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AIBL Research Team

Details: Last Updated on Tuesday, 07 February 2012 21:29

Lead Scientists	Study Team Members
Prof. David Ames (Study Leader)	Arti Appannah Mary Barnes Kevin Barnham Justin Bedo Shayne Bellingham Lynette Bon Pierrick Bourgeat Belinda Brown Rachel Buckley Samantha Burnham Ashley Bush Graeme Chandler Pratishtha Chatterjee Karren Chen Roger Clarnette Steven Collins Tiffany Cowie Kay Cox Rhona Creegan Emily Cuningham Elizabeth Cyarto David Darby Karl Deruyck Patricia Desmond Hang Ding James Doecke Vincent Dore Harriet Downing Belinda Dridan Konsta Duesing Michael Fahey Maree Farrow Noel Faux Michael Fenech Chris Fowler Maxime Francois Jurgen Fripp Shaun Frost Sam Gardener Simon Gibson David Goth Petra Graham Veer Gupta Garry Hannan David Hansen Karra Harrington Richard Head Andy Hill Maryam Hor Malcolm Horne Brenda Huckstepp Andrew Jones Gareth Jones Adrian Kamer Yogi Kanagasingam Mohan Karunanithi Lisa Keam Adam Kowalczyk Debra Krause Betty Krivdic Rebecca Lachovitzki Chiou Peng Lam Fiona Lamb Nicola Lautenschlager Simon Laws Wayne Leifert Nat Lenzo Hugo Leroux Falak Lftikhar Qiao-Xin Li Florence Lim Yen Ying Lim	Teresa Lintern Linda Lockett Kathy Lucas Mark Mano Caroline Marczak Georgia Martins Paul Maruff Yumiko Matsumoto Sabine Matthaes Simon McBride Rachel McKay Alinda Mondal Rachel Mulligan Tabitha Nash Julie Nigro Stewart Nuttall Nathan O'Callaghan Graeme O'Keefe Kevin Ong Lisa Osborne Chaoyi Pang Bernadette Parker Glen Patten Jeremiah Peiffer Sveltana Pejoska Lisa Penny Keyla Perez Kelly Pertile Pramit Phal Stephanie Rainey Smith Parnesh Raniga Alan Rembach Carolina Restrepo Malcolm Riley Blaine Roberts Jo Robertson Mark Rodrigues Alicia Rooney Rebecca Rumble Tim Ryan Olivier Salvado Mather Samuel Ian Saunders Greg Savage Brendan Silbert Hamid Sohrabi Julie Syrette Kevin Taddei Tania Taddei Michelle Tegg Philip Thomas Darshan Trivedi Brett Trounson Alison Tuckfield Jose Varghese Robyn Veljanovski Giuseppe Verdile Victor Villemagne Irene Volitakis Michael Vovos Freda Vrantsidis Stacey Walker Andrew Watt Mike Weinborn Andrea Wilson Bill Wilson Michael Woodward Olga Yastrubetskaya Paul Yates Ping Zhang Qing Zhang
The study is lead by Prof. David Ames BA, MD, FRCPsych, FRANZCP, professor of Ageing and Health at the University of Melbourne and Director of The National Ageing Research Institute (NARI). Prof. Ames holds the University of Melbourne's Foundation Chair of Psychiatry of Old Age at St. George's Hospital Kew where he is also Director of the Aged Psychiatry Service. He is a member of the Medical & Scientific Advisory Panel of Alzheimer's Disease International and has been Editor of the Peer Reviewed Journal International Psychogeriatrics since January 2003. His main research interests are new drug treatments for Alzheimer's disease and the care of the depressed elderly.
Dr. Kathryn Ellis (Study Manager)
Dr. Kathryn Ellis BAppSc (Hons), PhD, graduated with a bachelor of applied science with first class honours in psychology and psychophysiology in 2000. She was awarded one of four prestigious Swinburne University Chancellor's Research Scholarships in 2001 to undertake her PhD in behavioural neurosciences, which involved a year placement at Imperial College of London conducting PET neuroimaging and studies of cognition. Kathryn currently holds a research fellow position at the University of Melbourne and her main roles include national management of the AIBL study and management of the Melbourne node of Dementia Collaborative Research Centre. Dr. Ellis, Prof. Paul Maruff (Chief Science Officer, Cogstate Ltd, and Centre for Neuroscience, University of Melbourne), Associate Prof. Greg Savage (Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, NSW) and Dr. Jonathan Foster (Senior Fellow in Cognitive Neuroscience, Edith Cowan University) lead the neuropsychological testing of the cohort to classify participants and monitor their condition.
Dr. Lance Macaulay
Dr. Lance Macaulay is the Theme Leader of Neurodegenerative Diseases, Mental Disorders and Brain Health in the CSIRO Preventative Health Flagship. Dr. Macaulay is responsible for the strategic development, science planning and project portfolio management of neurodegenerative disease research activities across the CSIRO Preventative Health Flagship. Dr Macaulay has over 30 years experience in cell biology and biochemistry, specifically signal transduction and leads the Molecular solutions group at CSIRO Material Science and Engineering in Parkville, Victoria.
Prof. Ralph Martins
Prof. Ralph Martins BSC (Hons) PhD holds the Inaugural Chair, Ageing and Alzheimer's Disease, Edith Cowan University, Western Australia, and also heads the Edith Cowan University's Centre for Excellence in Alzheimer's Disease Research and Care. Prof Martins' research isolated and characterized the protein components of the amyloid deposits characteristic of Alzheimer's disease. Together with Prof. Ashley Bush (Federation Fellow at the MHRI) who is internationally renowned for seminal discoveries on the impact of metal and oxidative biology on neurodegenerative disorders, Prof. Martins leads the diagnostics and biomarkers program aimed at early stage identification and assessing effectiveness of interventions.
Prof. Colin Masters
Prof. Colin Masters, Emeritus Professor of Pathology, University of Melbourne and Director of The Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria (MHRI) has major input into the biomarkers program based on his discovery of the brain amyloid protein and extensive international network. Prof. Masters is a world leader in research into Alzheimer's disease and viral infections of the brain. He was the recipient of a 2002 Citation Laureate Award for his contribution to research. He also was awarded Australia's Mayne Florey Medal in 2002 and the King Faisal Award in 1997. Prof. Masters has held many senior scientific positions and is a Professor of Pathology at the University of Melbourne. He is also Chief of Neuropathology of the Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria, Consultant in pathology at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and a scientific advisor to Neuroscience Australia.
Dr. Andrew Milner
Dr. Andrew Milner is CEO of Neurosciences Victoria Ltd. and Neurosciences Australia Ltd. He did his PhD at the Australian National University and has previously worked in commercial organisations developing, manufacturing and marketing products for human and animal health. His previous positions were in Mimotopes, AstraZeneca, Zeneca, Kendle, and Daratech.
Dr. Tim O’Meara
Dr. Tim O’Meara is Business Development and Commercialisation manager for the CSIRO Neurodegenerative Diseases research theme where he oversees all aspects of the theme’s interaction with external parties including collaborators and commercial organisations. He has extensive experience in the negotiation of complex commercial arrangements including collaborative and licensing arrangements and in developing new business opportunities. As part of that role with AIBL he oversees all external interactions on behalf of AIBL including managing Expressions of Interests for access to AIBL materials and Data.
Prof. Christopher Rowe
Prof. Christopher Rowe FRACP MD is Director of the Department of Nuclear Medicine and Centre for PET and a consultant neurologist to the Memory Disorders Clinic at the Austin Hospital, Melbourne. He has published extensively on SPECT in epilepsy and beta-amyloid imaging in Alzheimer's disease. Prof. Rowe and Associate Professor Nat Lenzo (Fremantle Hospital and Edith Cowan University) apply state-of-the-art neuroimaging technology to develop and confirm new diagnostic tests and biomarkers.
A. Prof. Cassandra Szoeke
A. Prof. Cassandra Szoeke is the Director of the Women’s Healthy Ageing Study and a Consultant Neurologist at Melbourne Health. She led the research program in Neurodegenerative Diseases, Mental Disorders and Brain Health at the Commonwealth Science and Industry Organisation (CSIRO) and is currently a clinical consultant to CSIRO. She brings together management skills with a scientific background in genetics, pharmacology, epdemiology, neurology and neurodegenerative disease. She is a practicing neurologist with an honours degree in Genetics and Pharmacology, MBBS and FRACP with specialisation in Neurology and subspecialisation in Epileptology. She has been involved in clinical research for over a decade. She completed her PhD thesis in Epidemiology examining women’s healthy ageing. Her Post Doctoral studies focussed on cognition and were conducted between Stanford University and University of Melbourne.