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Meet Advance Awards Life Sciences Category Finalist, Dr Sandro Demaio.

A public health advocate and sustainable food architect, Dr Alessandro (Sandro) Demaio founded his career using nutrition as a platform for social change. As a recognised global expert and now CEO of VicHealth, Sandro speaks to the three biggest threats for Australians: climate change, obesity and chronic disease. Amplifying the science of his medical background with an art for public presence, Sandro has become a popular figure across broadcast TV, online editorial, news commentary forums and even a cookbook publication. Whether working alongside the Victorian Government at VicHealth, advising the World Health Organisation, co-authoring global reports with UNICEF, co-founding the social movement NCDFREE to engage young leaders from across the world, or founding the biennial festival21, a free event celebrating food and ideas, Sandro is as passionate as he is pragmatic.

A former World Health Organization medical officer who trained and worked at Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital, Dr Sandro Demaio’s international perspective has been informed by a decade working across the globe. During his time as CEO of Oslo-based EAT Foundation, he oversaw the launch of the EAT-Lancet Commission; a scientific commission that led to a global conversation around healthy and sustainable diets, including launch events at the United Nations Headquarters in New York and more than 40 other global locations. This report became one of the most discussed pieces of science globally in 2019. Sandro led the Lancet Series on Nutrition and was a central architect in the formation of the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition. During the COVID-19 crisis, Sandro has been seconded to assist the COVID-19 Department Incident Management Team as the (part-time) Deputy Public Health Commander.

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Not only has Dr Rossa Chiu won numerous international awards including the Advance Asia Impact Award 2020, she also has over 485 patents to her name. A specialist in molecular signatures as a chemical pathologist, Rossa moved to Hong Kong immediately after graduating from the University of Queensland to work in her dream job - researching non-invasive prenatal testing procedures, detecting any abnormalities in unborn babies. 

Today, Dr Rossa Chiu is a professor in the department of chemical pathology and Associate Dean for Development at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.  Rossa is determined to detect early cancer, saying "Very often people only learn about their cancer when they start to become unwell". Rossa and her team have translated their learnings from prenatal detection to bring forward the diagnostic timeline for cancer detection in order to save lives via a simple blood test. At any one time, among every one thousand individuals, there are two persons with known cancer, and only fifty percent of cancer patients survive beyond ten years.

How does Australia's leading cancer researcher keep an eye on IP opportunities while changing diagnostic practices? And why does she consider raising her kids to be the most difficult research project yet?

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Two preeminent female professors discuss careers in science and leadership in #STEMM reflecting on what the world needs today. Thanks to #COVID there has never been a better time to be talking about the relevance of research, diversity in science, and the interconnectedness of public health microbial health and climate science. The qualities of resilience and integrity come through strongly and both Professors advocate passionately for ways to see more women leading organisations in #STEMM. 

Meet Professor Karen Day – the Advanced Life Sciences Award winner in 2015.

Professor Karen Day is an infectious disease epidemiologist dedicated to improving global public health.  She is a microbe hunter describing the diversity of malaria parasites globally to improve disease surveillance and control. She has extensive international experience leading field programmes in malaria endemic areas of East, West and Southern Africa, India, Southeast Asia, Papua New Guinea and South America. She is a founder of the scientific discipline of malaria genomic epidemiology.  She has a strong track record of mentoring junior scientists.  

Professor Day is also an experienced educator and academic administrator in medicine and science having held senior leadership posts in universities in the UK, US and Australia. Highlights include being recruited to University of Oxford in 1993 where she was soon promoted to Professor for her scholarship and leadership. She is an Emeritus Fellow of Hertford College, having been one of the first women science “dons” at that College.  

From 2004-13, Professor Day led the development of interdisciplinary global public health programs as Director of the Institute of Urban and Global Health at New York University. Most recently she has been the Dean of Science at University of Melbourne. Her profile as a manager is a change agent, building new enterprises and restructuring to improve organizational achievement. She now continues her malaria epidemiology research at the University of Melbourne.

Meet Professor Jill Banfield, the Advance Life Sciences 2020 Award Winner.

A mineralogist-turned-microbiologist, Professor Jill Banfield has made outstanding contributions to our knowledge of the structure of microbial communities in natural environments and the human body. 

Her pioneering work created the platform to explore the role of gut bacteria in health and disease in humans. 

Her contributions to geosciences are also significant, culminating with her recognition by the American Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society and Australian Academy of Science. 

In addition to being a brilliant and distinguished scientist, Jill is a wise and generous mentor. 

She has trained many of the up-and-coming stars of her field and has strongly supported their career advancement.

Born in Armidale, Jill Banfield was educated at the Australian National University where she completed her bachelor's and master's degree, before gaining a PhD in Earth and Planetary Sciences from Johns Hopkins University. 

Jill was a faculty member between 1990 – 2001 at University of Wisconsin - Madison and University of Tokyo.

Since 2001, she has been a researcher and professor at the University of California Berkeley with an appointment in the earth and environmental sciences at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. 

Jill leads the Microbial Research initiative within the Innovative Genomics Institute, is affiliated with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and has a position at the University of Melbourne, Australia.

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Yong In Cho is a fintech expert, specialising in the payments industry, with deep knowledge of the financial technology market across Asia. Currently the Head of eCommerce for the world’s largest payment service company, @Fiserv, Yong In most recently initiated and managed development of a solution allowing Korean tourists and Korean students to enjoy fee-free credit card transactions in Australia. Yong In is a strong promoter of the ‘Australia’ brand, Yong In credits his post-school education at Sydney TAFE, where he gained a diploma in drafting / CAD design, with preparing him for the fast-paced and ever-changing financial technology industry. He also gives a nod to the Australian #sports culture which allowed him to learn about teamwork and make friendships throughout a broader community. 

Discussing the social implications for a #cashless economy, Yong In is a generous source of intelligence around fintech policy and regulations, and is passionate about the role trust plays in payment solutions.

A Korean-born Australian, Yong In Cho has built his financial technology expertise over the last 16 years. Yong In is an active contributor to AustCham Korea, as a Board Member and Mentor for the past seven years. His practical approach to challenges has enabled him to succeed in new product development and implement solutions in new markets.

https://www.fiserv.com/

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Professor Bryan Gaensler has stars in his eyes. Literally. Internationally recognised for his groundbreaking work on dying stars, interstellar magnets and cosmic explosions,  it's hard not to rediscover the wonderment of the galactic sky listening to Bryan. Living in Toronto with a  wife who forgives his midnight scribblings and constant curiosity for the magnetism of the universe, Bryan reflects on success, hard work and serendipity. 

Bryan realised at five that there were questions even his parents didn't know the answers to, and decided to become an Astronomer. He worked hard to back up his choice, but he now recognises that others work just as hard and are not afforded such choice. Bryan believes diversity of minds is critical to understanding the universe, and he is rethinking the way we select, support and skill up underrepresented scientists. Are you intentional in 'becoming the network' for those who need you? Find out more about this lively Australian committed to asking the big questions of the world around us.

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Where can a career in big data take you and how do you hold on to the stories that big data can hide? Professor Jenni Evans has leveraged her learnings to tackle some of the world's biggest problems, merging fields of research to find new solutions at the point where disaster threatens to hit. Just as Cyclone Tracey hit Darwin, a love of tropical cyclones hit Professor Jenni Evans when she realised she could bring her skill in mathematics, and a sense of social justice together. 

Professor Evans says the way we communicate science can remove people from the consequences rather than drive action. The way we communicate catastrophe so often disempowers action. Professor speaks eloquently about bringing people and communities into the science of decisions affecting their lives and homes. And strives to find creative ways to make science approachable for kids, parents, teachers and policy-makers. We hope you enjoy Professor Jenni Evans, a meteorologist and a storm-chaser who brings the science to story, and the story to science.

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