2018 Invited Speakers

International Speakers

Dr Jacky Pallas
Director of eResearch, King’s College London, England

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Jacky Pallas is Director of eResearch at King’s College London where she is responsible for enhancing the university’s capability in advanced research computing, data management and software engineering. She is involved in delivering eInfrastructure for health informatics, including Health Data Research UK and MRC eMedLab, as part of a regional consortium with the Francis Crick Institute, Sanger and EMBL-EBI. She was Chair of the National eInfrastructure Project Directors Group until 2018, a network which has been key in joining up eInfrastructure across the UK.

Professor David V Ford
Professor of Health Informatics, Swansea University Medical School, Wales

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David is Professor of Health Informatics at Swansea University’s College of Medicine, where he is Principal investigator and Director of the Administrative Data Research Centre Wales (ADRCW), an £8million investment into Wales by the ESRC as part of its Big Data initiative.  He is also Deputy Director of Farr-CIPHER – one of the four UK Centre of Excellence for E-Health Research, funded by a consortium of top UK research funders led by the MRC, as part of the Farr Institute.

David is joint lead of the SAIL Databank, an internationally recognised data linkage resource that safely and securely share linked and carefully de-identified data from a wide variety of routinely collected data from across Wales, and which supports a wide range of researchers from across the UK and internationally.

David is the principal investigator and director of the Multiple Sclerosis Register, a UK facility to collect patient-donated data and link it to clinical and administrative data, in order to support research and better service planning. David is also Director of the eHealth Industries Innovation (ehi2) Centre, developing links between academia, the NHS, and business within the UK and internationally.  He is also University Director of NHS Wales Informatics Research Laboratories, created through a collaboration between Swansea University and NHS Wales Informatics Service, the national programme for NHS IT for Wales.  David is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (FRSA) and past Chairman and a current Director of MediWales, a membership organisation representing the medical technology sector of Wales.  He is a member of numerous committees and national bodies relating to health informatics and health-related research. He has received research grants and consultancy contracts valuing over £45m over recent years.

National Speakers

Dr Sarah Jane Pell
Artist-Astronaut, Adjunct Assoc. Professor, Faculty of Engineering, Office of the Engineering Dean, and Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture, Monash University

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Sarah Jane Pell is a uniquely experienced commercial diver, performance artist, and interdisciplinary researcher.

Sarah Jane is best known for her creative practice in underwater performance delivering novel supports for human expression in extreme environments. She is currently collaborating with the Monash Immersive Visualisation Platform on 360 Cinematic platforms for expanding human potential through artworks that immerse audiences in other worldly performance. Her work has been shown at Ars Electronica, CERN, Robotronica, NGV, MIT Media Lab, Science Gallery Dublin to name a few. Pell is also a commercial suborbital spaceflight candidate, spacesuit validation test pilot, and concept designer. She served as the Simulation Astronaut for Project Moonwalk, EU subsea lunar analogue human-robotic co-operation trials in 2016; Artist-in-Residence for the Mars Desert Research Station Crew188, and Commander for the Lunares 3 Crew Polish analogue 2018. Pell holds a PhD in Visual Arts, a Masters in Human Performance, and qualifications in Space Sciences, Biotechnology & Bioinformatics and Suborbital Mission Operations. She is an Australia Council Fellow, a TED Fellow, and a Gifted Citizen.

Dr Drew Berry
Biomedical Animations Manager, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research

Drew Berry is a biomedical animator who creates beautiful, accurate visualisations of the dramatic cellular and molecular action that is going on inside our bodies. He began his career as a cell biologist and is fluent navigating technical reports, research data and models from scientific journals. As an artist, he works as a translator, transforming abstract and complicated scientific concepts into vivid and meaningful visual journeys. Since 1995 he has been a biomedical animator at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Australia. His animations have exhibited at venues such as the Guggenheim Museum, MoMA, the Royal Institute of Great Britain and the University of Geneva. In 2010, he received a MacArthur Fellowship “Genius Grant”.
Drew Berry is a biomedical animator who creates beautiful, accurate visualisations of the dramatic cellular and molecular action that is going on inside our bodies. He began his career as a cell biologist and is fluent navigating technical reports, research data and models from scientific journals. As an artist, he works as a translator, transforming abstract and complicated scientific concepts into vivid and meaningful visual journeys. Since 1995 he has been a biomedical animator at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Australia. His animations have exhibited at venues such as the Guggenheim Museum, MoMA, the Royal Institute of Great Britain and the University of Geneva. In 2010, he received a MacArthur Fellowship “Genius Grant”.

Recognition and awards

  • Doctorate of Technology (hc), Linköping University Sweden, 2016
  • MacArthur Fellowship, USA 2010
  • New York Times “If there is a Steven Spielberg of molecular animation, it is probably Drew Berry” 2010
  • The New Yorker “[Drew Berry’s] animations are astonishingly beautiful” 2008
  • American Scientist “The admirers of Drew Berry, at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Australia, talk about him the way Cellini talked about Michelangelo” 2009
  • Nature Niche Prize, UK 2008
  • Emmy “DNA” Windfall Films, UK 2005
  • BAFTA “DNA Interactive” RGB Co, UK 2004

Professor James Whisstock
Director, Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence in Advanced Molecular Imaging

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James Whisstock performed his PhD in bioinformatics and structural biology at the University of Cambridge.  In 1997 he moved to Australia and established his group at Monash University. James is currently an NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow, he is the Scientific Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Advanced Molecular Imaging and he is the Scientific Head of EMBL Australia.  His previous appointments include an ARC Federation Fellowship.  James was awarded the 2006 Science Ministers prize, the 2008 Health ministers prize and the 2010 Gottschalk medal.

James’s current research directions include understanding the structure and function of pore forming proteins in immunity and Drosophila development.  His team further investigates the proteolytic cascades that control blood coagulation and wound remodelling.

Over the course of his career at Monash, James has led the development of several key technology platforms, including protein production and protein crystallography. Most recently he led the initiative to establish Australia’s first automated state-of-the-art Electron Microscopy unit.

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