Biography

I'm the 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.

My previous roles include appointments as a Professorial Fellow in the Asia Pacific Centre for Science and Wealth Creation at Monash University, CEO of Foresight 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. I've also held academic and research appointments at Deakin University, Princeton University, Bell Laboratories and the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory.

Why are you involved in the PWRFA?

I have joined the Board of the PWRFA because I am convinced that targeted biomedical research coupled to disciplined research translation can deliver substantial improvements in quality of life and long-term prospects for people living with Prader-Willi syndrome and their families over the coming decade.