming to facilitate antibiotic allergy testing while concurrently optimising antimicrobial prescribing.

Elise is the Project Manager for the International Network of Antibiotic Allergy Nations (iNAAN) and iNAAN-Kids study and is a PhD candidate at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, University of Melbourne, examining implementation of multi-disciplinary health service antibiotic allergy programs.

Dr Neoh is a Senior Research Fellow at the National Centre for Infections in Cancer, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. She is a pharmacist and completed her PhD on optimising the use of high-cost antifungal agents in immunocompromised hosts at Monash University, Australia and was awarded the Vice-Chancellor’s Commendation for Doctoral Thesis Excellence. Dr Neoh was then inducted as a Fellow of the European Confederation of Medical Mycology and involved in the development of the global clinical guideline for management and diagnosis of rare mould infections and candidiasis.

Her research interest is in the field of infections in immunocompromised hosts, with the focus on surveillance and digital health. She is currently leading a study which aims to develop an integrated, automated digital portal for monitoring cytomegalovirus infections in high-risk patients with haematology malignancies.

A/Prof Ashley Ng is a Senior Consultant Haematologist in the Acute Leukaemia Stream at The Royal Melbourne Hospital and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Deputy Director and Clinical Informatics Lead in the Centre for Health Services Research at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, and Clinician Researcher at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI).

At the Centre for Health Services Research, A/Prof Ng leads the development of cancer clinical informatics for the Parkville cancer precinct, with expertise in the EPIC EHR, clinical registry design and development, clinical data linkage, and real-world evidence generation. He leads multi-institutional initiatives including the MRFF-funded National Cancer Cohort Platform, a federated data infrastructure enabling collaborative cancer research across Australian centres. He has recently been appointed as the Digital Hub Lead for the SNOW Centre of Immune Health: a collaboration between Melbourne Health and the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research to revolutionize the understanding and treatment of immune disorders.

Ms Rona Steel is a Perfusionist with three decades of clinical experience, currently working at Westmead Public Hospital, Westmead Private, and Norwest Private Hospitals in Sydney. She is pursuing a PhD focused on how modifiable perfusion factors impact recovery after open-heart surgery.

Rona also serves as the data manager for ANZSCTS and ANZCPR and recently joined the ANZCPR Steering Committee. She also currently serves on the regisrty's project team. Rona has contributed to several Open Heart International trips, including to Bolivia and India, supporting cardiac care in resource-limited settings.

Her professional interests include improving perfusion quality and patient outcomes through research and collaboration.

Professor Natalie Taylor is the Founder and Director of Implementation to Impact (i2i) at UNSW Sydney, where she leads a world‑class research and practice program dedicated to accelerating the translation of evidence into healthcare. An internationally recognised leader in implementation science – particularly in cancer, genetics, and genomics – she has developed influential methods and tools used globally to drive real‑world change.

Since joining UNSW in 2021, she has built a >20‑member interdisciplinary team entirely funded by competitive grants, secured more than $14 million in Category 1 funding as CIA, and produced a rapidly growing research output exceeding 170 publications. She leads the design and implementation of the world’s first fully integrated precision oncology clinic embedded in routine care and is widely sought after for national and international collaborations, keynote presentations, and policy advice. Natalie also convenes Australia’s first Master’s‑level Implementation Science elective, consistently earning outstanding teaching evaluations.

Dr Cassie Turner is a medical oncologist at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital in Queensland with an interest in treating breast, brain, thoracic and gynaecological cancers. 

She joined the Australian Rare Cancer Portal team in 2023, and is now a senior research fellow. Born and raised in rural Queensland, Cassie brings to the team an understanding of the unique challenges rural and remote Australians can face in accessing cancer care and is passionate about improving equity.