Faculty of Medicine and Health Centres and Institutes

I am a social science and education research expert with extensive experience across higher education, public policy, equity and inclusion, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health. My work integrates academic research excellence with culturally grounded practice and strategic program development.

I specialise in gender studies, sexual violence prevention in higher education, and the design of actions, programs, and policies that advance equity, diversity, and social justice. Across my academic career, I have taught and supervised in sociology, methodology, and education, with a long-standing commitment to fostering culturally safe and inclusive learning environments.

My professional experience includes:

• Higher education supervision and academic teaching, particularly in sociology, research methodology, and social justice education.
• Public policy evaluation and program development, informed by robust qualitative and quantitative research.
• Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy, including gender equity plans, institutional actions, training programs, and the development of indicators to measure systemic impact.
• Sexual violence prevention in higher education, through prevention frameworks, training approaches, and institutional responses that prioritise wellbeing and safety.
• Expertise in gender studies, including intersectionality, organisational cultures, and structural inequalities.
• Team leadership and research project management, guiding multidisciplinary teams in diverse settings.

In my current role, I work within Social and Emotional Wellbeing (SEWB) in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, supporting community-led approaches to wellbeing. I also contribute to breastfeeding support programs and professional training for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, ensuring these initiatives are culturally responsive and strengths‑based.

My experience working across multiple countries has deepened my understanding of institutional cultures, social dynamics, and gender relations, particularly how these structures shape inequities and opportunities. This global perspective strengthens my commitment to justice‑oriented practice and drives my focus on systems‑level change. I bring a strategic and solutions‑focused mindset, grounded in resilience, adaptability, and a strong awareness of structural barriers. These qualities enable me to navigate complexity, challenge inequitable norms, and lead initiatives that create meaningful, sustainable change. I am deeply committed to collaborative, community‑centred ways of working and to advancing actions that promote equity, collective wellbeing, and the empowerment of communities who have been historically marginalised.

Research Impact: I am a researcher interested in experimental and quasi-experimental methodologies, with a proven track record in advancing causal inference across economics, public health, and social policy. My work, published in top-tier journals like Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization [1] (see references list at the end), Journal of Law and Economics [2], and International Journal of Nursing Studies [4], demonstrates expertise in robust statistical design and evaluation, including innovative trials and quasi-experimental techniques. I also serve on the International Journal of Drug Policy editorial board. My contributions have gained extensive national media coverage, including major outlets such as 7News Melbourne, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Guardian, and numerous smaller publications, enhancing public discourse and policy debates.

Practice Translation: In [1], I used a robust quasi-experimental design (Judge instrumental variable) on NSW administrative data to show that fines for drug crimes are ineffective. This research has helped address issues of fine default by influencing key policy changes, including the NSW Work and Development Order (Section 99B, NSW Fines Act 1996), provisions for official cautions over penalty notices (Section 19A), and more flexible fine payment arrangements (Section 100). Overall, it has contributed to the expansion of rehabilitation-based alternatives to incarceration, supporting programs like MERIT in NSW. Additionally, [1] underpinned the HOPE project (see Section B4), shaping Australian Government policy on reducing imprisonment rates through insights from econometricians, criminologists, and public health specialists. In [2], I developed a triple-difference quasi-experimental design to provide the most comprehensive empirical evidence on Australia's 2001 heroin shortage, highlighting the benefits of drug law enforcement and laying a foundation for future policy change. My analysis of Melbourne's new injection site [6] has fueled public debate on their future in Australia, gaining coverage in 7News (including an interview), The Sydney Morning Herald, and Brisbane Times, and being cited in an Irish Government policy brief. Beyond my quasi-experimental work, I led the analysis of a large multi-site randomised trial [4], pioneering a methodological approach that is transforming nursing practices in Australian ICUs.

Public Debate: My research has contributed to significant public discussions on policy reform, influencing debates on taxation, drug policy, and economic development. For example, my study [7] on Australia's ready-to-drink beverage tax, featured in Austaxpolicy, challenged assumptions about its effectiveness in reducing adolescent drinking, prompting discussions on alternative measures like a minimum floor price on alcohol. Research [10], covered by The Guardian and Forbes, has informed the debate on drug reform, emphasising how changing public attitudes can create opportunities for harm reduction strategies that might otherwise face political resistance. Similarly, my study [5] critically reassesses a widely cited U.S. paper on naloxone effects, offering more robust estimates that strengthen the evidence base for future drug policy discussions. As a high-quality replication study, it also underscores my expertise in data integrity and methodological rigor-central to this proposal. Additionally, my work [8] on Australia's housing crisis, featured in VoxEU, Austaxpolicy, and The Conversation, and my research [9] on economic development during transition, highlighted by LSE's EUROPP, have shaped discussions on these pressing issues. The coverage of my research in these outlets reflects its relevance and impact in informing both academic and public discourse.

Unique Skillset: I am an expert in blending quasi-experimental and experimental methodologies, a rare skill set bridging disciplinary silos that often limit crossover due to career incentives and institutional barriers. Quasi-experimental methods identify causal effects without randomisation, uniquely handling messy data sets and settings-such as administrative data-complementing experimental approaches that rely on controlled trials, together addressing gaps in causal inference. My career across economics, criminology, and health exposed this divide, fueling my policy-driven research. Currently, I lead a team, including HDR student Alex Gallagher, developing Bayesian adaptive trials-pushing trial design frontiers. This builds on my CARE protocol [3], merging quasi-experimental rigor with experimental innovation [3, 4], uniquely equipping me for this proposal's integration of methodologies, delivering transformative advancements in experimentation methods.

Scholarships and Grants: My diverse academic background, with degrees from top institutions-the University of Paris Dauphine (France), Trinity College Dublin (Ireland), York University (Canada), and the University of Technology Sydney-uniquely equips me to foster global collaboration for this project. My education was fully funded by prestigious scholarships, including the Ross Milbourne Research Scholarship in Economics (2015), York Graduate Scholarship for Academic Excellence (2013), York International Tuition Fee Scholarship (2013), UTS Top Up Scholarship (2015), APR Intern Scholarship (2019), International Research Scholarship (2015), GSOM stipend for studying abroad (2008), and Best Second-Year Research Paper at GSOM (2006), totalling an approximate of AUD 150,000. In 2024, I also secured AUD 500,000 in partnership funding from the NSW Department of Community and Justice for economic analysis of incarceration policies using large linked administrative datasets. These competitive scholarships and grants underscore my research excellence and ability to secure substantial funding for high-impact projects.

Ten Career-Best Research Outputs

[1] Alexeev, S. & Weatherburn, D. (2022)Fines for illicit drug use do not prevent future crime: Evidence from randomly assigned judges.Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 200, 555-575. DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2022.06.015

Annotation: Quasi-experimental study informing policy & HOPE study. Altmetric: Top 25%; 1 policy paper.

[2] Alexeev, S. & Weatherburn, D. (2025)Dual-edged benefits of drug policing: A quarter century's lesson from a heroin drought.The Journal of Law and Economics [Accepted 22 Feb 2025]. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.14962743

Annotation: Recent study on drug prevention effects. Shows productivity, causal inference rigor, & quasi-experimental integration.

[3] Alexeev, S. & Morton, R. (2025)Cluster trials inference with CARE.Research Square [Preprint]. DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5681319/v1

Annotation: Recent study showing quasi-experimental and experimental integration.

[4] Douglas, C., Alexeev, S., et al. (2024)Transforming nursing assessment in acute hospitals: A cluster randomised controlled trial (ENCORE trial).International Journal of Nursing Studies, 151, 104690. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2024.104690

Annotation: Large-scale trial. Shows experimental methods excellence. Altmetric: Top 5%; 4 news; 33 X posts.

[5] Alexeev, S. (2025)A closer look at Doleac and Mukherjee (2022) and effects of naloxone access laws on opioid ER admissions.Economic Inquiry [Accepted 17 Jan 2025]. DOI: 10.1111/ecin.13277

Annotation: Critique of naloxone study. Shows data integrity & methods rigor.

[6] Liang, J. & Alexeev, S. (2023)Harm reduction or amplification? The adverse impact of a supervised injection room on housing prices.Regional Science and Urban Economics, 98, 103856. DOI: 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2022.103856

Annotation: Injection sites' impact. Translation & method integration. Altmetric: Top 5%; media coverage; 1 policy; GS: 9 citations.

[7] Alexeev, S. & Weatherburn, D. (2021)The Australian ready-to-drink beverages tax missed its target age group.International Journal of Drug Policy, 95, 103399. DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103399

Annotation: Evaluates alcohol tax inefficacy. Supports practice translation & quasi-experimental integration. GS: 6 citations; Mendeley: 31.

[8] Alexeev, S. (2020)The role of imputed rents in intergenerational income mobility in three countries.Journal of Housing Economics, 49, 101710. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhe.2020.101710

Annotation: Cross-country housing study sparking policy debate. Shows translation. Altmetric: Top 5%; 5 news; 31 X posts; GS: 11 citations.

[9] Alexeev, S. (2022) Technical change and wage premiums amongst skilled labour: Evidence from the economic transition.Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, 31(1), 189-216. DOI: 10.1111/ecot.12330

Annotation: Wage study in development. Shows methodological versatility. Altmetric: 1 blog; GS: 5 citations.

[10] Weatherburn, D., Alexeev, S., & Livingston, M. (2021)Changes in and correlates of Australian public attitudes toward illicit drug use.Drug and Alcohol Review, 41(5), 1029-1040. DOI: 10.1111/dar.13426

Annotation: Drug attitudes analysis. Shows understanding of policy feasibility. Altmetric: Top 5%; 4 news; 33 X posts; GS: 12 citations.

Adjunct Associate Professor Karin Aubrey is Group Leader at the Kolling Institute within the Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, and Northern Sydney Local Health District. She completed her PhD at the University of Sydney in 2004 before receiving a prestigious Marie Curie International Fellowship to undertake postdoctoral research in Paris, France, at the Institut de Biologie de l'École Normale Supérieure (2005–2011). In 2012, she returned to Australia to continue her work under Professor Chris Vaughan at the Pain Management Research Institute. Associate Professor Aubrey established her independent research group within the Kolling Institute in 2017, where she leads fundamental research investigating the neurobiology of pain. Her work aims to discover the cell and circuit mechanisms underlying prolonged pain states, with the goal of informing new strategies for pain management and treatment.

Dr. Jannah Baker is an early career clinician researcher focussing on breast cancer prevention and screening within the Daffodil Centre. She has a medical background with five years of experience working as a physician. Her PhD developed novel methodology for Bayesian spatiotemporal modelling of disease, and she holds Postgraduate Diplomas in Public Health and Statistics. Jannah’s previous work within the cancer field has involved the prevention and early treatment of melanoma, skin cancer and endometrial cancer, comparisons of treatment methods and cost analyses for endometrial, ovarian and pancreatic cancer. Her systematic review of fertility-sparing treatment for early endometrial cancer has been referenced in international guidelines. She has been a clinical trials statistician for over five years, designing and analysing data from trials including Bayesian adaptive platform and stepped-wedge cluster design trials.

Additional to her focus on quantitative analysis, Jannah has undertaken several health economic analyses and government projects, overseen two qualitative-themed studies and lectured on Implementation Science. She has attracted over $6 million in collaborative funding and has supervised and mentored several student and staff research projects

ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2208-6584

Qualifications:

PhD in Statistics (Bayesian spatiotemporal modelling of chronic disease)

Postgraduate diploma in Public Health (PGDipPH)

Postgraduate diploma in Science (PGDipSci, Statistics major)

Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBChB)

Dr. Poonam Balaji is a McCusker Foundation fellow and Hospital scientist in the cardiology department at Westmead Hospital and Westmead Applied Research Centre, University of Sydney. She has over 10 years research experience in cardiovascular physiology and molecular biology. Her current research is focussed on innovative technologies to treat hypertension and arrhythmias. She graduated with a PhD from The Ohio State University Dr. Balaji has publications with 1100 citations in high impact journals such as Journal of American Heart Association, Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, Cardiovascular research and Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology.

Summary: Dr Madhan Balasubramanian is Honorary Senior Lecturer at the Menzies Centre for Health Policy and Economics, School of Public Health. He is currently based at Flinders University, Adelaide, as a Senior Lecturer in Health Care Management. Madhan's interests broadly lie at the intersection of health policy, health systems and health services. He has a public health and health services background, with focus on the future design and sustainable development of core health system components and developing integrated systems to address the sustainable development goals. He brings an excellent track record, relative to opportunity.

Research: Madhan has published over 35+ scientific research articles. He has won three nationally competitive Australian Government fellowships. Overall, he has received over a million Australian dollars in nationally/internationally competitive fellowships (as CIA), in addition to scholarships and academic prizes. Madhan has active research projects that he conceptualised and developed across two states in Australia (NSW and SA), and internationally in the United Kingdom and India. He has also worked extensively on national surveys and longitudinal studies and has several ongoing studies on health data science, health services, health workforce and aged care.

Teaching: Madhan brings experience teaching at four Australian Universities (Universities of Sydney, Adelaide, New England and Griffith), and two overseas institutions (Kings College London, the United Kingdom and Osmania University, India). He is involved in public health, health services, health research methods and health policy programs. Madhan has supervised or mentored seven postgraduate students to completion.

Leadership: Madhan serves as an Editorial Board Member of BMC Health Services Research and Section Editor (Non-Communicable Diseases) for Journal of Global Oral Health. He has also edited special issues for Nature and MDPI journals. He is current President of the Network for Practice-Based Research, and Board member of the Constitution Committee at the International Association for Dental Research. Madhan was previously Board Member of the Australasian College of Health Service Executives and was Branch Councillor in South Australia. Madhan has served as a panel member of NHMRC investigator and ideas grants for the last 3 yrs. He has been successful in being funded with NHMRC, ARC and other major funders (both nationally and internationally).

Dr Heather Baldwin is an epidemiologist and biostatistician at the Leeder Centre for Health Policy, Economics and Data. Her research leverages linked population data to improve health outcomes and services for patients and their families. Her research interests include long term outcomes of childhood diseases such as childhood cancer, and pregnancy and birth outcomes for mothers and babies with bleeding-related complications. She is a graduate of the NSW Biostatistics Training Program, and holds a Master of Biostatistics and a PhD in biology.

BPsych(Hons I), MClinPsych, PhD

Dr Sarah Barakat is Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the InsideOut Institute for Eating Disorders. As part of Sarah's PhD, she led a multisite randomised controlled trial of a digital psychological intervention for Bulimia Nervosa. Since completing her PhD in early 2023, Sarah has been involved in a range of implementation activities to support the translation of evidence-based digital interventions into real-world treatment settings. Sarah leads the research and evaluation of the InsideOut Institute's eClinic - an online treatment platform delivering digital therapies to people with an eating disorder. Sarah is also a Clinical Psychologist, experienced in the delivery of individual and group psychological treatments across outpatient, community and private settings.

Liz Barnes joined the CTC in 2004. She is a biostatistician working on clinical trials and with trial data, primarily in oncology and cardiovascular medicine. Liz is the statistician for the COGNO brain cancer group and member of their Scientific Advisory Committee, and provides input to study concept development and appraisal for the group and the development, operation and analysis of the COGNO portfolio of trials. She is also statistician on the Uterine Tumour group for ANZGOG and statistician on Outback, ECHO and Tips trials. She coordinates units in the Master of Biostatistics program of the Biostatistics Collaboration of Australia and the Master of Clinical Trials Research at the University of Sydney. She has had a number of consulting roles and currently provides advice and support to researchers at Kids Research in the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network. She is statistician on the Scientific Advisory Committee to the SCHN HREC and NSW Health Paediatric Early Phase Clinical Trials HREC.

Hadiatou Barry is a postdoctoral research associate at the Heat and Health Research Centre, an Impact Centre in the Faculty of Medicine and Health. Her research focus on understanding the integrative human physiological responses to heat exposure and the associated risk of heat-related health problems across a diverse populations, ranging from healthy adults to adults living with cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Hadiatou Barry is currently funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

Professor Nancy N. Baxter is Deputy Dean, Research Centres in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney. She is an internationally recognised clinician-researcher and academic leader whose work focuses on improving the quality, equity, and impact of healthcare through rigorous, real-world research.

Professor Baxter’s research program centres on health services and outcomes research, with particular expertise in cancer prevention and screening, surgical quality and safety, and the use of large-scale linked health data to evaluate how care is delivered in practice. Her work has directly informed clinical guidelines, health system policy, and quality improvement initiatives in Canada and internationally.

As Deputy Dean, Research Centres, Professor Baxter provides strategic leadership across the Faculty’s major research centres and institutes, strengthening research performance, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, and supporting translation of discovery into policy and practice. She is committed to building research environments that enable excellence, collaboration, and meaningful societal impact, particularly in areas of unmet need.

Professor Baxter has held senior academic and clinical appointments in Australia and North America and has published extensively in leading international journals, including The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, Annals of Internal Medicine, and The Lancet family of journals. She is a Fellow of multiple professional organisations and is widely recognised for her contributions to research leadership, mentoring, and health system improvement.

David Beard is Professor and Director of Research Partnerships at the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, a Flagship Centre in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney, where he leads the Surgical & Complex Intervention Trials portfolio. He is also Professor of Musculoskeletal and Surgical Sciences at the University of Oxford, is an NIHR Senior Investigator and serves as Director of the Royal College of Surgeons (Eng) Surgical Intervention Trials Unit (SITU NDORMS-Oxford).

He is an honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons FRCS (Eng), and the British Orthopaedic Association (FBOA). Clinically, he practised as an extended scope practitioner (consultant physiotherapist) for 27 years, until 2023. As a relatively recent arrival at Sydney, he holds an Investigator Grant Fellowship (Level 3) which supports his surgical trial program, focussing on strategic development of a trial culture for surgical innovation and evaluation in Australia.  

Dr Katharina Bell is a clinician-scientist with a specialist interest in glaucoma whose research focuses on developing neuroprotective therapies to prevent vision loss in glaucoma. Her work combines laboratory science, clinical research and patient care to understand why retinal ganglion cells degenerate with ageing and disease, and to translate these discoveries into new treatments and clinical trials.

Katharina is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney and Clinical Lead for Ophthalmology at the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre. She leads the Clinical Platform of the Snow Vision Accelerator, a 10-year, $50 million research initiative established to accelerate the development of new therapies for glaucoma. She also leads a laboratory research program within the Snow Vision Accelerator Biology Platform at the Charles Perkins Centre, investigating mitochondrial quality control and neuronal resilience as therapeutic targets for glaucoma. Alongside her research, she works clinically in the tertiary glaucoma service at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

Before joining the University of Sydney in 2023, Katharina established her independent research program at Duke-NUS Medical School and the Singapore Eye Research Institute. She previously completed ophthalmology specialist training, a PhD and consultant appointments at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany, followed by a prestigious German Research Foundation (DFG)-funded postdoctoral fellowship at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) in Madrid, where she investigated mitochondrial quality control and autophagy in ageing and glaucoma.

Katharina's research spans the pathway from fundamental discovery science to multicentre clinical trials, with a particular focus on neuroprotection, ageing, mitochondrial biology and biomarkers for glaucoma. Her research brings together collaborators from across Australia, Europe and Asia to translate laboratory discoveries into treatments that improve outcomes for patients with glaucoma.

She has published more than 55 peer-reviewed papers, secured competitive national and international research funding, and supervises higher degree research students and early career researchers. Through her research, clinical practice and collaborative approach, she aims to accelerate the development of effective neuroprotective therapies that preserve vision for people with glaucoma.

Associate Professor Carissa Bonner is a behavioural scientist working in public health at The University of Sydney, with a focus on risk communication, health literacy, shared decision making and behavioural insights. She is the Deputy Director of the Sydney Health Literacy Lab, and Health Services Lead at the Leeder Centre for Health Policy, Economics and Data. She is founding Editor in Chief of the journal Health Literacy & Communication Open, and a Fellow of the Heart Foundation and SHP Implementation Science Academy.

A/Prof Bonner has authored over 130 peer reviewed publications from $16m research funding, with 21,000 citations and h-index of 37. This includes leading journals in medicine (e.g. MJA, BMJ, Lancet), health policy (e.g. Medical Decision Making, Public Health Research & Practice), ehealth (e.g. Journal of Medical Internet Research) and psychology (e.g. Health Psychology). She leads a national partnership to improve decision making about cardiovascular disease risk, funded by the NHMRC, Heart Foundation, Prevention Centre, Department of Health and RACGP. Her codesigned interventions have reached hundreds of thousands of patients, informed the 2023 Australian guidelines for CVD risk assessment and management, and improved the uptake of Heart Health Checks in general practice nationally.

A/Prof Bonner advises the Heart Foundation on health literacy and risk communication issues, including national CVD prevention guidelines and general practice programs to increase the uptake of Heart Health Checks. Internationally, she has worked with the World Health Organization on a global science and knowledge translation action framework, and has advised on risk communication for the current revision to International Patient Decision Aids Standards.

A/Prof Bonner is a member of Sydney Infectious Diseases Institute (Sydney ID)

Dr Marlee Bower is a Senior Research Fellow at the Matilda Centre who is interested in the broader social determinants of mental health, particularly in understanding loneliness and isolation amongst marginalised individuals and how this relates to the built environment.

She leads the Climate Change and Mental Health Incubator, funded by the Henry Halloran Research Trust (2024-2026), which explores the impact of housing and neighbourhood on mental health outcomes of climate change in urban environments. She also runs the Mentally Healthy Futures Project, a study of how mental health policymaking decisions can be best harnessed to improve the lives of future Australians. She is also Academic Lead on Australia's Mental Health Think Tank, chaired by Professor Maree Teesson.

Marlee is also the convenor of the multidisciplinary Network for Research in the Built Environment and Mental Health and the co-convenor of the Matilda Centre Social Determinants of Mental Health Research Portfolio, The Matilda Centre Consumer Research Group, Crime Research Research Portfolio and the Mixed Methods Research Portfolio.

She completed her PhD in September 2019 on the experience of loneliness amongst Australians with lived experience of homelessness from the Translational Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, Australia.

Prior to working at the Matilda Centre, Marlee worked in government research and strategy in prison and homelessness settings.

Dr Hollie Byrne is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use. Based within the Lifespan and Brain Health team, her work uses population neuroimaging data to investigate predictors and consequences of mental health and substance use in adolescence. 

Dr Maria Cabrera-Aguas is a Post-doc Research Associate and the head of the corneal infections program in the Corneal Research Group at the University of Sydney-Save Sight Institute.

She holds a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery from the National University in Colombia and a Master of International Public Health from UNSW and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Medicine from The University of Sydney. Her PhD thesis focused on the development, implementation and evaluation of a treatment guideline for herpes simplex keratitis at the Sydney Eye Hospital. Sydney Eye Hospital Foundation funded her research.

Her research focuses on improving outcomes for patients with infectious keratitis.

She is a member of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology(ARVO) and of the Public Health Association of Australia

Andrew Chang AMMBBS (Hons), PhD (USYD) FRANZCO FRACS

Andrew Chang is a vitreoretinal surgeon and ophthalmologist. He holds academic appointments of Conjoint Professor Department of Surgery UNSW and Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Sydney. He is a consultant ophthalmologist and the Head of Ophthalmology at the Sydney Eye Hospital. He is the Medical Director of Sydney Retina Clinic.
He graduated from University of Sydney Medical School and trained at the Sydney Eye Hospital with retinal fellowships at Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital and in the USA. He was awarded a PhD for retinal research conducted in the Universities of California and Sydney.
In Australia, he is clinician advisor to the Department of Health Australia and to the TGA on new technologies in Ophthalmology. He serves as Chair of the Board of the Sydney Eye Hospital Foundation.
Commitment to international ophthalmology includes the role of Secretary General of the Asia-Pacific Vitreoretinal Society (APVRS) and deputy Secretary-General of the Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology (APAO).
Professional awards include the 2022 Tano Lecture of the APVRS, Achievement Award, Distinguished Service Award and the Outstanding Service in Prevention of Blindness Award of the Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology (APAO) and the RANZCO Excellence in Teaching Award.
In 2023 his contributions to ophthalmology and retinal surgery were acknowledged in being awarded the Member of the Order of Australia.