Perth's Telethon Kids Institute is excited to announce the appointment of Professor Alex Brown, Ms Nicole O'Connor and Professor Jozef Gecz to its Board of Directors.
Professor Alex Brown is an Aboriginal medical doctor and researcher with an extensive and unique research program focused on chronic disease in vulnerable communities, with a particular focus on outlining and overcoming health disparities. Professor Brown is the Leader of the Aboriginal Research Unit at South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) and Research Chair of Aboriginal Health at the University of South Australia.
Ms Nicole O'Connor is General Manager Western Australia of SAP, a market leader in enterprise application software. Ms O'Connor leads a team of more than 100 staff and is closely embedded into SAPs social programs for Young People - Young ICT Explorers & STEM - and is also the Executive Sponsor of the SAPs Business Women's Network in WA.
Professor Jozef Gecz is a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Senior Principal Research Fellow and Professor of Human Genetics at the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Adelaide. He also established and heads the Neurogenetics Research Program at the Women's and Children's Hospital, Adelaide. Professor Gecz's research interests include gene identification and functional, cellular and molecular modelling of intellectual disability, epilepsy and cerebral palsy for better management and eventually treatment of these disorders.
The three new board remembers will replace Professor Robyn Owens, Professor Michael Good AO and Kate George who have all made outstanding contributions to the Institute.
Board Chairman, Mr John Langoulant, thanked them for their service and welcomed the new board members.
"I'm very pleased that Jozef, Nicole and Alex have all accepted our invitation to join the Board," said Mr Langoulant. "They will each make a significant contribution to the future direction of Telethon Kids and I thank them for their service and commitment to helping us improve the lives of children through excellence in medical research."
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About the Telethon Kids Institute:
The Telethon Kids Institute is one of the largest, and most successful medical research institutes in Australia, comprising a dedicated and diverse team of more than 500 staff and students.
We've created a bold blueprint that brings together community, researchers, practitioners, policy makers and funders, who share our vision to improve the health and wellbeing of children through excellence in research.
The Institute is headed by leading paediatrician and infectious diseases expert Professor Jonathan Carapetis, with Founding Director Professor Fiona Stanley now Patron.
Telethon Kids is independent and not-for-profit. The majority of funding comes from our success in winning national and international competitive research grants. We also receive significant philanthropic support from corporate Australia and the community.