OUR SPEAKERS
DR PETER BROWN
Special Council, Griffith Hack
Peter specialises in the patenting of inventions in the field of biotechnology, including inventions relating to molecular biology, medical diagnostics, immunology, microbiology, cellular biology, protein chemistry and biochemistry. Peter’s expertise includes patent strategy advice, drafting and prosecuting of patent applications, patentability advice, freedom to operate searching and advice, and patent oppositions.
Peter has extensive research experience including post-doctoral research at Washington University in St Louis, USA and the Centre for Immunology, St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney. His extensive research experience in microbiology, molecular biology, immunology and cell biology provides him an in-depth understanding of his clients’ technology.
Peter’s clients include Australian universities, institutes and small to medium-sized companies. He also has a large international practice comprising multinational firms.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
DR JOHN RATCLIFFE
Chief Investment Officer
John Ratcliffe is the Chief Investment Officer at Altea Investments, a firm focused on providing capital for critical life science infrastructure across the Asia-Pacific region. Altea partners with Life Science Incubator (LSI) to deliver co-working lab spaces for biomedical companies, with current operations in Singapore and planned expansion into Australia, including
a new Brisbane facility. John brings extensive experience from previous roles as Head of Asia Pacific Real Estate at Barings and Executive Director at Challenger. His investment strategy centres on specialised lab infrastructure, offering stable, predictable returns, and supporting innovation-driven growth in the biomedical sector across APAC.
SILVIO TIZIANI
CEO, CCRM Australia
Silvio Tiziani, MBA, GAICD, is the CEO of CCRM Australia, leading efforts to bridge the gap between research and industry in regenerative medicine. With extensive experience across academia, health, and industry, he has successfully developed strategic partnerships, secured funding, and driven commercialisation initiatives. Previously, he held senior leadership roles at Monash University’s Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute and the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, where he managed major operational, policy, and strategic developments. Silvio holds a Master of Business Administration from Monash University and a Bachelor of Science from Swinburne University and is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD).
ROBERT LIN
CEO, GreenLight Clinical
Dr Lin is the CEO of GreenLight Clinical. He is a highly qualified healthcare executive with over 20 years of clinical and managerial experience.
As a healthcare professional who is passionate about advancing medical facilities, treatments and patient-centric care, Dr Lin has extensive experience in managing private, public and international hospitals and other facilities. His expertise in this area spans strategic planning, improving operational efficiency, team building and project management.
With a commitment to share his knowledge and skills to enhance healthcare in the community, Dr Lin has been Chairman of the NSW Radiation Therapist Research Group and Clinical Specialist Director of the Australian Medical Radiation Sciences Accreditation Council. He also served as a member of the expert panel of the Trans-Tasman Radiation Oncology Group and the lung cancer reference group for Cancer Australia.
Dr Lin’s professional insights are widely published, and he is a reviewer and invited author of the Journal of Medical Radiation Sciences.
As someone who drives positive development in the healthcare industry, Dr Lin believes that optimal outcomes and improved patient experiences are best achieved through understanding difficult concepts, turning ideas into logical strategies and implementing appropriate systems.
PROFESSOR ANTHONY (TONY) KELLEHER
Director of The Kirby Institute, UNSW
Professor Anthony (Tony) Kelleher is a clinician scientist who graduated from Medicine at UNSW in 1986. He trained in internal medicine and pathology at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney at the height of the HIV epidemic, qualifying as a Clinical Immunologist and Immunopathologist in 1995.
He completed his PhD in 1997, describing modulation of the HIV-infected immune system by experimental clinical interventions including therapeutic vaccines and IL-2, and made the first observations of reconstitution of antigen-specific CD4+ T cell responses in patients receiving potent anti-retroviral therapy during an early phase trial of Ritonavir.
Professor Kelleher undertook a post-doctoral fellowship in Oxford at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine and Nuffield Department of Medicine, studying the coevolution of HIV and the viral immune response. He was the first to describe the requirement of compensatory mutations in delayed immune escape from CD8+ T cell responses and developed a methodology for the production of Class II MHC tetramers.
He returned to Sydney in 2001 to join an Australian consortium developing a prophylactic HIV vaccine based on a prime boost strategy that successfully completed clinical trials in Australia and Thailand.
He has played a role in multiple phase 1 to phase 4 clinical trials and cohort studies in HIV treatment and prevention, particularly correlative laboratory-based studies. He has established novel assays to measure CD4+ T cell responses, several patented and developed commercially, pioneered fine needle lymph node biopsies to study immune responses and the HIV reservoir, and is exploring novel gene therapy.
JAMES CHONG
Professor, Centre Director, Westmead Hospital
James is an internationally recognised leader in regenerative cardiology. His group pioneers the use of pluripotent stem cell–derived cardiomyocytes to repair the injured heart, coupling fundamental developmental biology with large-animal translational studies and first-in-human trial planning. Beyond cell therapy, his team creates advanced human cardiac disease models that accelerate therapeutic discovery and precision-medicine approaches for heart failure. James’ work has secured competitive funding from Australia’s major biomedical agencies—including the NHMRC, Medical Research Future Fund, and National Heart Foundation—most recently a ~A$5 million MRFF grant to deliver a Phase I clinical trial of stem-cell cardiomyocyte therapy. Findings from his laboratory appear in Nature, Nature Cardiovascular Research, Cell Stem Cell, Science Translational Medicine, and Nature Communications, and have been recognised with the NSW CVRN Rising Star Award, Heart Foundation Paul Korner Innovation Award, Metcalf Prize for Stem Cell Research, and the 2024 Jian Zhou Medal from the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.
Trained in cardiology at Westmead Hospital, James completed his PhD with Prof Richard Harvey (Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute) identifying a novel cardiac progenitor population, then pursued Fulbright- and NHMRC-supported post-doctoral studies with Prof Charles Murry at the University of Washington, advancing stem-cell cardiac repair in both small and large animal models.
WITH THANKS TO
FOR ENQUIRIES, CONTACT LEISHMAN ASSOCIATES
227 Collins Street, Hobart, TAS 7000
P: +61 3 6234 7844
E: conference@leishman-associates.com.au