The Metro North Office of Research is pleased to have hosted the second annual Metro North Research Summit on Thursday August 21 at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.
We welcomed over 140 guests from across Metro North, Queensland Health, and our academic, philanthropic and commercial clinical trials partners, to hear from local, national and international experts.
The day opened with a welcome address from our Metro North Board Chair, Mr Bernard Curran, who joined us for the second year in a row to reinforce the value of research to the health service. Next we heard from Dr David Rosengren, Director General of Queensland Health, who shared his vision for the future of health care in Queensland.
Professor Grant McArthur AO provided a keynote address on the role and value of institutes and centres of excellence in cancer care, with lessons learned from his experience as Chief Executive Officer of the VCCC Alliance in Victoria. He was joined by Associate Professor Melissa Eastgate, Dr Michael Wagels, Professor Steven Lane, Professor Gail Garvey, and Professor Kim Alexander for a lively panel discussion.
International Keynote, Dr Natalie Pageler MD, Stanford University delivered an engaging presentation on the future of artificial intelligence in healthcare, and was joined by Professor Clair Sullivan, Associate Professor Quan Nguyen and Professor Steven McPhail for an insightful panel discussion.
After lunch, we welcomed the ever curious and entertaining Dr Karl Kruszelnicki AM who took us on a journey of discovery from chocolate and wine to clean energy and everything in between.
We closed the afternoon with five presentations from our Metro North researchers who are striving to deliver excellence in health care through research. Chaired by Associate Professor Joel Dulhunty, we heard from Adj.A/Prof Thuy Frakking, A/Prof Kylie Burke & Sharon Gordon, Professor Jed Duff, Dr Natasha Roberts and Dr Peter Bell.
Metro North would like to thank our event sponsors, the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital Foundation, the Prince Charles Hospital Foundation, The Common Good, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), the University of Queensland (UQ) and the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMRB). Without their generous sponsorship, events like this would not be possible.
The Metro North Health Research Summit brings together expert minds from across Queensland Health and our academic partners in the health and medical research sector to discuss emerging topics. We look forward to welcoming you to the Metro North Health Research Summit in 2026.
2025 Speakers
Dr Karl Kruszelnicki AM
Dr Karl Kruszelnicki AM just loves science to pieces, and has been spreading the word in print, on TV and radio, and online for more than thirty years.
Professor Grant McArthur AO
Professor Grant McArthur AO is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and holds a Ph.D. in Medical Biology.
Dr Natalie Pageler
Dr. Natalie Pageler is a board-certified paediatric intensivist and clinical informaticist. She is the Associate Dean for Maternal and Child Health (Clinical Informatics)
Professor Clair Sullivan
Professor Clair Sullivan is an internationally recognised leading practising and academic clinical informatician, and is helping drive digital health transformation in Queensland.
Associate Professor Quan Nguyen
Associate Professor Nguyen is a head of the Genomics and Machine Learning lab and a scientific director of the National Centre for Spatial Tissue and AI Research.
Associate Professor Melissa Eastgate
Associate Professor Melissa Eastgate is the Acting Executive Director of Cancer Care Services at the RBWH, and the Medical Co-Chair of the Queensland Cancer Clinical Network.
Professor Gail Garvey
Professor Gail Garvey is a proud Kamilaroi woman and a distinguished health services researcher.
Associate Professor Thuy Frakking
Adj Assoc Prof Frakking is an Advanced Speech Pathologist (Paediatrics) and Research Director with more than 18 years’ experience across clinical and research roles.
Dr Michael Wagels
Michael Wagels is a Staff Specialist Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, Clinical Director of the Herston Biofabrication Institute (HBI), and holds conjoined academic appointment as Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland.
Derek Oram-Sandy
Derek Oram Sandy was born in his mother’s country of the Yerongpan clan, descending from the Yerongpan and Miguntyun clans from Brisbane and as well as the Mununjali and Migunberri clans of the Yugambeh Language speaking people of the Scenic Rim region.
Professor Steven McPhail
Professor Steven McPhail is a health systems innovator, health services researcher, health economist and clinician.
Professor Jed Duff
Professor Jed Duff is the Chair of Nursing at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and Queensland University of Technology.
Dr Natasha Roberts
Natasha Roberts is a Specialist Nurse, a STARS Conjoint Nursing Clinical Research Fellow and Senior Research Fellow with UQCCR in Herston.
Professor Kim Alexander
Kim Alexander holds a joint position as a Professor of Cancer Nursing with the School of Nursing at QUT and the Cancer Care Services at Metro North for Queensland Health.
Dr Peter Bell
Dr Peter Bell is a staff specialist in thoracic and transplant medicine at the Prince Charles Hospital. He is currently undertaking a PhD in immune mechanisms of pulmonary fibrosis in the Belz Innate Immunology Group at The Translational Research Institute.
Ms Sharon Gordon
Sharon Gordon is the Team Leader of Caboolture Youth Step Up Step Down which is one of three units across Queensland that are providing an innovative model of care to young people experiencing mental health crisis.
Associate Professor Kylie Burke
A/Prof Burke is Director Research Strategy and Evaluation at Metro North Mental Health Service. She is responsible for building research and evaluation capacity across Metro North Mental Health Directorate.
Sponsorship
The Research Summit is proudly supported by the following sponsors:
