Ian Caterson is currently Foundation Director of the Boden Institute of Obesity Nutrition & Exercise and Boden Professor of Human Nutrition at the University of Sydney. He has held the latter position since 1997.  He was also head of the School of Molecular & Microbial Biosciences at the University. Prior to that he was Senior Staff Specialist and Director of Clinical Endocrinology at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. He graduated in Medicine with First Class Honours from the University of Sydney and holds the degrees of BSc(Med) with First Class Honours and Doctor of Philosophy from that University.

 He worked as a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Oxford with Prof Sir Philip Randle FRS and held an NH&MRC Applied Health Science Fellowship.

His research interests have been in insulin resistance and the causes, prevention and treatment of obesity. He has over 220 publications in scientific journals and books.

He is a past president of both the Australian Diabetes Society and the Australasian Society for the Study of Obesity & was regional vice-president (Asia-Oceania) for the International Association for the Study of Obesity.

He is a recognised expert on obesity, the Metabolic Syndrome and insulin resistance. He was a member of the NH&MRC working party on the prevention of overweight and obesity and chaired the National Obesity Prevention Group for the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care.  He is on the management committee of the International Obesity Task Force and has been a regional advisor on Obesity for WHO. He is an advisor to the Australian Government on diabetes.

Professor Kate Steinbeck is the Medical Foundation Chair in Adolescent Medicine at the University of Sydney at Children’s Hospital Westmead in Sydney. She is an endocrinologist and adolescent physician. Her research interests include transition from paediatric to adult care in chronic illness, the effects of puberty hormones on behaviour hormone replacement therapy in adolescents and young adults, and adolescent obesity. She was until recently Co-Chair of the NSW Health Department’s Greater Metropolitan Clinical Taskforce Committee on Transition from Paediatric to Adult Care of young people with chronic illness and disability

Clinical Psychologist, MAPS

Dr Louise Hayes is a clinical psychologist working privately in a family medical centre and also as a clinical researcher in academia. Louise’s expertise is working with children, adolescents and parents. Her focus is on developing mental health treatments for parents, children and adolescents as well as improving the capacity of services to respond to their needs.

Louise is a behaviour therapist and has worked on combining mindfulness and behavioural therapy – specifically Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Recent key aspects of her clinical and research work include being the principal investigator for a program of research funded by beyondblue; developing and testing ACT for adolescents with depression. Louise has trained many professionals from public mental health services, the private sector, and secondary schools. She has presented her work nationally and internationally.

Julie Gale is the founder of Kids Free 2B Kids. She is also a comedy writer and performer and has performed her one woman shows at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Julie has been raising community, corporate and political awareness about the sexualisation of children since February 2007.

She has generated great media interest about the issue and has appeared on television, radio and in newspaper articles throughout Australia and internationally.

Julies work has instigated changes to the children’s advertising codes and she also helped to instigate the 2008 senate inquiry into the sexualisation of children in the contemporary media environment.

Recently Julie received a national leadership achievement award from the Centre for Leadership for Women.

Adjunct Associate Professor Leanne Rowe AM is a GP who runs a medical practice for doctors only in the Melbourne CBD. She is also Deputy Chancellor of Monash University and serves on the board of beyondblue. Her recent books include “First do no harm: being a resilient doctor in the 21st century” and “I just want you to be happy: preventing and tackling teenage depression”.

She was the recipient of the Rose Hunt Medal by the RACGP in 2008.

After graduating in Medicine from the University of Leeds in 1975, Roger Francis developed a major clinical and research interest in osteoporosis, whilst working as a member of the Clinical Scientific Staff at the MRC Mineral Metabolism Unit at Leeds General Infirmary. He was subsequently awarded a Smith and Nephew Travelling Fellowship, which allowed him to spend a year working on the cellular mechanisms of bone resorption in St. Louis, USA. On returning to the United Kingdom, he worked as Honorary Lecturer in Geriatric Medicine at University College, London, before moving to Newcastle in 1986. He is now a Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and Consultant Physician at Freeman Hospital.

Professor Francis runs a large Bone Clinic and supervises a research programme examining the pathogenesis, sequelae and treatment of osteoporosis in men and women. He is Chairman of Medical Board of the National Osteoporosis Society (NOS) and served as Editor of the NOS journal Osteoporosis Review from 2001-07. He is also a Committee Member of the British Geriatrics Society Falls and Bone Health Section and is Editor in Chief of Age and Ageing.

Dr Louise Farrell graduated from UWA with MBBS.
She is an Obstetrician and Gynaecologist with principle interest in Colposcopy. Dr Farrell is Immediate Past President of ASCCP and Clinical Director of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Newborn Services St John of God Subiaco.

She is Director of Colposcopy King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women and RANZCOG Councilor and Chair of RANZCOG CPD Committee and Chair of C-QuIP.

Chris Bayly is Senior Clinical Adviser, Women’s Health, at the Royal Women’s Hospital, Melbourne. She is a gynaecologist with a clinical background across the fertility spectrum including infertility care, contraception and unintended pregnancy. She has interests in public health, health services research, policy, advocacy and project work. She has been actively involved in advocacy and service development to implement medical abortion with mifepristone in Australia when this is the best option for women.

Dr Chris Wever (MBBS, FRANZCP) is a child, adolescent and family psychiatrist. He currently works in private practice in Sydney and the Gold Coast. He has been in Private Practice for the last eight years.
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Dr Vanita Parekh is a senior staff specialist in sexual health and forensic medicine based at the Canberra Hospital. She is deputy director of the Canberra Sexual Health Centre, the medical coordinator of FAMSAC and the lead clinician of the Clinical Forensic Medicine Service.

She has a number of research interests within the areas of sexual assault and clinical forensic medicine. She holds a clinical lecturer position at the Australian National University and an honorary senior lecturer position at Monash University. Her qualifications include Fellowships of the Australasian Chapter of Sexual Health Medicine and Australian College of Legal Medicine, Masters in Forensic Medicine, Grad Cert in Higher Education, diplomas in Family planning and Venereology