Stacey Jankelowitz is a staff specialist neurologist and clinical neurophysiologist at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. Stacey was recently awarded an NHMRC TRIP fellowship. She implemented NHMRC guidelines for secondary prevention of stroke as her TRIP project. She is currently participating in a study to implement changes in care for patients with intracranial haemorrhage.

Her research interests include stroke, implementation science and neurophysiological testing of the central and peripheral nervous system in stroke and motor function.

Stacey has worked in the clinical research industry for over 20 years. A nurse by profession, Stacey began her clinical research career in central laboratory operations moving into a global role managing operations across Asia Pacific and South America.  She then moved into a Project Management role at a Phase 1 unit before joining the CRO industry where she gained substantial experience in project managing Healthy Volunteer and patient population early phase studies in multiple therapeutic areas.  

Stacie is a PhD student at UNSW and works in the Injury Division at The George Institute for Global Health. Stacie has been educating communities and advocating for better health outcomes in vulnerable groups since 2000, specifically in child injury prevention. She holds a Master of Public Health and is dedicated reducing unintentional childhood injury due to road trauma.

Stephen is one of the two founders of The George Institute for Global Health and an architect of its global expansion.  He was joint Principal Director (CEO) of The George until 2023 when he stood down after 25 years in the role.  He continues to hold an appointment as Founding Director.

He also holds professorial appointments in medicine at UNSW Sydney and Imperial College of London. Prior to these appointments, he held positions as professor of medicine at the University of Sydney and the University of Oxford.  Stephen is an international authority on the causes, prevention, and treatment of cardiovascular diseases and has a special interest in the treatment of chronic and complex conditions in resource-poor settings, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region.

Stephen was the architect of the Institute’s commercial program (George Health Enterprises) established to develop health-related services and products for the global market.  He was instrumental in raising capital for these developments, as well as the sale of a major commercial asset.

In addition to his Institute and university appointments, Stephen has held several external appointments as an advisor to major charities and life science companies worldwide.  He was chair of the International Scientific Board of the UK BioBank throughout the early stages of its design and implementation.

Stephen has received numerous awards and prizes for his achievements and contributions to medical sciences and social entrepreneurship.  He was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours List.

Dr Zien Zhou is an NSW Cardiovascular Elite Postdoctoral Researcher. He obtained his MD degree from Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine (China) in 2011 and his PhD degree from UNSW Sydney in 2022 (UNSW Scientia Scholarship awardee). Before joining The George Institute, Dr Zhou worked as a radiologist in China for eight years. 

His research focuses on brain imaging analysis in stroke, brain-heart interaction, cerebral small vessel disease, and optimal antithrombotic treatment for cardioembolic stroke prevention. He is now leading a pilot trial funded by NSW Health to explore the value of brain images in atrial fibrillation management.

Elizabeth Bourke identifies as a Gamilaraay Women and is a Research Associate in the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Health Program at The George Institute for Global Health. Elizabeth’s experiences include working in Children’s Services and as a Case Worker at Family & Community Services and working with young Aboriginal people and families in the Central Coast community. She is dedicated to improving the health inequalities of First Nations People and communities.

Elizabeth conducts her research using Indigenous methodologies (ways of knowing, being and doing) and understands the importance of being in community and working with community. Elizabeth contribution to research includes working on the Liaison Grant, The Ironbark project, The Safe Pathways project and the NOTACS Sub-study project. Elizabeth is on several committees at The George including the Health Wellbeing Committee.

Dr Emily R Atkins is a Senior Research Fellow in Health Systems Science at the George Institute for Global Health and a Conjoint Senior Lecturer at UNSW Sydney. She has expertise in economic evaluation, cardiovascular trials, and linked data analysis. Dr Atkins' recent focus has been on the health economics of blood pressure lowering medicines. She is interested in affordable and equitable improvements in cardiovascular medicines use globally. Dr Atkins is the health economist leading the economic evaluation of the NEXTGEN-BP randomised trial.

Dr Atkins is an Executive Committee member and Scientific Advisory Committee member of the Australian and New Zealand Alliance for Cardiovascular Trials (2018-present). She was a National Heart Foundation Australia Postdoctoral Research Fellow (2018) and World Heart Federation Emerging Leader (2017) working on blood pressure lowering clinical trials and access and affordability of cardiovascular medicines, including a feasibility study of adherence clubs for hypertension.

Emily completed her PhD (2015) at the University of Western Australia using linked administrative hospital morbidity, deaths, and pharmacy data to investigate the cost-effectiveness of cardiovascular medicines for secondary prevention of atherothrombotic disease.
 

Frances Bass works part-time at The George Institute for Global Health as a Senior Project Manager in the Critical Care Program. She also works at Royal North Shore Hospital as an Intensive Care Clinical Research Manager.

Frances is a Registered Nurse having completed a Bachelor of Nursing, Graduate Certificate in Critical Care, and Masters of Science (Research). She has extensive experience in the management of critical care clinical trials operations including, investigator-initiated, collaborative group and commercially sponsored trials.

Frances sits on a number of scientific management committees. She is Secretary for the Australian College of Critical Care Nurses (ACCCN) NSW/ACT Branch Management Committee and a member on the ACCCN Research Advisory Committee. She is also a reviewer and committee member of the Northern Sydney Local Health District, Human Research Ethics Committee.

Gloria Benny is a Research Assistant at The George Institute for Global Health. She holds a Master’s in Development from Azim Premji University, Bangalore and a Bachelor’s degree in Medical Sociology from Christian Medical College, Vellore. Gloria has research interest in various areas like, Tribal health, Health equity, Social Determinants of Health and Health systems research.

Hayley Williams is an Aboriginal researcher with family ties in Tingha and Inverell in north-eastern NSW and connections to Gubbi Gubbi land on the Sunshine Coast of QLD. Over the past 7 years, Hayley has been working in various areas of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research including cancer epidemiology, bronchiectasis, health service continuous quality improvement, and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder prevention.

Hayley is currently completing her PhD with the Children’s Burns and Trauma Research team at the University of Queensland and holds post-graduate scholarships from NHMRC and the Children’s Hospital Foundation. Hayley’s PhD project forms part of the Coolamon study at The George Institute and primarily focuses on the use of Indigenous research methodologies to explore the psychological and social implications of burn injuries on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, their caregivers, and their treating clinicians. Hayley is passionate about improving the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and has a particular interest in emotional traumas and resilient behaviours among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and adolescents.

Helen is Head of Clinical Trial Partnerships for The George Institute Australia and holds an Adjunct Senior Lecturer position at UNSW.

She has more than 25 years of experience working on academic investigator-initiated clinical trials at the Yorkshire Clinical Trials Unit, Clinical Trial Service Unit at the University of Oxford and Imperial College, all in the UK.

Helen joined The George Institute in September 2000 as Senior Project Manager on the landmark ADVANCE trial and post-trial observational ADVANCE-ON study.

Helen has worked on many multicentre clinical trials, and in this role works to strengthen The George Institute’s clinical trial partnerships across Australia.

Helen joined The George Institute’s Injury Division as a research assistant in 2017. With a background in medical science and experience in vision science research, she is currently working on the falls prevention PLatFORM study and the Older Driver’s 4-year Follow-Up Study.