Spotlight on Emerging Leaders Fellowship (ELF) Program 2024
Dr Annie McDougall
Dr Annie McDougall is a public health researcher and scientist, and an emerging leader in global maternal health. She is a Senior Research Officer in the Global Women’s and Newborn’s Health group at Burnet Institute. Her research focuses on improving outcomes for pregnant women and newborns, particularly in resource-constrained settings.
She collaborates globally on projects with the World Health Organization, Concept Foundation, Policy Cures Research and Monash University, including on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-funded Accelerating Innovation for Mothers project and PEARLS studies.
Prior to her public health career, she had a decade of experience as a biomedical scientist investigating the cellular and molecular factors involved neonatal lung and brain injury. In 2019 she transitioned from the bench to applied public health research. Her areas of professional interest include global health, maternal medicine development, maternal mortality, pre-eclampsia, postpartum haemorrhage, fetal growth restriction and preterm birth.
A/Prof Demelza Ireland
A/Prof Demelza Ireland is an Associate Professor and Head of Discipline (Medical Science and Genetics) for the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Western Australia. She is a member of the UWA Academic Board, Education Committee, and Teaching Awards Committee
After completing her PhD in tumour immunology (2007) and an extended period of career disruption (following the birth of her two daughters in 2007 and 2009), Demelza joined the UWA School of Women’s and Infants’ Health, based at King Edward Memorial Hospital, in 2012 as a postdoctoral researcher in the preterm birth prevention team.
In 2015, Demelza joined to the School of Biomedical Sciences as a fractional teaching-intensive academic (Discipline of Pathology and Laboratory Science) to coordinate a level 3 immunology unit. In 2016, she combined her interests and led the development and delivery of three undergraduate broadening units in women’s health that now constitute the UWA Minor in Women’s Health. She has now re-established her research career as a co-supervisor of several graduates of the Minor as Honours and PhD students in women’s and infants’ health. Several graduates now also tutor in the program.
Demelza received the Australian Award for University Teaching Excellence – Early Career in 2019, Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy in 2022, and a Master of Education (The education of Australian undergraduate students on women’s health) in 2024.
A/Prof Erin Morton
A/Professor Erin Morton’s has a PhD in Medicine (pharmacology specialisation), international accreditation as a Clinical Research Associate, advises on dozens of Australian steering & operational research committees, and was voted a National Emerging Leader in Health finalist in 2022.
Her health and medical research career spans more than 2 decades of academic & NFP success, experience of every role in clinical trials, and a multidisciplinary portfolio. With a background including international/national registries & clinical trials Australian management (investigator-initiated, proof-of-concept & Phase I-IV), citations in international clinical guidelines across 3 different disciplines, investigator on multiple NHMRC/MRFF and other grants, and the expertise gained from building 4 previous successful Clinical Research Organisation (CRO) units, A/Prof Morton is now focusing on making change in the women’s health space.
Since launching her world-first Australian registry targeting peri-/menopause approximately a year ago, she’s also developed a research consultancy seeking to optimise all aspects of women’s health research strategy, networks, and community outcomes. She is interested in every concept that aims to improve health, contributing to global knowledge & care in one way or another through both academic endeavours, clinical guidelines, and developing new medicines for patients in need. Above all her research targets the community voice and priorities, translation of research into real-world differences, and positive collaborations to “make bad better”.
A/Prof Jacqueline Gould
Associate Professor Jacqueline Gould is the Program Lead of Supporting Neurodevelopment within the SAHMRI Women and Kids theme at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute and an affiliate Senior Lecturer at the University of Adelaide.
Jacqueline completed her PhD in paediatrics in 2013 and is passionate about optimising early brain development to give all children the best start to life. She is responsible for multiple large studies of nutrition in the first 1,000 days (pregnancy, infancy and early childhood) and the effect on child cognitive, language and behavioural development. With over $12M in funding from MRFF, NHMRC, the Women’s and Children’s Hospital Foundation, and industry, Jacqueline leads an ever-growing team of HDR students, ECRs, research assistants, nurses, and trial coordinators to oversee over 4,000 study participants and their families.
Her research is published in leading journals such as the JAMA, JAMA Paediatrics, and NEJM and features in several government policies and reports. Jacqueline serves as a Board Member for the International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids (ISSFAL), a Strategic Executive Committee Member for SA Health Child and Adolescent Health Community of Practice, and an Executive Committee Member of the Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand (PSANZ) Subcommittee for Long-Term Outcomes of High-Risk Babies. Jacqueline is an internationally recognised expert in the role of omega-3 fats and neurodevelopment and is the 8th recipient of the international Dr Norman Salem Jr Early Career Award.
Dr Tegan Hartmann
Dr Tegan Hartmann is an academic at Charles Sturt University specializing in exercise science, with a deep commitment to advancing the field through education and research
Dr Hartmann is passionate about conducting research within regional populations, with the aim of making a meaningful impact to the health and well-being of regional, rural and remote Australians.
Specifically, Dr Hartmann is focused on improving the physical and mental well-being of women, by investigating those conditions and circumstances that directly affect women. Currently her research is focussed on endometriosis and pregnancy loss; investigating the role of exercise in the management of symptoms associated with endometriosis and the potential of exercise to reduce psychological morbidity and improve physical well-being in women who have experienced pregnancy loss.
Dr Hartmann has published in notable exercise science and immunology journals, has featured on the Medical Journal of Australia podcast, and has generated exercise advice content for a not-for-profit organisation that supports women after loss.
In addition to her academic role, Dr Hartmann is the founder of a yoga business, where she integrates her expertise in exercise science with holistic wellness practices. This unique combination allows her to offer a well-rounded approach to physical and mental health, emphasizing the importance of movement within the community.
Dr Samantha Lodge
Dr Samantha Lodge is a Senior Lecturer in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) based at the Australian National Phenome Centre, Murdoch University. I lead the NMR team within the centre and my research focus is chronic and acute inflammation and the subsequent long-term effects of health using metabolic phenotyping. In 2020 I discovered a new biomarker of inflammation, SPC, the Supramolecular Phospholipid Composite, now widely recognised within the scientific and medical community.
In one of my most recent studies I demonstrated that the blood metabolic phenotype obtained at admission into the Intensive Care Unit was diagnostic for sepsis, and septic shock patients could further be differentiated using a patient’s blood lipid profile. Using metabolic phenotyping speeds up diagnosis in comparison to what is currently available clinically.
