Invited Speakers
Prof Hassan Al-Ali
Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Florida, USA
Hassan received his M.Sc. in Biochemistry from the American University of Beirut (AUB) in 2003, where he managed the Computational Science and Bioinformatics lab till 2005. He later received his PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Miami (UM) in 2010. During his postdoctoral studies in the lab of Drs. John Bixby and Vance Lemmon at the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, he developed a novel drug discovery technology (idTRAX), around which he later co-founded a UM-based startup company (Truvitech LLC). Using idTRAX, he discovered and developed novel compounds that show high efficacy in cell-based and animal models of regeneration. In 2017, Dr. Al-Al obtained a C.B.A. in Business Administration and an M.Sc. in Management and Leadership from UM. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery and Medicine at UM, where he is advancing his drug development program for neural regeneration, in addition to several other programs in neurodegeneration and oncology. He also serves as the Chief Scientific Officer at Truvitech LLC.
Dr Brian Hsu
NSW Spine Specialists, New South Wales, AUS
Dr Brian Hsu is a highly regarded adult and paediatric spine surgeon with patients seeking out his expertise from across Australia.
Dr Hsu’s areas of interest lie in all aspects of spine surgery and spinal disorders, in particular, adult and paediatric spine deformity, complex cervical reconstructions, spinal osteotomies and degenerative cervical and lumbar conditions.
Dr Hsu received his medical degree from the University of Sydney, before obtaining his qualifications as an orthopaedic surgeon in New South Wales. He completed his spine fellowship training at two world-renowned institutions in the USA: University of California, San Francisco, California and Twin Cities Spine Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Dr Hsu has a genuine interest in education and research and is a participant in global spinal organisations. He is an active member of the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS), North American Spine Society (NASS), the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) and a Education Officer of AO Spine.
He is a member of the Society of Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery (SMISS) and a Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine (FHKAM) and Board Member of the Asia Pacific Spine Society (APSS).
Dr Hsu has presented at both national and international meetings, has had his research published in the international journal Spine and has written several book chapters.
He currently has appointments at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Westmead Private Hospital, Norwest Private Hospital, North Shore Private Hospital and Macquarie University Hospital.
PROF CHRISTOPHER MAHER
Institute for Musculoskeletal Health, University of Sydney and Sydney Local Health District, New South Wales, AUS
Chris is a physiotherapist, recognised internationally for his research in the low back pain field. He has degrees in physiotherapy, exercise and sports science, a PhD and a DMedSc from the University of Sydney. He is an NHMRC Principal Research Fellow, a Fellow of the Australian College of Physiotherapy and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences. Chris currently leads the NHMRC Low Back Pain Centre for Research Excellence and is Deputy Chair of the Australian and New Zealand Musculoskeletal Clinical Trials Network. His clinical research has established the accuracy of diagnostic tests and clarified the effectiveness of interventions for low back pain. Chris’s translation contributions include implementation research, decision support tools and advocacy for practice improvement via the media. He has ~ 700 publications, 38 PhD completions and $54M in grant income.
DR INDIRA PRASADAM
Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Queensland, AUS
Dr Indira Prasadam is an NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow and leads Osteoarthritis research group at QUT. Her research program aims to understand three critical questions, namely, how OA cells become metabolically rewired, the role of diet and metabolic factors in OA progression, and how OA changes structurally with a focus on osteochondral interface. Her research is widely published and has been awarded multiple International and Australian professional societies. Selected prestigious awards received include Young Investigator Award from OARSI, Young Tall Poppy Award, Women in Technology (WiT) Rising Star (Finalist) and Metro-north Discovery and innovation award. Her current research is supported by NHMRC, ARC, AOA foundation, QUT and the Prince Charles Hospital Foundation.
DR RAJESH REDDY
BrainSpine Neurosurgery, New South Wales, AUS
Dr Raj Reddy manages cranial & spinal neurosurgical conditions. He has a special interest in spine surgery, with foci on minimally invasive techniques as well as complex reconstructive surgery. The focus of his cranial surgery is in the management of intracranial tumours, and cranio-facial operations; in both adults and paediatric patients.
Dr Reddy graduated from Sydney University in 1999. In 2009, he became a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of Surgeons on completion of his neurosurgical training. He undertook further training via a fellowship in complex spine surgery at the Toronto Western Hospital, affiliated with the University of Toronto, and a fellowship in paediatric neurosurgery at The Hospital for Sick Children.
During the course of his neurosurgical training, he also attained a Master of Surgery from the University of New South Wales research in the field of radiosurgical treatment of cerebral arteriovenous malformations.
He is the current Head of the Department of Neurosurgery at Prince of Wales Public Hospital, and also operates at the Sydney Children’s Hospital, Prince of Wales Private Hospital, and St Vincent’s Private Hospital. Through his public hospital appointments and affiliation with the University of New South Wales, he is actively involved in the under-graduate teaching of medical students and the post-graduate training of neurosurgical residents and registrars.
Dr Kyle Sheldrick
Merunova, New South Wales, AUS
Dr Kyle Sheldrick is a co-founder of Merunova, an MRFF funded biotechnology company developing diagnostic software for multiecho MRI spine analysis. He graduated from The Western Sydney University School of Medicine in 2011. He has interests in research integrity and misconduct, Conflict of Interest in medical research, probity at the interface between public and private sectors, complex biomedical data analytics, medical imaging and health economics.
A/PROF CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS
School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, New South Wales, AUS
Associate Professor Chris Williams NHMRC Research Fellow with qualifications in exercise science, and physiotherapy, and biostatistics. He graduated with a PhD from Sydney Medical School in 2013. In 2016, he was appointed as a Hunter New England (HNE) Local Health District Clinical Research Fellow.
A/Prof Williams’s research has focuses on integrated care and prevention approaches for musculoskeletal conditions and chronic disease in clinical and population health settings. He A/Prof established the HNE Musculoskeletal Health and Obesity Program, a research-practice program with HNE Population Health, and various clinical units across the Health District. The teams work with innovation for integrated care models in neurosurgery received a NSW Health Excellence Award in 2018.
More broadly A/Prof Williams’s work involves clinical and pragmatic designs to test intervention effects, as well as implementation trials aiming to determine effective strategies to improve the use of evidence-based integrated health care. He has previously conducted several seminal trials in musculoskeletal care including a largest placebo-controlled trial of paracetamol for acute back pain involving 1650 patients, and the first clinical trials of weight loss and multi-factor lifestyle support for chronic back pain. He has authored 110 peer reviewed publications, including in Lancet, British Medical Journal, JAMA Internal Medicine, and BMC Medicine, and received over $AU5 million in competitive research funding.