Charles Perkins Centre

Professor Abendroth graduated with a BSc (First Class Honours, ranked top of class) in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Adelaide and completed her PhD at the University of Adelaide/Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science as a Dawes Scholar. She undertook post-doctoral training at Stanford University, where she was awarded the Katherine McCormick Women in Science Postdoctoral Fellowship and the Stanford School of Medicine Dean’s Postdoctoral Fellowship. Professor Abendroth returned to Australia and was awarded a Rold Edgar Lake Fellowship and established the Viral Immunology Research Laboratory at the University of Sydney. Professor Abendroth’s laboratory is based in the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney where she leads a multidisciplinary research program investigating how human herpesviruses interact and evade the host immune system. Professor Abendroth is teachs immunology and virology to undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as being course coordinator for IMMU3202/3903 (Immunology in Human Disease and Immunology in Human Disease (Advanced).

Dr Naseem Ahmadpour is a researcher in the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). She is a member of the Design Lab and leads Affective Interactions research group. She was awarded her PhD in human-machine interaction from University of Montreal (Ecole Polytechnique), Canada and her MSc in industrial design (specialized in human factors) from Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Her research explores and critiques new imaginaries in the future of care and work, by questioning ethical approaches to and consequences of sociotechnical systems that increasingly shape those futures. In the past five years, Dr Ahmadpour has investigated platformization of care through immersive technologies such as virtual reality (VR) usinga multi-perspective participatory approach.

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.

Professor Jennifer Alison is a Professor of Respiratory Physiotherapy, Discipline of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney and Professor Allied Health (Chronic Diseases) Sydney Local Health District (SLHD) and Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney. Her role in SLHD is to enhance the research capacity of allied health clinicians. At the University, Prof Alison has taught into the cardiopulmonary physiotherapy units of study in the BAppSc (Physiotherapy) and Master of Physiotherapy programs and led the development of the clinical simulation unit in the Faculty of Health Sciences. Prof Alison was a clinical specialist physiotherapist (Level 6) in Pulmonary Rehabilitation, Department of Physiotherapy, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital until 2015. She leads the Living Well with Chronic Disease and Disability Research Group (https://www.sydney.edu.au/medicine-health/our-research/research-centres/living-well-with-chronic-disease-research-group.html) and the Respiratory and Cardiac Rehabilitation and Management (ResCaRM) Research Group, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney.

As part of her keen interest in health care, and particularly lung health, she is on the executive committee of NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation Respiratory Network (co-chair 2009-2015) and is Chair of the Australian Pulmonary Rehabilitation Network of the Lung Foundation Australia (LFA). Through this latter committee Prof Alison led the development of the web-based Pulmonary Rehabilitation Toolkit for clinicians and the writing of the Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for Pulmonary Rehabilitation. She is Co-chair of the Respiratory Stream in Sydney Health Partners (an NHMRC Advanced Health and Research Translation Centre) and is Chair of the American Thoracic Society Pulmonary Rehabilitation Assembly Planning Committee.

Prof Alison has published 165 peer-reviewed journal articles in top ranked journals in her field (70 in the last 5 years); 1 book and 9 book chapters and over 195 peer-reviewed abstracts. She has been awarded 62 research grants as Chief Investigator, including 7 NHMRC Grants (3 as CIA). Professor Alison has supervised 22 PhD and Masters completions (18 as primary supervisor), 19 honours students (4 with University Medals) and currently supervises 8 PhD students and 2 honours students. Her PhD and Masters students have received many prestigious awards at national and international conferences.

Prof Alison’s research interests are in the area of exercise responses and exercise training in people with lung disease. Specifically, she has evaluated the impact of lung diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cystic fibrosis and interstitial lung diseases, on exercise performance and the effects of interventions such as pulmonary rehabilitation, to improve exercise capacity and quality of life in people with these conditions. Her recent research interests have been to make the benefits of pulmonary rehabilitation available to a larger cohort of people with COPD by evaluating the effectiveness of walk training, water-based exercise, Tai Chi and telerehabilitation. The current NHMRC grant that she leads is evaluating the implementation of pulmonary rehabilitation within Aboriginal Medical Services to improve equity of access of Aboriginal people to culturally safe, best-practice management of chronic lung disease.

BAppScPhysiotherapy(First Class Hons)(Syd), PhD (Syd)

A/Prof Natalie Allen is an Associate Professor in the Neurological Physiotherapy team within the Discipline of Physiotherapy. Natalie is recognised internationally as an expert on physiotherapy interventions for people with Parkinson's disease. Natalie leads a research team in three key areas: 1) development of interventionsto improve safe mobility and reduce falls; 2) exploring the potential for exercise to assist in the management of pain; 3) investigation of models of service delivery, including the use of technology and exercise self-management.

Natalie's research expertiseincludes clinical research of a variety of methodologies including randomised controlled trials (RCTs), uncontrolled trials, observational, translational and qualitative studies, and systematic reviews. She regularly presents her work nationally and internationally and has been invited to present at prestigious international Parkinson's disease conferences.Her work is published in in top journals in the fields of rehabilitation and clinical neurology.

Margaret studied Science, Nutrition and Dietetics, MPhil Public Health and her PhD at the University of Sydney and is Director of Nutrition and Dietetics and a teaching and research academic. Her current interests are in public health nutrition and include determinant research using quantitative and qualitative methods and evidence synthesis via systematic review. She is also expert in nutritional behaviour change interventions and health promotion. A longstanding interest is in adoption of new technologies for more objective dietary assessement methods. 

FDA FNSA

Chair Australian Academy of Science National Committee for Nutrition

Dr Kim Anastasiou is a Research Fellow in the School of Public Health, University of Sydney. Her work is focused on understanding and improving the health, environmental and equity impacts of food systems. Her current research focuses on understanding the environmental impacts of ultra-processed foods and; conceptualising the drivers and impacts of first-food systems on outcomes for infants and young children. Previous work has included: determining the health, equity and environmental impacts of Australian food policies, working on EAT-Lancet 2.0, investigating the environmental impacts of ultra-processed foods (PhD topic) and a wide variety of public health nutrition research projects. 

Kim is an advocate for the transformative changes needed to create healthier, more equitable and more sustainable food systems. She is currently an executive board member of Healthy Food Systems Australia, working towards holistic food policy changes. Previously, Kim has held the roles of ‘Young Scientist’ for the UN FAO’s World Food Forum (2022-23) and ‘Youth Liaison’ for the 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit (2021). She has also been involved in advocacy activities relating to the Nyéléni Declaration on Food Sovereignty (2024-25) and the Climate Conference of Parties (2021-22).

B.Med.Sc., M.B., B.S., M.D. (Melbourne), M.A., Ph.D. (Pennsylvania); FAHA, FASSA, FAHMS, FRSN

Warwick Anderson is the Janet Dora Hine Professor of Politics, Governance and Ethics in the Discipline of Health and leader of the Politics, Governance and Ethics Theme with the Charles Perkins Centre. From 2012-17 Warwick Anderson was ARC Laureate Fellow in the Department of History and the Center for Values, Ethics and the Law in Medicine. Additionally, he has an affiliation with History and Philosophy of Science at Sydney and is a Professorial Fellow of the School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne. In 2018-19 he was the Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser Chair of Australian Studies at Harvard University, based in the Department of the History of Science.

As an historian of science, medicine and public health, focusing on Australasia, the Pacific, Southeast Asia and the United States, Professor Anderson is especially interested in ideas about race, human difference, and citizenship in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He has also studied the history of immunology (particularly autoimmunity) and perceptions of 'waste'. Occasionally he writes programmatically on postcolonial science studies and, more generally, on science and globalisation. In recent years, his research has focussed on the conceptual development of disease ecology and planetary health, i.e., the population health impacts of climate change.

Before moving to Sydney in 2007, Prof. Anderson was Robert Turell Professor of Medical History and Population Health, Professor of the History of Science, and Chair of the Department of Medical History and Bioethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. At Wisconsin he also served on the steering committee of the Holtz Center for Science and Technology Studies and was a Faculty Affiliate of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies. Previously Prof. Anderson taught at Harvard, Melbourne (where he founded the Centre for Health and Society, now the Centre for Health Equity), UCSF and Berkeley. He has been awarded grants and fellowships from the Australian Research Council, American Council of Learned Societies, the National Science Foundation, the Social Science Research Council (US), and the Rockefeller and Mellon Foundations. He was the Frederick Burkhardt Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton (2005-6), and a Guggenheim Fellow (2007-8). He has held visiting professorships at Harvard, Manchester and McMaster universities. In 2013 he was John Hope Franklin Fellow at Duke University and the Whitney J. Oakes Fellow in the Humanities Center at Princeton University. His books have been awarded the W.K. Hancock Prize (AHA, 2004); the Philippines National Book Award for Social Science (2008); the NSW Premier's General History Prize (2009 and 2014); the William H. Welch Medal (AAHM, 2010); and the Ludwik Fleck Prize (4S, 2010).

Prof. Anderson is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities (FAHA), the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (FASSA), the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (FAHMS), and the Royal Society of NSW (FRSN). In 2023, he was awarded the John Desmond Bernal Prize of the Society for Social Studies of Science for distinguished contributions to science and technology studies, the Society's lifetime achievement award. In 2025, he was awarded the Arthur J. Viseltear Prize for lifetime achievement in public health history by the American Public Health Association. The Australian's research review named him Australia's 'top historian' for 2026.

A/Prof Ashe is a molecular biologist working in the areas of epigenetics and small RNA molecules. She uses a combination of genetic engineering, microscopy, bioinformatics and some structural biology techniques to understand how epigenetic gene regulation occurs in a range of species.

Dr Anneliese Ashhurst (née Tyne) is a research fellow with the laboratories of Professor Scott Byrne (School of Medical Sciences) and Professor Richard Payne (School of Chemistry). Dr Ashhurst is a research immunologist with a background in studying the host immune response to tuberculosis and common respiratory viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, with an interest in vaccines or drug therapies designed for pulmonary delivery. Her current research is directed towards developing therapies to control inappropriate inflammation, including for skin conditions such as psoriasis and dermatitis. Dr Ashhurst is a member of the Charles Perkins Centre, the Centre for Drug Discovery Innovation, and Sydney Infectious Diseases Institute (Sydney ID).

Professor Ashton-James, PhD, is a social psychologist and pain scientist who partners with patients, clinicians, and healthcare organisations to improve the efficacy and accessibility of treatments for chronic and acute pain. Prof Ashton-James' is also an educator, teaching on social aspects of pain and healthcare delivery within undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at The University of Sydney. In addition, Prof Ashton-James develops and facilitates interactive workshops for practicing clinicians to enable them to identify and address patient emotion and distress in clinical encounters, thereby improving patient engagement and reducing clinician risk of burnout. With a keen interest in optimising education delivery improved university governance and policy, Prof Ashton-James has several leadership roles, including Research Education Academic Director for the Northern Precinct of the Faculty of Medicine and Health.

Prof Ashton-James has had an international career. She conducted her PhD research at UNSW (Australia) and Duke University (USA). She was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia (Canada) before moving to The Netherlands to work as an Assistant Professor at the University of Groningen, and later, the Free University of Amsterdam (Department of Psychology and the VU Medical Center Amsterdam). Ashton-James maintains international collaborations and is currently working closely with colleagues in the USA, Canada, The Netherlands, the UK, and New Zealand.

Prof Ashton-James is a Co-I on over 13 million dollars of competitive research funding, and is grateful to have had her research supported by philanthropic donors including the Ernst Family Foundation, The G&P Nock Foundation, Pain Foundation Limited, and the Woodend Foundation.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you would like to discuss collaboration on research, educational, or governance matters.

BPharm(Hons) MSc PhD G Cert Ed Stud (Higher Ed), MPS MRPharmS, FFIP

Professor Parisa Aslani, PhD, BPharm(Hons), MSc, G Cert Ed Stud (Higher Ed), is the Professor in Medicines Use Optimisation at the School of Pharmacy, The University of Sydney.

Professor Parisa Aslani holds a BPharm(Hons) (1990) from Kings College (University of London); MSc (in Pharmaceutics; 1995), PhD (in Pharmacy Practice; 2000) and Grad Cert Ed Stud (Higher Ed) (2001) from the University of Sydney. She has worked as a community pharmacist in the UK and Australia.

Professor Aslani has been a researcher and educator in the field of consumer medicine information and adherence for the past 25 years. She has received the University of Sydney’s prestigious Thompson Equity Fellowship (2013), which recognizes research excellence and aims to promote and enhance the career of academic women. She was awarded the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (UK) Pharmacy Research UK Award 2013, in recognition of a significant contribution to the field of pharmacy research.

She is a registered pharmacist in Australia and the UK. Prof Aslani is Honorary Professor in the School of Healthcare, Faculty of Medicine & Health, University of Leeds; and Academic Advisor to Luto Research Limited, UK (which develops healthcare material for consumers in partnership with consumers). She is a fellow of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), and immediate past FIP Vice President (2020-2024), and Immediate Past President of the Health and Medicines Information Section. She was Chair of the 81st FIP World Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Congress 2023 held in Brisbane, Australia. She is also a Fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, and a Foundation Fellow of the Australian and New Zealand College of Advanced Pharmacy. During her employment she has held a number of significant leadership roles within the University, and externally in the profession, and has had a number of career breaks. She has just completed a 5-year term as Deputy Head and Director of Academic Career Development at the School of Pharmacy, The University of Sydney.

Prof Aslani has published over 190 research articles in peer-review journals; 7 books and 11 book chapters; 4455 citations of her articles since 2020 (career total: 9410); h-index of 52 (Google Scholar). She has been a CI on 46, and AI on 2 grants (total over $7 million). Key research funding include a competitive tender (2008) in the area of Consumer Medicine Information (CMI) from the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing managed through the Pharmacy Guild of Australia; a recent (2017-2019) NHMRC grant on Question Prompt Lists for parents and carers of children with ADHD; a recent (2020-2024) NHMRC Partnership Project on Community Health workers Extending Care in the Community; and an Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care tendered project on the Dose Administration Aid (DAA) program to evaluate current program and provide recommendations for future directions.

Professor Thomas Astell-Burt is Professor of Cities and Planetary Health and Founding Director of the Centre for Flourishing Cities at the University of Sydney. Thomas is ranked first out of over 10,000 scientists globally for his research on nature and health. He is a Clarivate Top 1% Highly Cited Researcher for three consecutive years and is listed in the Stanford-Elsevier Top 2% scientists worldwide. An Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellow, he leads major national research programs exploring how nature-based interventions and urban design can help to address depression, diabetes, and dementia. As Co-Director of the Population Wellbeing and Environment Research Lab (PowerLab), Thomas' work has informed urban greening strategies in Sydney, across Australia, and in hundreds of cities worldwide.

Professor Bagley is an academic in Sydney Pharmacy School within the Faculty of Medicine and Health.

Professor Bagley completed a PhD at The University of Sydney in 2001. She was a C.J Martin Fellow from 2001 to 2006. During this time she was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Professor Gary Westbrook at the Vollum Institute (Oregon, USA) and at the Pain Management Research Institute (University of Sydney).

Professor Bagley's established her reserach laboratory in the Brain and Mind Institute (2010-2011), moved to Pharmacology in 2011 and Sydney Pharmacy School in 2021 and has a laboratory in the Charles Perkins Centre.

Dale Bailey is a physicist working in the field of nuclear medicine. He currently has appointments at Royal North Shore Hospital (RNSH) in the Department of Nuclear Medicine and at the University of Sydney in the Faculty of Medicine & Health. Dale was previously the Director of the Sydney Vital Northern Translational Cancer Research Centre (Cancer Institute NSW). His area of research interest is in quantitative functional imaging using radionuclide tracers - SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography) and PET (Positron Emission Tomography). He has been a pioneer of hybrid imaging of structure (morphology) and function (physiology) combining multiple modalities into a single imaging session. With the increasing utilisation of radionuclide therapies in cancer management in recent years, Dale has turned his attention to the biological effects of radiation and quantifying radiation dosimetry to tissues to personalise individual treatments and improve patient outcomes.

BSc(Hons) UNSW, MPsychol(Clin) UNSW, PhD Macq, FCCLP

I am a clinical psychologist, Professor of Allied Health with Sydney Local Health District, and Senior Advisor with Sydney Health Partners. I work in SLHD to build Allied Health Research Capacity and with Sydney Health Partners on their Implementation Science Academy and Clinical Academic Groups. My research collaborates with the Matilda Centre for Research in Substance use and Mental Health, the Edith Collins Centre (Translational Research in Alcohol Drugs and Toxicology. I also work with Drug Health Services at RPA and the Psychology Team at SydneyVirtual.

Marian Baird AO is Professor of Gender and Employment Relations and Co-Director of the Sydney Employment Relations Research Group in the University of Sydney Business School. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences of Australia.

Marian is a leading researcher in the fields of industrial relations, women, work and care. Her research focuses on policy responses at all levels, including government, business and unions. She has a long history of policy engagement on gender equitable organisational change, flexible work, women and leadership, paid family and domestic violence leave and reproductive support policies. Through her career as an engaged researcher, she has worked with federal and state government departments, organisations, unions and not-for-profits to improve the position for women in the workforce and society. Marian has contributed to the development of government and company policies on maternity and parental leaves, flexibility, discrimination and the ageing workforce. Her pathbreaking research on paid parental leave contributed to the introduction of Australia's paid Parental Leave Scheme in 2010. In 2022-23, she advised the Australian Government on extensions and changes to the Scheme.

Currently, she is a Chief Investigator on the Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research (CEPAR) and leader of the mature workers and care stream. Other current research projects include the female body@work project, women's economic empowerment and workplace violence in female dominated sectors. Marian is an Expert Panel Member of the Fair Work Commission, appointed in March 2023. She is a member of the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations' Parent Advisory Group to improve the economic security of Australian parents, appointed in 2024.

As the first female professor in industrial relations at the University of Sydney, Marian has developed the next generation of researchers and policymakers in her teaching of industrial relations policy and strategic human resource management and as a supervisor of 13 PhD students. She received the SUPRA Supervisor of the Year Award in 2022

Marian's work is widely published and she is co-author of Human Resource Management (published by Cengage), Australia's leading text book in the field. Marian contributes to the discipline internationally as a Coordinator of the International Network of Leave Policies and Research and the International Labour and Employment Relations Association (ILERA) Gender and Employment Study Group. She has been a visiting scholar at the University of Alberta, MIT, Michigan State University, University of Nottingham, Leeds University Business School and Queen Mary University of London Business School.

In 2016 Marian was awarded an AO (Officer of the Order of Australia) for outstanding services to improving the quality of women's working lives and for contributions to tertiary education. Other awards include the Best Paper Award at AIRAANZ 2023, the Australian Labour and Employment Relations Association Award in 2021, the AIRAANZ Lifetime Service Award in 2020, and being named in Apolitical's Top 100 Most Influential People in Gender Equality list in 2019 and 2018. In 2014 she received the Edna Ryan Award for making positive change for women in the workforce, in 2013 she received the AFR/Westpac Women of Influence Award in Public Policy, and in 2015 and 2003 she won the University of Sydney Business School's most engaged researcher awards.

Associate Professor Phillip Baker is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow, and Horizon Fellow, at the School of Public Health, University of Sydney. He leads the Food Systems Integrity Group (FSIG) which generates evidence to support healthier, more sustainable and fairer food systems. His research examines the commercial, economic and political determinants of dietary change, nutrition and public health. 

Dr Baker recently co-led the 2025 Lancet Series on Ultra-processed Foods and Human Health.

He regularly appears in global and national news media. In Australia this includes recent appearances on the ABC 7.30 report, ABC Radio National, and SBS Insight. Recent podcasts include The Solutionists, The Lancet In Conversation, and No Money No Time.

He recieved his PhD from the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University (ANU), focued on the politics of obesity prevention and food policy. His post-doctoral research, at the School of Regulation and Global Governance, ANU, focused on the political economy of food systems, and the social determinants of health. 

Expertise: Food systems, food policy, food regulation, food politics, food governance, ultra-processed foods, corporate power, commercial determinants of health, infant and child nutrition, public health nutrition, political economy of food systems transition.

Qualifications: BSc (Biological sciences with Senior Prize, University of Auckland), PGradDipHSc (Nutrition, University of Auckland), MHSc (Nutrition with First Class Honours, University of Auckland), PhD (Population health, Australian National University).

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.

BSpThy University of Queensland 1983 MA Northwestern University, USA 1994 PhD Northwestern University, USA 1997

Professor Ballard completed her undergraduate degree at University of Queensland in 1983 and worked primarily as a paediatric speech pathologist in Queensland and New South Wales until moving to the USA in 1992. She completed a Master of Arts in Speech-Language Pathology (1994) and PhD (1997) at Northwestern University in Illinois and went on to a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Center for Voice and Speech at University of Iowa. Professor Ballard has held academic positions in the Speech Pathology departments of Indiana University and the University of Iowa. Since 2006, she has been at the University of Sydney where she served as Head of Speech Pathology and Director of the Graduate Entry Masters program until July 2012. She was awarded an ARC Future Fellowship (2012-17) and since then has returned to a teaching and research position.

Professor Ballard has published on diagnostic approaches and procedures for acquired and childhood speech and language disorders (particularly apraxia of speech) and on application of the principles of motor learning framework to treatment of motor speech disorders in adults and children. Her work is currently focusing on the use of real-time MRI to better understand speech articulation in healthy and apraxia speakers. She is al Co-founder of a digital tech start-up designing engaging apps for screening and high intensity treatment of speech sound disorders that incorporate automated speech analysis designed for Australians.

Professor Ballard's research has attracted funding from the National Institutes of Health in the USA, the NH&MRC and ARC in Australia, Qatar National Research Foundation in Qatar, as well as professional groups such as the American Speech Language and Hearing Association and the Motor Neurone Disease Research Institute of Australia.

Professor Richard Banati is an internationally recognized scientist with interdisciplinary research interests in the brains innate immune system and the development of advanced medical imaging for the non-invasive study of brain function. Since 2008, Professor Banati holds an ANSTO Distinguished Researcher Fellowship in a cross-institutional life sciences team that has unique access to a range of methodologies, including life cell imaging, impedance spectrometry, quartz crystal microbalance measures, and protein structure analysis by x-ray and neutron-based techniques.

Richard Banati is Professor and Foundation Chair of Medical Radiation Sciences at the University of Sydney, Director of the Ramaciotti Centre for Brain Imaging at the Brain & Mind Research Institute (BMRI) and Director University of Sydney node of the National Imaging Facility. His early scientific career commenced at the Max-Planck-Institute for Psychiatry (Neurobiology) in Munich, Germany. Prior to taking up his current post at the University of Sydney in January 2004, he was Principal Fellow in the Department of Neuropathology, Imperial College and MRC-Cyclotron Unit, Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital, London.

His work is highly cited and published in specialist journals as well as high-impact multi-disciplinary journals, such as The Lancet, Annals of Neurology and Brain. The research of Professor Banati and his colleagues has received recognition through the bi-annual Award of the German league for Research into Alzheimer's Disease, Award for Interdisciplinary Research of Society for Radiation Research (Gesellschaft fur Strahlenforschung GSF, Munich), The New Frontiers in Science Presentation 1998 at The Royal Society (London), and the 2003 JSPS Professorial Award by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

Since 2008 Professor Banati has had an ANSTO Distinguished Researcher Fellowship. Professor Richard Banati has a long-standing interest in the role of non-neuronal (glial) cells in the progression of neurodegenerative and neoplastic brain disease, particularly the role of glia in overtly normal brain tissue. More recently, his research has focused on the development of new in vivo imaging probes for non-neuronal cells and the methodological issues that arise from it. Ultimate goal of this research to improve our understanding of how glial cells regulate brain function and how glial pathways can furnish biomarkers of brain disease and therapeutic efficacy