PLENARY SPEAKER
Dr Maria Fleseriu
Professor of Medicine and Neurological Surgery, Director of the Pituitary Center at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Oregon, USA, and a Past President of the Pituitary Society.
Dr. Fleseriu has a long-standing clinical and research interest in the pathophysiology and treatment of pituitary and adrenal disorders. She is a frequent plenary guest speaker at national and international meetings, has been global principal investigator in numerous pituitary disorders clinical trials and has authored over 250 manuscripts in prestigious high impact journals, including novel treatments, international guidelines and consensus papers for Cushing’s, acromegaly and hypopituitarism. Dr Fleseriu is Deputy Editor for European Journal of Endocrinology, Associate Editor for Reviews of Endocrinology and Metabolism and a member in many editorial boards, including Pituitary. She has been elected and serves now in the Board of Directors of Endocrine Society and as member of the Executive Board of Pituitary Society and participates in many other Committees, including the International Committee for the European Society of Endocrinology. Dr Fleseriu has received many national and international awards, including title of “Doctor Honors Causa” by the University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila” and the Clinical Endocrinology Trust Award from the U.K Society of Endocrinology.
Proudly supported by Recordati Rare Diseases Australia
SYMPOSIUM SPEAKERS
A/Prof Shamasunder Acharya
A/Prof Sham Acharya is well recognized for implementing NSW Health award winning Diabetes Alliance Program across Hunter New England Health District which led to improved outcomes of several thousand people with diabetes. He is actively involved in Primary Care education in diabetes both locally and internationally.
He trained in India, England and Scotland before settling in Newcastle, NSW. He is a conjoint Associate Professor at the University of Newcastle and has published research articles widely. He is currently the Director of Endocrinology and Diabetes at John Hunter Hospital.
Sham is currently leading Diabetes Alliance plus program which will enhance diabetes alliance care to rural and remote parts of HNELHD along with research in exercise, nutrition and mental health modules as well as economic and impact assessment with Hunter Medical research Institute and University of Newcastle.
He has been awarded staff member of the year 2016 HNELHD and received NSW premier award for integrated care in the same year.
He has established a graduate certificate course in diabetes and endocrinology in India and to date >100 physicians have completed a 12 months training program. Regionally more than 1900 attendees have participated in the Diabetes Alliance master class series, developed and delivered by Sham and his team.
Dr Jasna Aleksova
Monash Health, St Vincent's Health and Dept of Medicine, Monash University
Dr. Jasna Aleksova is an endocrinologist and clinician researcher who completed her PhD in metabolic bone disorders funded through the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) examining novel risk factors and diagnostic methods to improve fracture prediction in patients with chronic renal disease and renal transplantation.
Dr. Aleksova a research fellow at Monash University and adjunct fellow at the Hudson Institute of Medical Institute, where she has ongoing research interests in bone health associated with chronic kidney disease, transplant recipients, chronic inflammatory conditions, and bone health in younger patients.
She has been involved in the development of clinical practice guidelines and policy implementation and is currently serving on the clinical practice committee of the Australian and New Zealand Bone and Mineral Society. Dr. Aleksova has also been on the editorial board and peer reviews for multiple international bone and endocrine journals and is involved in osteoporosis education programs for endocrinologists and physicians, general practitioners, and medical trainees.
She is a staff specialist at Monash health and St. Vincent’s Health Melbourne, convening her research interests with patient care in the metabolic bone clinics.
Dr Rahul Barmanray
Royal Melbourne Hospital and Western Health
Rahul is an endocrinologist and physician in general medicine at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Western Health. He is completing his PhD focussing on proactive inpatient diabetes management and improving outcomes, particularly reducing healthcare-associated infection rates. He has a passion for education and is active in both medical teaching and curriculum development at The University of Melbourne. His special interest in endocrinology is in the management of type 2 diabetes and realising the promise of modern data analytical and patient-interface technologies
PROF BELINDA BECK
Griffith University
Belinda Beck is a Professor of Exercise Science in the Menzies Health Institute Queensland at Griffith University (Gold Coast, Australia) and Director of The Bone Clinic, a translational research facility and clinical practice providing evidence-based exercise for patients with osteoporosis. She graduated from The University of Queensland (BHMS[Ed]) and the University of Oregon (MSc and PhD) and completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in the Stanford University School of Medicine (CA, USA). Her work, primarily related to the effects of mechanical loading on bone, has involved both animal and human models, from basic to clinical research. Her particular focuses have been exercise interventions across the lifespan for the prevention of osteoporotic fracture, and the management of bone stress injuries in athletes and military recruits.
Prof Roderick Clifton-Bligh
The University of Sydney, and Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, Australia
Prof Roderick Clifton-Bligh is Senior Staff Specialist at the Department of Endocrinology at Royal North Shore Hospital, and conjoint professor in Medicine at the University of Sydney. He has been a clinician researcher since completing a PhD in the genetics of thyroid disorders at the University of Cambridge in 1998. His research focuses on the molecular bases of endocrine neoplasms, including Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia syndromes, thyroid cancer, phaeochromocytoma/paraganglioma syndromes, adrenal cancer, and pituitary neoplasms. He is passionate about teaching and mentoring young physicians and has supervised 15 completed PhDs with five in progress. His work has been recognized by awards from NSW Cancer Institute (2013), Asia-Oceania Thyroid Association (2014) and the Endocrine Society of Australia Outstanding Clinical Practitioner Award (2021).
A/Prof Sunita De Sousa
University of Adelaide
Assoc Prof Sunita De Sousa is a Staff Specialist in Endocrinology and Genetics at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. Her PhD on the genetics and clinical aspects of prolactinomas was awarded the University of Adelaide Doctoral Research Medal. She has completed an MSc at the University of London, and fellowships in pituitary endocrinology at St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney and clinical genetics in the SA Clinical Genetics Service. With ongoing research funding from the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), Royal Australasian College of Physicians, Endocrine Society of Australia and Royal Adelaide Hospital, her postdoctoral research includes monogenic diabetes, hereditary pancreatitis and endocrine tumours. She is a member of Council for the Endocrine Society of Australia, and the founding member of EndoGen – a national network of endocrine genetic centres, which has led to Australia’s first national endocrine genetics MDT meeting. She is a PhD supervisor and reviewer for several journals. She also serves on the eviQ Cancer Genetics Committee and the US Endocrine Society Steering Committee for Endocrine Cancers Special Interest Group, and she was a co-author of the recent Australian hyperparathyroidism guidelines.
Prof Elif Ekinci
University of Melbourne
Professor Elif Ekinci is a clinician scientist, an academic endocrinologist who is working to translate research into improved outcomes for people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Her research is focused on the pathophysiology, prevention, detection and treatment of diabetes and its complications in humans.
She is the Weary Dunlop Medical Research Foundation Professorial Fellow in Metabolic Medicine and Dame Kate Campbell Fellow at The University of Melbourne, Department of Medicine, Austin Health. The Dame Kate Campbell Fellowship is given to researchers recognising incredible contributions to the University of Melbourne for outstanding research and wider involvement in our local community and across the globe. She has supervised 12 higher degrees to completion and is currently supervising 12 PhD students. She has over 200 peer reviewed publications in the leading diabetes, obesity and metabolism journals and has an H index of 40. She has attracted over $25 M in research funding and has received multiple awards for her work. She has had an accelerated career trajectory in the past five years, having had career disruptions to care for her three young children previously.
She is also the Head of Diabetes at Austin Health, where she co-ordinates the clinical care of inpatients and outpatients with diabetes. She heads diabetes and obesity clinical trials at Austin Health at the Centre for Research and Education in Diabetes and Obesity.
Prof Ekinci is the inaugural director of Australian Centre for Accelerating Diabetes Innovations (ACADI). In 2022, ACADI was established through MRFF funding from the Australian Government’s Targeted Translation Research Accelerator (TTRA) program, delivered by MTPConnect. ACADI has been awarded $10million from the Australian Government’s Medical Research Future Fund and received over $13million in cash and in- kind support from its partners. Led out of the University of Melbourne, ACADI will deliver novel interventions for timely diagnosis, prevention and treatment of diabetes and its complications with the access to clinical evaluation, leadership and networks, research commercialisation experience and workforce training. ACADI's design responds to key barriers slowing Australian development of innovations.
A/Prof. Spiros Fourlanos
Royal Melbourne Hospital
Spiros Fourlanos is Director of the Royal Melbourne Hospital Department of Diabetes and Endocrinology and honorary Associate Clinical Professor with the University of Melbourne. He obtained his medical and PhD degrees at the University of Melbourne. His doctoral thesis was performed at the Walter & Eliza Hall Institute on ‘Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults (LADA): New Clinical, Immunogenetic and Metabolic Perspectives’. He has authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications and is currently a stream lead in the University of Melbourne Australian Centre for Accelerating Diabetes Innovations (ACADI) collaborative. In conjunction with Professor Peter Colman he developed the BioGrid Diabetes Database which is now being used in multiple institutes in Australia for clinical care and benchmarking. He oversaw the Royal Melbourne Hospital becoming the first Australian hospital to have a complete automated networked blood glucose monitoring system. His clinical research interests include diabetes management in the hospital, medical device technologies for diabetes and adult-onset autoimmune diabetes. Spiros is currently a board member and honorary treasurer of the Australian Diabetes Society.
Dr Michael Huo
Princess Alexandra Hospital
Dr Michael Huo is a radiation oncologist at the Princess Alexandra Hospital. He completed his Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) at the University of Queensland (UQ) in 2010. He subsequently commenced radiation oncology training in Queensland and completed a 12-month fellowship at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, where he gained experience in stereotactic radiosurgery. In 2019 he became the inaugural Gamma Knife Fellow at the Princess Alexandra Hospital before his appointment as a Radiation Oncology Staff Specialist in 2020. He is an active member of the Pituitary and Gamma Knife MDTs at the PA Hospital.
Dr Anish Menon
Princess Alexandra Hospita and University of Queensland
Dr Anish Menon is an endocrinologist at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, Metro South Health, Brisbane and a research fellow at the Queensland Digital Health Centre, Centre for Health Services Research, The University of Queensland (UQ). He leads a research team that is working on digital health solutions to redesign existing type 2 diabetes care models to improve the consumer experience and clinical outcomes that is cost effective.
Assoc Prof Nicholas Pocock
St Vincent’s Hospital and The University NSW
Nicholas Pocock graduated in medicine from Sydney University in 1978. In 1987 he became a Fellow of the RACP and in 1989 gained his Doctorate in Medicine. He is a Senior Staff Specialist in the Department of Nuclear Medicine at St Vincent’s Hospital, Darlinghurst and Assoc Professor at the University NSW. Dr Pocock’s interests include the epidemiology and diagnosis of osteoporosis, and he has over 145 publications. He has previously been a member of the Federal Department of Health advisory Committee which established osteoporosis as a National Health Priority in 2005, and more recently on the 2017 Bone Densitometry Working group advising on changes to Medicare. He is currently a member of the ANZBMS, HBA and IOF scientific Advisory committees and the RANZCR Densitometry advisory Committee.
Dr Anna Wood
Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin
Royal Darwin Hospital, Darwin
Dr Anna Wood is Head of Department of Endocrinology at Royal Darwin Hospital and a Senior Research Fellow with Menzies School of Health Research in Darwin. She is the Deputy Head of the Diabetes Across the Lifecourse Partnership, where she plays a key role in supporting a large program of research and translational activities that work in partnership with Aboriginal people to break the cycle of type 2 diabetes and related conditions. Dr Wood leads the weight management service in the NT with expertise in cardiometabolic health. Dr Wood is a Director of the Australian Diabetes Society and serves on the steering committees for the National Association of Diabetes Centres and the Obesity Collective.
PROF BU YEAP
Bu Yeap MBBS, FRACP, PhD is a Professor in the Medical School, University of Western Australia, and a consultant endocrinologist in the Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes at Fiona Stanley Hospital, Perth, Western Australia.
His research encompasses hormones and health outcomes in men, particularly testosterone and male ageing, and also the interaction between hormones, diabetes and cardiovascular risk, and interventions to improve cardiometabolic health. Recently he has been involved in studies of endocrine and metabolic associations of COVID-19. His clinical work spans general endocrinology and diabetes. Bu has 290 publications including >230 original research articles. He was first author on the Endocrine Society of Australia’s Position Statement on the management of male hypogonadism published in the Medical Journal of Australia in 2016 and was a chief investigator in the Testosterone for the Prevention of Type 2 Diabetes (T4DM) trial. He was awarded South Metro Health Service Researcher of the Year in 2021. He has served on the Council of the Endocrine Society of Australia, and was ESA President-elect in 2018-20 and ESA President in 2020-22.
a/prof Jun yang
Hudson Institute of Medical Research
A/Professor Jun Yang is the Head of the Endocrine Hypertension Group at Hudson Institute of Medical Research, Consultant Endocrinologist at Monash Health and Senior Researcher in the Department of Medicine at Monash University, Victoria, Australia. Jun graduated from Monash University with a MBBS (Hon) in 2001, obtained the FRACP in 2010 and completed her PhD on tissue-selective coregulators of the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) in 2013. She has continued basic and clinical research in the field of MR-driven cardiovascular disease, in particular, primary aldosteronism. She established the Endocrine Hypertension Service in 2016 and collaborates both nationally and internationally to improve the detection and understanding of primary aldosteronism so as to achieve improved patient outcomes.
PANELLISTS
A/prof David Henley
Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and University of Western Australia
David completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Western Australia and later trained in Endocrinology and Diabetes at Sir Charles Gairdner and Royal Perth Hospitals. After obtaining his FRACP David completed a PhD in neuroendocrinology under the supervision of Professor Stafford Lightman at the Henry Wellcome Laboratories for Integrative Neuroscience and Endocrinology in Bristol, UK. He then returned to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital to take up a consultant position in the Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes where he is currently Head of Department. David is a Clinical Associate Professor within the Medical School at the University of Western Australia. He maintains a research interest in the HPA axis. His particular clinical interests include pituitary - adrenal disease and neuroendocrine tumours.