Yakubu is a Research Fellow with the Guunu-maana (Heal) Aboriginal & Torres Strait Research Program and the Health Systems’ Program on Implementation for Health Equity. He also co-leads The George Institute’s Ubuntu Initiative for Partnerships in Africa.

The Guunu-maana (Heal) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Program at The George Institute drives meaningful and ethical research and advocacy to transform the health and wellbeing of First Nations peoples and communities. The George Institute’s Health System’s Program on Implementation for Health Equity aims to enhance health and social outcomes in underserved communities by improving knowledge of research methodologies that address health equity through implementation research and embedding process evaluations within applied research. Through the Ubuntu Initiative, The George Institute seeks to expand the scope of its research engagement with researchers and institutions on the Africa continent in a culturally safe, people-centred and sustainable way.

Yakubu’s research interests includes understanding and improving governance at the intersection of health and social systems, improving the health of multi-cultural communities, conducting and evaluating complex interventions aimed at promoting health equity. 

Yakubu is a Fellow of the West African College of Physicians as well as the Nigerian Postgraduate Medical College in Family Medicine. In addition to his clinical training, he earned an MPhil (Family Medicine) from Stellenbosch University in Cape Town, South Africa, and an MBA (Health Units Management) from the Cyprus Institute of Marketing. While in Nigeria, his research and professional efforts were focused on understanding and improving the learning experiences of undergraduate and graduate trainees in family medicine, as well as identifying family-centred approaches to improving health service delivery. 

He completed his PhD at the University of New South Wales Faculty of Medicine and Health in Sydney and his PhD Thesis investigated global and domestic governance systems for skilled health worker migration, the extent to which they feature human rights norms, and the opportunities for achieving equitable global health workforce distribution. 

Associate Professor Brendon Neuen is Program Lead, Renal and Metabolic at The George Institute for Global Health and a Staff Specialist Nephrologist and Director of Kidney Trials at Royal North Shore Hospital. He graduated in medicine at James Cook University with 1st Class Honours and an Academic Medal; completed a Masters in Global Health and Epidemiology from the University of Oxford; a PhD from the University of New South Wales; and a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School. He is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and a Fellow of the American Society of Nephrology.

He is an internationally recognised expert on cardio-kidney-metabolic health and serves as the Secretariat (Co-Chair) of the SGLT2 Inhibitor Meta-Analysis Cardio-Renal Trialists' Consortium (Smart C), which brings together data from over 90,000 patients from large-scale randomized trials to better understand the effects of this class of medicine in major patient groups. In addition, A/Prof Neuen is involved in the leadership of multiple ongoing international multi-centre randomized trials evaluating treatments to prevent kidney failure, cardiovascular events, or both. His work has directly informed more than 30 major international and national clinical practice guidelines, position papers and scientific statements which define best practice for the care of people with chronic kidney disease, including the Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) Guidelines and the American Diabetes Association (ADA) Standards of Care.

A/Prof Neuen is the author of over 150 peer-reviewed publications in general medical journals including The Lancet, BMJ and Nature Medicine, and specialty journals including Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, Circulation, and the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. He serves on the Editorial Boards of the American Society of Nephrology and Nephrology Dialysis and Transplantation (flagship journal of the European Renal Association). His work is supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, New South Wales Health, the Ramaciotti Foundation, as well as philanthropic sources, and has been recognised through multiple 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 Rodgers has a track record in cardiovascular disease prevention, innovation and public-private partnerships, with an interest in scale-able interventions to address major risks to health. He is currently Acting Director of the Cardiovascular Division at The George Institute, Australia and Chair of Clinical Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College of London.

After graduating in medicine in the United Kingdom he trained in epidemiology and public health in New Zealand. He was the Principal Author of the 2002 World Health Report, the main annual publication for WHO. Professor Rodgers has led developments of an affordable four-in-one cardiovascular combination pill ('polypill'). He led a clinical trial program in economically developed and developing countries, funded by the Wellcome Trust, European Union and others.  

Professor Rodgers also developed a world first cell phone based smoking cessation programme for youth, which disseminated proven health support messages in an age-appropriate, affordable medium.  Over 6,000 patients were involved in clinical trials that demonstrated a 50% increase in quit rates. The service has been rolled out by Departments of Health in NZ, UK and India, with over 2 million users to date. A follow-on program delivering cognitive behavioural therapy for depression prevention was successfully trialled among 1,200 at-risk teenagers.

Alta Schutte is a SHARP Professor and Theme Lead for Cardiac, Vascular and Metabolic Medicine at UNSW Sydney; and Professorial Fellow at The George Institute Australia. She holds honorary appointments at the North-West University and University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. She is the Past President of the International Society of Hypertension, Company Secretary of the Australian Cardiovascular Alliance, and Co-Chair of the Australian National Hypertension Taskforce.

Alta is a leading researcher with extensive experience in clinical trials and population-based studies in the field of blood pressure, hypertension and cardiovascular health. She has been the Chief Investigator of several multidisciplinary studies, published >450 papers in the field, and supervised over 85 postgraduate students. She is Chief Investigator of several Australian-funded trials and is a NHMRC Investigator Grant Leadership Fellow.

She is involved in numerous international consortia, such as the Global Burden of Disease study, the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration, May Measurement Month global blood pressure screening campaign, World Health Organization working groups and the Lancet Commission of Hypertension. She is the senior author of the 2020 International Society of Hypertension Global Hypertension Guidelines. She is Associate Editor of the journal, Hypertension, and has received numerous international awards for her work, most recently the 2022 American Heart Association’s Harriet Dustan Award, and 2023 Peter Sleight Excellence Award in Hypertension Clinical Research from the World Hypertension League.

Professor Jane Hirst is Chair in Global Women’s Health at The George Institute for Global Health, UK, and the School of Public Health at Imperial College. She is also Visiting Professor in Global Women's Health at the University of Oxford and Honorary Consultant Obstetrician, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

She is an active clinical researcher with projects focussed on global women’s health and investigating novel approaches to improve health care delivery. She has a particular interest in preventing cardiometabolic complications in women after high-risk pregnancy conditions such as gestational diabetes and preeclampsia.

Professor Hirst is a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow. Her Fellowship title is “Pregnancy as an opportunity to improve women’s lifelong health”. She is PI for the SMART Health Pregnancy trial in India. This trial is being conducted in two rural districts in two states, and is evaluating a community-based intervention and digital clinical decision support tool to improve screening, management and referral of high risk conditions during pregnancy and in the in first year after birth.