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luminesce stuff (2560 x 686 px) (1)

Keynote speakers

Dr Michael Cox

Founder and Principal, Martian Clinical Consulting

Speaker Bio

Michael Cox, Pharm.D., M.H.Sc., BCOP

Dr. Michael Craig Cox is the founder and Principal of Martian Clinical Consulting, an independent consultancy specializing in oncology drug development strategy with a particular focus on pediatric cancer.

With more than 20 years of experience across large pharma, mid-size, and startup biotechnology companies, Dr. Cox is one of a small number of industry leaders with deep, hands-on expertise in both pediatric and adult precision oncology — having shepherded multiple molecularly targeted therapies through clinical development and global regulatory approval for children and adults alike.

Dr. Cox has played an instrumental role in the clinical development and regulatory approvals of multiple landmark oncology agents, including tovorafenib (Ojemda™), selpercatinib (Retevmo®), larotrectinib (VITRAKVI®), radium-223 (Xofigo®), regorafenib (Stivarga®), sorafenib (Nexavar®), cetuximab (ERBITUX®), denosumab (XGEVA®), and darbepoetin alfa (Aranesp®). His work has spanned pediatric and adult populations, with particular expertise in molecularly targeted, tissue-agnostic, and small molecule kinase inhibitor programs.

Prior to founding Martian Clinical Consulting, Dr. Cox served as Senior Vice President, Head of Early Development at Circle Pharma, where he built a 20-person development organization and led the first clinical-stage program from development candidate selection. Before joining Circle, he served as Vice President of Clinical Development at Day One Biopharmaceuticals, where he led the pediatric development program for tovorafenib.

Earlier in his career, he held global and regional clinical development and medical affairs positions of increasing responsibility at Loxo Oncology (acquired by Eli Lilly & Co.), Bayer Consumer Care AG (Basel, Switzerland), Merck KGaA (Darmstadt, Germany), and Amgen, Inc.

Dr. Cox has published abstracts and manuscripts in journals including The New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet Oncology, the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cancer, and Clinical Cancer Research. He is a member of numerous cancer research organizations including the American Association of Cancer Research, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and the European Society of Medical Oncology.

Dr. Cox earned his Pharm.D. from Ohio Northern University’s Raabe College of Pharmacy and an MHSc in Clinical Research from Duke University’s School of Medicine. He completed pharmacy practice residencies at Mission Hospitals (Asheville, NC) and the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (Pittsburgh, PA), followed by a clinical drug development fellowship in the Clinical Pharmacology Section of the Center for Cancer Research at the National Cancer Institute (Bethesda, MD). He is a Board-Certified Oncology Pharmacist (BCOP).

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Dr Michael Harhay

Deputy Director of the Division of Epidemiology and Director of the Center for Clinical Trials Innovation, University of Pennslyvannia

Speaker Bio

Dr. Michael Harhay is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology, Medicine, and Statistics and Data Science at the University of Pennsylvania, where he serves as Deputy Director of the Division of Epidemiology and Director of the Center for Clinical Trials Innovation (CCTI).

His PCORI- and NIH-funded research focuses on improving the design, conduct, and reporting of clinical trials, bridging methodological innovation with practical application to help researchers adopt rigorous, modern approaches.

He is Deputy Editor of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine and the recipient of the 2025 Jo Rae Wright Award for Outstanding Science from the American Thoracic Society.

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Dr Marylyn Ritchie

Chief AI Officer, and Director AI Center for Health Innovation and Informatics, Medical University of South Carolina

Speaker Bio

Dr. Marylyn D. Ritchie is the Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer for the MUSC Enterprise, Director of the MUSC AI Center for Health Innovation and Informatics, as well as Associate Dean for Artificial Intelligence and Director of the Division of Computational Health Sciences and Al in the College of Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). Dr. Ritchie is also the SmartState Endowed Chair in Translational Biomedical Informatics. Dr. Ritchie is an expert in translational bioinformatics, with a focus on developing, applying, and disseminating algorithms, methods, and tools integrating electronic health records (EHR) with genomics. Dr. Ritchie has over 20 years of experience in translational bioinformatics and has authored over 500 publications. Dr. Ritchie was appointed as a Fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics (ACMI) in 2020. Dr. Ritchie was elected as a member of the National Academy of Medicine in 2021. Dr. Ritchie was a member of the ELAM class of 2022.

In her new role, Dr. Ritchie is developing the AI strategy across MUSC. She is leading enterprise-wide strategies to harness AI in support of the institution’s tripartite mission of education, research, and patient care. She is focused on building collaborative AI initiatives that connect clinicians, faculty, industry partners, staff, students, and trainees to drive innovation at MUSC.

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Dr Kim Sutherland

Executive Director, Office for Health and Medical Research, NSW Health

Speaker Bio

Dr Kim Sutherland leads the Office for Health and Medical Research.  Prior to her appointment to OHMR, she held Director roles at the Agency for Clinical Innovation and the Bureau of Health Information. Kim is a health services researcher with experience in performance measurement and reporting, evaluation and assessment of quality, and change management in healthcare organisations. She played a central role in the development of performance measurement frameworks in NSW and the UK and co-authored a series of reports on the English NHS quality agenda. Kim holds a Master of Science from London Hospital Medical College, a Master of Business Administration from Imperial College London and a PhD from the University of Cambridge. In 2022, Kim received the Public Service Medal for outstanding public service to NSW Health.

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Professor Adam Jaffe

John Beveridge Professor and co-head of Paediatrics and Child Health at UNSW, Sydney

Speaker Bio

Professor Adam Jaffe is the John Beveridge Professor and co-head of Paediatrics and Child Health at UNSW, Sydney, and head of the respiratory department at Sydney Children’s Hospital Randwick. Jaffe has expertise in rare diseases and chairs the Scientific and Medical Advisory Committee of Rare Voices Australia. He contributed to the writing of the National Strategic Action Plan for Rare Diseases and the National Recommendations for Rare Disease Health Care. Jaffe has is a steering committee  member of the Rare Diseases International Western Pacific Taskforce and previously the International Rare Disease Research Consortium n of 1 Taskforce. Jaffe established the molecular and integrative precision medicine centre for cystic fibrosis at UNSW Sydney and was a  lead investigator for the Luminesce Alliance Cystic Fibrosis Functional Genomics Project.

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Tiffany Boughtwood

Australian Health Genomics Commissioner, Genomics Australia

Speaker Bio

Tiffany Boughtwood is the inaugural Australian Health Genomics Commissioner, guiding the work of Genomics Australia and providing advice to Government based on broad engagement with the genomics sector and community.

Tiffany has 30 years’ experience in molecular biology and management: leading academic and diagnostic genomic programs; collaborating internationally in genomic research; and consulting in health genomic implementation.

She was the Managing Director of Australian Genomics, a national collaborative supporting genomic research and its translation into clinical practice. She served on the World Economic Forum Global Future Council for Biotechnology and the WHO Collective Global Network for Rare Disease. Tiffany is a member of the WHO Technical Advisory Group on Genomics, is on the Strategic Leadership Committee for the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health, and is an International Advisor to the MyGenom Project Malaysia.

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Speakers

Professor Hilda Pickett

Head of the Telomere Length Regulation Unit at Children’s Medical Institute (CMRI), and Professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at The University of Sydney

Speaker Bio

Professor Hilda Pickett is Head of the Telomere Length Regulation Unit at Children’s Medical Institute (CMRI), Sydney, Australia, and Professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney. She obtained her PhD from the Department of Genetics at the University of Leicester, and completed postdoctoral positions at Cancer Research UK, St James’s University Hospital, Leeds, and in the Cancer Research Unit at CMRI, prior to establishing her lab at CMRI. Her research focuses on the mechanisms that maintain telomere integrity and drive cellular immortalisation, with a particular emphasis on the Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres (ALT) pathway in cancer. Professor Pickett has made seminal contributions to understanding ALT biology, including the discovery of key molecular dependencies that have enabled the development of the first targeted therapeutic strategies for ALT cancers. Her work spans fundamental mechanistic research through to translation. She is an inventor on multiple international patents and co-founder of Tessellate Bio, a biotechnology company developing novel precision oncology therapies.

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Professor Robyn Jamieson

Director, Eye Genetics Research Unit, Children's Medical Research Institute

Speaker Bio

Professor Robyn Jamieson leads the Eye Genetics Research Unit at Children's Medical Research Institute, and heads the Eye Genetics Clinic at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead. She is also Head of the Western Sydney Genetics Program, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, and Head, Speciality of Genomic Medicine, University of Sydney.

She has established a research program dedicated to understanding molecular mechanisms contributing to developmental eye disorders and genetic retinal diseases. Her research has successfully translated to the availability of clinical genomic diagnostics and clinical trials and therapy in these conditions.  The aim of Professor Jamieson’s current research is to develop detailed understanding of the role of retinal disease genes causing blindness, and to use genome engineering, cellular and vector technologies for novel treatments for these conditions.

The aim of Professor Jamieson’s current research is to develop detailed understanding of the role of retinal disease genes causing blindness, and to use genome engineering, cellular and vector technologies for novel treatments for these conditions.

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Professor Tracy Bryan

Head of the Cell Biology Unit at Children’s Medical Research Institute (CMRI) and Professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney

Speaker Bio

Professor Tracy Bryan is Head of the Cell Biology Unit at Children’s Medical Research Institute (CMRI) and Professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney. Professor Bryan is a biochemist and cell biologist who has been active in the telomere field since 1993, and has made fundamental discoveries in the field, such as the discovery of the Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres (ALT) mechanism in human cancers, and the discovery of a new gene mutated in Telomere Biology Disorders, ACD. In recognition of these discoveries, she was the inaugural recipient of the ACGT Award (the Australian Cell cycle, Genome stability and Telomere biology award) in 2023. She received a PhD from University of Sydney in 1997, receiving the Peter Bancroft Prize for research. She carried out postdoctoral research with Nobel Laureate Thomas Cech in Colorado, returning to establish her laboratory at CMRI in 2001. The research in Professor Bryan’s laboratory focusses on the role of telomerase, the enzyme that maintains telomeres, in cancer and in bone marrow failure syndromes.

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Dr Teresa Anderson

Chief Executive Single Digital Patient Record Implementation Authority

Speaker Bio

Dr Teresa Anderson has more than 35 years of extensive experience as a senior health service manager. She has a well-established reputation for implementing strategies focused on fostering partnerships, supporting the delivery of innovative, patient centred, best practice health care.
Dr Anderson was the Chief Executive of Sydney Local Health District for over 13 years.
She is a Speech Pathologist, internationally recognised for her specialist knowledge and skills in the research, assessment and management of paediatric and adult dysphagia, early communication development, early childhood development and early intervention.
She is a member of the Australian Eating Disorders, Research and Translation Centre Governing Council, a board member of the Centre for Primary Health Care Equity and the Institute of Public Administration Australia NSW.
In the 2018 Queen’s Birthday Honours, Dr Anderson was made a Member of the Order of Australia for her service to community health and to public administration in NSW as a clinician, manager and health service executive.

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Professor Wendy Gold

Head of School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, and group leader of the Molecular Neurobiology Research group at Kids Research, The Children’s Hospital, Westmead.

Speaker Bio

Professor Wendy Gold is head of School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, and group leader of the Molecular Neurobiology Research group at Kids Research, The Children’s Hospital, Westmead. Her training includes an honors degree in Genetics and a PhD in Genetics and Immunology.
Her research team is focussed on studying the pathogenic mechanisms of genetic neurodevelopmental disorders with the aim of developing and translating novel therapies and clinical applications that can improve the health and well-being of affected children.
Wendy conducts a research program of interdisciplinary translational research where she has contributed to the understanding of the underlying research spanning fields of neurology, neuropathology, fundamental neuroscience, clinical chemistry and pharmacology. Her translational research engages clinicians, chemists, fundamental scientists and bioinformaticians.
Our lab studies the pathophysiology of neurodevelopmental disorders by differentiating stem cells to create "cortical brain organoids" in a controlled lab setting. This work opens opportunities for identifying and testing novel therapeutic approaches such as gene therapies and gene editing therapies.

 

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Professor Mark Cowley

Deputy Director, Enabling Platforms & Collaboration and Group Leader, Children’s Cancer Institute

Speaker Bio

Professor Mark Cowley is Deputy Director, Enabling Platforms and Collaboration at Children’s Cancer Institute (CCI) and Conjoint Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW Sydney.

He joined CCI in 2018 to head the Computational Biology Group, and is also a Lead Investigator and co-head of the Luminesce Alliance Data Enabling Platform, president of AGTA (peak genomics body in the region) co-head of the ACRF Child Cancer Liquid Biopsy Program and a member of Rare Diseases NSW.

Mark is the Genome Informatics and Data Enabling Platforms lead for the Zero Childhood Cancer Program, overseeing creation of novel analytical approaches and systems that enable real-time analysis of Whole Genome, Transcriptome and Methylome data for every childhood cancer patient in Australia. Mark has been an early adopter of sequencing methods in Australia, establishing some of the world’s first clinically accredited WGS-based diagnostic tests. Mark’s recent projects, many supported by the Luminesce Alliance, have improved analysis of children’s cancer data, producing tools to detect features such as non-coding, splicing, mitochondrial and structural mutations.

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A/Prof Anai Gonzalez-Cordero

Group Leader Stem Cell Medicine and Head of the Stem Cell & Organoid Facility, Children’s Medical Research Institute

Speaker Bio

Associate Professor Anai Gonzalez-Cordero is a Al & Val Rosenstrauss Fellow, and a Group Leader at Children’s Medical Research Institute (CMRI), The University of Sydney.

Dr Gonzalez-Cordero is a leader in the field of stem cells and their differentiation into organoids with an emphasis on translational research to develop novel therapies for retinal genetic diseases.

Having started her scientific career in the UK, she obtained a Wellcome Trust PhD in Stem Cell and Developmental Biology and continued her work at the Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London. In 2019, Dr Gonzalez-Cordero relocated to Australia to continue her research programme in stem cells and ophthalmology. Her work in the field has led to numerous awards, including the MetCalf Prize for Stem Cell Research in 2022, and high impact studies including proof-of-concept studies for stem cell-based cell therapy by transplantation of the light sensing cells, the photoreceptor cells, which once in the eye can rescue vison perception in blind animal models. At CMRI she also heads the Stem Cell and Organoid Facility proving iPSC lines and human organoid models for Australian researchers.

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Professor Tom Snelling

Director of the Health and Clinical Analytics, School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Children’s Hospital at Westmead

Speaker Bio

Professor Tom Snelling is a clinical scientist, Director of Health and Clinical Analytics in the School of Public Health at The University of Sydney, and an infectious diseases physician at Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network. Tom has particular interest in vaccine preventable diseases and application of decision theory to research design. He leads a team of researchers aiming to improve healthcare and reduce the burden of infectious disease by implementing learning health systems.

Tom applies Bayesian approaches to the design, implementation, and analysis of public health studies, and is successfully leading a suite of multi-institutional collaborative projects across Australia covering a range of clinical domains. These include improving treatment and prevention of severe gastroenteritis in remote Aboriginal children, primary prevention of food allergies in children, SMS text messages to improve timeliness of routine immunisation, and improving management of cystic fibrosis.

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Professor Louis Chesler

Professor of Childhood Cancer Biology and Therapeutics Executive Director, Children’s Cancer Institute of Australia Co-Director, The Minderoo Comprehensive Children’s Cancer Centre, Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick, Australia

Speaker Bio

Professor Louis Chesler was appointed Executive Director of Children’s Cancer Institute in December 2025.  He is an internationally highly regarded clinician researcher who has committed his life’s work to discovering new treatments and translating them into clinical practice for children with cancer. Since Louis achieved his post-doctoral fellowship at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, USA his career has spanned several prestigious appointments at some of the world’s leading childhood cancer research institutes and hospitals.

Initially working as a paediatric oncology consultant whilst leading his neuroblastoma and medulloblastoma research program which focused on targeting the oncogene MYCN at the University of California, San Francisco. Louis is today a Fellow of The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, UK, and for the past nearly 20 years has led the Paediatric Oncology Experimental Medicine (POEM) Centre at the prestigious Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in London, which is internationally renowned for its breakthroughs in first-in-child therapeutics, its dedication to genomic driven precision medicine trials, and which hosts several flagship research and clinical programmes in the UK including the UK’s national child cancer personalised medicine program known as SM Paeds.

Louis also leads the ICR paediatric Cancer Modelling and Preclinical Therapeutics Hospital, and the Cancer Modelling Programme of the MRC National Mouse Genomics Network, and has an extremely strong interest in immune oncology, with a major focus on developing novel CAR T cells that are moving into clinical trials through international partnerships, as well as undertaking the preclinical modelling of these novel therapies. He is also a Research Group Leader for the Institute of Cancer Research UK and physician at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust with a particular focus on hard-to-treat childhood cancers.  

Louis’ collaborations span the globe, including previously with Children’s Cancer Institute. He has an exceptional track record of research development, generating significant programmatic grant funding, supporting a range of basic, translational and clinical trials initiatives.  He is passionate about laboratory research that produces clinical impact and alters delivery of clinical medicine.  Louis’s background as a clinician researcher and paediatric oncologist bridges the gap between research and clinical implementation.

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Professor Maria Kavallaris AM

Professor and Head of Translational Cancer Nanomedicine NHMRC Investigator Children's Cancer Institute

Speaker Bio

rofessor Maria Kavallaris AM is Founding Director of the Australian Centre for NanoMedicine at UNSW Sydney, Head of the Translational Cancer Nanomedicine at the Children’s Cancer Institute, and an NHMRC Investigator. She is internationally recognised for leading interdisciplinary research in cancer nanomedicine and therapeutics. Her research has uncovered key mechanisms of resistance to cancer therapies and translated into patents, industry partnerships, and clinical development of novel therapeutics and devices, including nanoparticle based delivery of gene silencing agents and chemotherapy.
Professor Kavallaris served as Chair of the Australian Institute for Policy and Science and is a Life Member and past President of the Australian Society for Medical Research. She is a Fellow of AAHMS, RSN, CRS and AIMBE, and has received numerous honours, including the Eureka Prize, Premier’s Award for Leadership in Innovation, and appointment as a Member of the Order of Australia.

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Panellists

Professor Sue Woolfenden

Director of Community Paediatrics, Sydney Local Health District, Professor of Community Paediatrics, Central Clinical School, Sydney Medical School, the Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Co-chair Sydney Institute Women, Children and their Families

Professor Natasha Nassar

Chair in Translational Childhood Medicine, Financial Markets Foundation for Children, The University of Sydney

Professor  Raghu Lingam

Professor in Paediatric Population and Health Services Research UNSW Sydney, Honorary Professor of Population Child Health at Kings College London and the Black Dog Institute (NSW), Consultant Community Paediatrician Sydney Children’s Hospital Network.

Professor Ian Street

Director, THerapeutic INnovations for Kids (THINK), Children’s Cancer Institute

A/Prof Antoine de Weck

Group Leader Computational Drug Discovery Biology Group, Children’s Cancer Institute

Emeritus Professor Leslie White AM

Director, Children’s Cancer Institute

Emeritus Professor Richard Henry AM

Sir Lorimer Dods Professor, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Director, Children's Medical Research Institute, Head, Cancer Research Unit, Children’s Medical Research Institute

Dr Kate Hetherington

Post-doctoral Research Fellow/Clinical Psychologist School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW, Sydney, Australia. Team Leader Ethics and Genetics, Behavioural Sciences Unit, Kids Cancer Centre, Sydney Children's Hospital Randwick

Facilitators

Ms Kathryn Greiner AO

Chair Luminesce Alliance

Professor Michelle Haber AM

Executive Director, Board Member , Co-Head of Theme , Group Leader, Children’s Cancer Institute

Professor Roger Reddel AO

Sir Lorimer Dods Professor, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Director, Children's Medical Research Institute, Head, Cancer Research Unit, Children’s Medical Research Institute

Adj A/Prof Cathryn Cox PSM

Chief Executive Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network

A/Prof Grant Logan

Children’s Medical Research Institute, Sydney Medical School Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney

Dr Michelle Lorentzos

Paediatric Neurologist, Clinical Trials Medical Lead, Head of Neurogenetics Service

Mrs Emma Maly

Parent Advocate

Dr Emily Mould

Children’s Cancer Institute

Dr Gabor Tax

Research Officer in the Translational Drug Testing and Pharmacogenomics Children's Cancer Institute, Conjoint Lecturer in the School of Medicine, UNSW.

Prof Claire Wakefield

Behavioural Sciences Unit, Kids Cancer Centre, Sydney Children’s Hospital Randwick

Dr Shafagh Waters

Scientia Senior Lecturer at UNSW Sydney, Honorary Senior Scientist Sydney Children’s Hospital Randwick

Anne O’Neill

Director, Enterprise, International Partnerships and Clinical Trials, NSW Health

Dr Katarina Ostojic

Research Fellow, The University of Sydney & Adjunct Associate Lecturer, UNSW Sydney

Dr (Elizabeth) Emma Palmer

Clinical Geneticist, Sydney Children's Hospitals Network Randwick, Clinical Senior Lecturer, School of Clinical Medicine, UNSW Medicine & Health Randwick Clinical Campus Discipline of Paediatrics

Dr Julia Warning

A/Director, Advanced Therapeutics Office for Health and Medical Research, NSW Ministry of Health

Alunya Wilkinson

Parent Research Advisor

Prof David Ziegler

Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network