Policy statements and recommendations
Impact stories
Associate Professor Brendon Neuen
Associate Professor Brendon Neuen is Lead Global Clinical Trialist at The George Institute for Global Health, and Staff Specialist Nephrologist, Director of Kidney Trials, at Royal North Shore Hospital. He is the Co-Chair of SMART-C (SGLT2 Inhibitor Meta-Analysis Cardio-Renal Trialists' Consortium; www.SMART-C.net), Director of the CLARITY-IgAN Consortium (Collaborative Longitudinal Assessment of Randomised Interventions and Therapies; www.CLARITY-IgAN.org) and holds senior leadership roles in multiple global, late-phase drug registration trials evaluating therapies to prevent kidney failure and cardiovascular disease.
His research has informed more than 30 clinical practice guidelines and consensus statements, and he is actively involved in the development of national and international standards, including for KDIGO and the American Society of Nephrology. A/Prof Neuen has authored over 175 peer-reviewed publications, including works in the New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, JAMA, and Nature Medicine. He serves on the editorial boards for flagship journals of the European Renal Association and the American Diabetes Association.
A/Prof Neuen studied medicine at James Cook University (First Class Honours, Academic Medal), holds a Masters in Global Health from the University of Oxford (Clarendon Scholar, top-ranked dissertation), a PhD from UNSW (NHMRC funded), and completed his Postdoctoral Fellowship at Harvard Medical School. A Fellow of both the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the American Society of Nephrology, his work is supported by the NHMRC, Ramaciotti Foundation and philanthropic sources, and has been recognized through awards including the Royal Society of New South Wales Ida Browne Medal and the American Heart Association's Paul Dudley White International Scholar Award.
Professor Simone Pettigrew
Professor Simone Pettigrew is the Head of Food Policy. She has qualifications in Economics, Marketing, and Consumer Psychology. Her broad areas of expertise include behavioural psychology, health promotion, health policy, communications, social marketing, and intervention research.
Along with nutrition, her substantive areas of research include obesity, physical activity, alcohol consumption, smoking, active transport, and healthy ageing. Simone sits on numerous advisory committees and regularly performs research consultancies for NGO and government entities. To date, she has published more than 400 peer-reviewed papers and produced more than 160 technical reports for NGOs and government departments.
See Professor Pettigrew's full CV here.
Dr Mary-Anne Land
Dr Land is a Senior Program Manager at The George Institute for Global Health, where she leads global initiatives to transition the world’s salt supply to potassium-enriched alternatives. This work addresses the urgent global challenge of high sodium intake and its associated health risks, advancing innovative strategies to improve cardiovascular health worldwide.
Prior to her current role, Dr Land held several key positions at the World Health Organization. Including playing a crucial role in the development and implementation of the highly successful global cervical cancer elimination program. Her leadership and strategic expertise were instrumental in advancing the initiative forward, securing essential support and securing commitments for its implementation.
With a robust background in both hands-on program implementation and high-level advisory roles, Dr Land continues to shape and advance global health policies and practices.
Thomas Gadsden
Dr Thomas Gadsden is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Health Systems Science, The George Institute for Global Health, and a Conjoint Lecturer at UNSW Sydney.
His research focuses on health systems strengthening, with expertise in discrete choice experiments, evidence synthesis, and evaluation. His PhD research examined the design of appropriate incentives for community health workers in Indonesia.
Tom has held diverse roles across the health sector, including as a Public Health Officer Trainee at the NSW Ministry of Health, Health Financing Officer for the WHO Country Office in Lao PDR, and Australian Youth Ambassador for Development. He also worked as a youth worker in remote Aboriginal communities.
Tom has a strong track record of partnering with government stakeholders and has authored commissioned reports and policy briefs for Australian government agencies and the World Health Organization.
Vikneswary Batumalai
Dr Vikneswary (Vicky) Batumalai is a Senior Research Fellow at The George Institute for Global Health and an Adjunct Senior Lecturer at UNSW Sydney. With a background in clinical radiation therapy, she brings a deep understanding of the challenges faced by people diagnosed with cancer, particularly those from culturally and linguistically diverse communities. Vicky's research is driven by a strong commitment to improving equity across the cancer care continuum. Her work focuses on identifying and addressing disparities in access, quality, and outcomes of cancer care, both in Australia and internationally. Her work aims to inform policy and drive sustainable, system-wide change.
Associate Professor Mei Ling Yap
Associate Professor Mei Ling is a clinician researcher and the Head of the Cancer Program at the George Institute for Global Health. She is an NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow (2023-2027) and was the 2024 recipient of the NSW Premier's Outstanding Cancer Research Award for "Improving Equitable Outcomes". She is a Conjoint Associate Professor at UNSW Sydney and Western Sydney University as well as lead of the Collaboration for Cancer Outcomes, Research and Evaluation (CCORE), the Ingham Institute for Medical Research.
A/Prof Yap completed her clinical training in Australia, Singapore and Canada and is a Staff Specialist Radiation Oncologist based at South Western Sydney Local Health District.
A/Prof Yap leads projects supporting cancer services capacity building in low-and middle-income countries in the Asia-Pacific as co-chair of the Asia-Pacific Radiation Oncology Special Interest Group of RANZCR. She serves on the Editorial Board of JCO Global Oncology.