BOARD MEMBER AND FOUNDER

Kathlene Jones is mother to a beautiful young girl with Prader-Willi Syndrome and is establishing PWRFA to develop breakthrough treatments that will enable people with Prader-Willi Syndrome to live independent lives. She has extensive experience in management and strategy, having previously worked as General Manager, Strategy at Australia Post and a consultant at McKinsey & Company. Prior to this she worked around the world (London, Beijing, Hong Kong, Sydney) in marketing strategy and research, business development and as an economist. She has an MBA (Dean’s Honours List) from Melbourne Business School and Columbia Graduate School of Business and graduated first in class with a Bachelor of Agricultural Science (Economics) from the University of Queensland. She is now a freelance management consultant and has been working in the health technology area.

ACTING CHAIR

Prof Ian Cooke is CEO of the Cooperative Research Centre for Mental Health, a 19-party consortium that was established in 2011 under the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centres Program. The CRC for Mental Health aims to develop biomarker-based clinical decision tools for use in the diagnosis and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, psychoses and mood disorders.

Prof Cooke’s previous roles include appointments as a Professorial Fellow in the Asia Pacific Centre for Science and Wealth Creation at Monash University, CEO of Foursight Associates, a science and technology advisory company based in Melbourne, CEO of CNSBio, a clinical-stage venture capital-backed company spun out of Monash University to commercialise novel therapies for the treatment of severe pain and Associate Director (R&D) of the Burnet Institute in Melbourne. He has held academic and research appointments at Deakin University, Princeton University, Bell Laboratories and the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory.

Prof Cooke holds BSc (Hons), PhD and M IP Law degrees from the University of Melbourne and an MBA degree from Monash University.

BOARD MEMBER

Amy Brennan is a barrister and practices extensively in the criminal and employment law jurisdictions, including occupational health and safety work. She completed her articles and initially practiced as an employment lawyer at Maddocks. Amy then took up a position as Associate to Justice Teague at the Supreme Court of Victoria. Immediately prior to signing the Bar Roll, Amy worked at Victoria Legal Aid. In 2012, Amy was chosen by the Victorian Bar Council to represent the Victorian Bar at a nine week internship program in Paris called the Stage Internationale du Barreau de Paris. She is currently the secretary of the Equality & Diversity Committee at the Bar.

Amy has a sister with cerebral palsy giving her a personal understanding of the challenges and needs of families living with disability.

BOARD MEMBER

Rebecca Cross joined Bupa at the end of February 2016 to undertake a 12 month secondment as Head of Government, Policy and Regulatory Affairs. Her responsibilities include supporting Bupa's interactions with governments, industry stakeholders and regulators on private health insurance and aged care, as well as Bupa's other health and care services.

Rebecca was previously a Deputy Secretary heading up Domestic Policy at the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C), where she was responsible for social policy (including health, education, social and health services), the Council of Australian Governments (COAG), regulatory reform, and the Office for Women.

Prior to joining PM&C in 2009 Rebecca spent over 16 years in the education, training and employment portfolio in the Commonwealth government. During this time she worked on policy and programs in schools, vocational education and training, youth transitions, international education, and employment, including a period as Senior Advisor to the then Minister for Employment, Education and Training, the Hon. David Kemp MP.

BOARD MEMBER

Emma Dawson is the Executive Director of Per Capita, a progressive public policy think tank dedicated to building a new vision for Australia based on fairness, shared prosperity and social justice. Prior to joining Per Capita she was a senior advisor on Digital Inclusion at Telstra, where she managed programs and services for customers from vulnerable backgrounds. She was formerly the Executive Director of the Institute for a Broadband Enabled Society at the University of Melbourne, and for five years was a senior policy advisor in the Rudd and Gillard governments.

Emma holds a BA with First Class Honours from LaTrobe University and an MA with Distinction from Monash. In addition to her positions as Company Secretary on the Prader-Willi Research Foundation of Australia board, Emma sits on the board of Arts Access Australia.

BOARD MEMBER

Associate Professor Craig works in the Environmental and Genetic Epidemiology Research Group at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute and is an Honorary Associate Professor within the Department of Paediatrics, the University of Melbourne. He leads a team of researchers in the Early Life Epigenetics Group.

BOARD MEMBER

Joseph Proietto is Professor Emeritus at the University of Melbourne in the Department of Medicine Austin Health and an Endocrinologist specialising in Diabetes and Obesity. He established the first obesity clinic in Victoria at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and is now Head of the Weight control clinic at Austin Health. Professor Proietto was the inaugural Sir Edward Dunlop Medical Research Foundation, Professor of Medicine, and Head of the Metabolic Disorders Research Group in the Department of Medicine, Austin Health. He is currently on the executive of World Obesity and is Chair of the Clinical Care Committee.

Professor Proietto has published over 200 articles and several book chapters on obesity and diabetes. He is the Author of “Body Weight Regulation: Essential Knowledge to lose weight and keep it off”.

RESEARCH DIRECTOR

Dr Diane Webster is a highly skilled science professional, with experience in the management of projects, people and research. She has a detailed understanding of the Australian regulatory landscape and is adept at working within the scope, policies and procedures of academic and government organisations and committees. She holds a PhD in molecular virology and has been a Project Leader at the Burnet Institute and a Laboratory Head at Monash University. In addition to her role as Research Director at the Prader-Willi Research Foundation of Australia, she is the Chair of the Swinburne Biosafety Committee, a member of the Gene Technology Advisory Committee (until Jan 2017), and was the concluding National Convenor of the Women in Science Enquiry Network (which has now merged with Women in STEMM Australia).

COMPANY SECRETARY

Emma Dawson is the Executive Director of Per Capita, a progressive public policy think tank dedicated to building a new vision for Australia based on fairness, shared prosperity and social justice. Prior to joining Per Capita she was a senior advisor on Digital Inclusion at Telstra, where she managed programs and services for customers from vulnerable backgrounds. She was formerly the Executive Director of the Institute for a Broadband Enabled Society at the University of Melbourne, and for five years was a senior policy advisor in the Rudd and Gillard governments.

Emma holds a BA with First Class Honours from LaTrobe University and an MA with Distinction from Monash. In addition to her positions as Company Secretary on the Prader-Willi Research Foundation of Australia board, Emma sits on the board of Arts Access Australia.

CEO

Emily is an accomplished program administrator passionate about social impact. Since November 2013 Emily has served as Director and Vice-President of the Board of The Myer Foundation, where she oversees grant-making decisions, strategy, governance and finances. Emily is also Co-convenor of The Myer Foundation’s Mental Health Committee. She sits on the advisory committee of the Jack Brockhoff Child Health and Wellbeing Program's "Kids Contribute" project. Emily is driven by a desire to contribute to initiatives that address disadvantage, and her passions lie particularly in youth mental health, disability, child health and wellbeing and prevention of violence against women.

Before returning to Melbourne to start a family in 2011, Emily spent seven years in Europe, working as a consultant in the HR Learning and Performance branch of the UN World Food Programme in Rome, and as Student Affairs Coordinator of the Master of Public Affairs at the renowned French political science university, Sciences Po, in Paris. Emily previously served on the board of the NETS Victoria as well as the Social Justice and Arts and Humanities committees of The Myer Foundation.