BAKER INSTITUTE - Key Persons
Professor Andrew Murphy obtained a BSc Biotechnology (Hons) from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane. He then spent a year working on a commercial project for Professor Zee Upton at QUT for a wound healing company, Tissue Therapies. He then moved to Melbourne do conduct his PhD at the Baker Institute, funded by an industry scholarship from the Swiss biotech company Actelion. During this time he discovered an anti-inflammatory role for HDL on circulating monocytes and neutrophils both published in ATVB (collectively >270 citations). Andrew also holds an adjunct appointment at Department of Immunology and Department of Diabetes, Monash University.
Upon completing his PhD, Andrew moved to New York to commence a postdoctoral fellowship with one of the world leaders in HDL biology, Professor Alan Tall at Columbia University. During this time, he was funded by a prestigious American Heart Association Fellowship. His work shifted to examine the role of cholesterol efflux pathways on the proliferation and mobilisation of haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in the bone marrow. Specifically, he defined a cell intrinsic role for ApoE in regulating HSC proliferation and showed that increased numbers of circulating monocytes resulted in larger lesions, which was published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. He also discovered the haematopoietic role of the cholesterol transporter ABCG4 in platelet production and atherosclerosis, along with defining an important feedback loop for the thrombopoietin receptor c-MPL, published in Nature Medicine.
Professor Murphy also initiated a number of collaborations in New York, in particular with Professor Ira Goldberg and Professor Edward Fisher (NYU) along with Dr Prabhakara Nagareddy (UAB) to explore the mechanisms of diabetes (hyperglycaemia) on monocyte production. Using the novel glucose-lowering agent (SGLT2 inhibitors) they discovered that lowering blood glucose levels decreased circulating monocyte levels and facilitate atherosclerotic lesion regression. They discovered the damage associated molecular pattern molecules as important mediators of this event. These studies published in Cell Metabolism have trigger an extensive and collaborative research program run by these investigators.
In 2013, Professor Murphy was recruited back to the Institute and was funded by the prestigious Viertel Award from Diabetes Research Trust Australia where he began to build his research team. Professor Murphy is an NHMRC Career Development Fellow and a National Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellow and holds Project Grants from the NHMRC. He currently has over 50 publications including those in Nature Medicine, Cell Stem Cell, Cell Metabolism, Journal of Clinical Investigation and European Heart Journal.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor
- Associate Professor André La Gerche
- Cardiologist
Andre is a cardiologist specialising in cardiac imaging, a Future Leadership Fellow of the National Heart Foundation and a NHMRC Career Development Fellow. He completed a PhD at the University of Melbourne and 4 years of postdoctoral research studying the effect of endurance exercise on the heart at the University Hospital of Leuven, Belgium, where he is a Visiting Professor.
He works as a cardiologist at St Vincent's Hospital in Melbourne and provides cardiology services through the Baker Institute's Specialist Clinics.
Andre is interested in the interaction between exercise and heart function and wants to develop more effective methods for studying the heart when it is being exerted during exercise. He has developed novel echocardiographic and cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging methodologies for assessment of the right ventricle and pulmonary circulation during exercise. These have been applied to the assessment of heart failure, congenital heart disease, pulmonary hypertension and athletes. He has over 160 peer -review publications and text-book chapters including publications in Circulation and the European Heart Journal.
Among the studies being conducted by Andre and his team is a pivotal international prospective longitudinal Pro@Heart study. This study will detail the evolution of exercise-induced cardiac remodelling (athlete's heart) amongst elite junior endurance athletes. It will quantify individual variance in the extent and rate of development of athlete's heart, identify its genetic determinants and assess clinical outcomes. The study will be conducted over 25 years, enabling the long-term health benefits of endurance sports training to be assessed.
Andre is well known for his research within Australia's elite sporting communities and he is regularly asked to provide expert comment or to present to health professionals, community, sporting groups and the media. Andre is the Director of the National Centre for Sports Cardiology, a strategic partnership between clinical researchers who specialise in sports cardiology.
Achievements
Chair of the Filippo and Maria Casella Cardiology Centre of Excellence (2022-2027)
Awards
Baker Institute Sir Laurence Muir Prize for Outstanding Medical Research (2018)
Pulmonary Hypertension Society of Australia and New Zealand Annual Scientific Meeting, best research abstract (2017)
ESC Congress Moderated Poster Prize, Amsterdam (2013)
Pfizer Cardiovascular Lipid Research Award (2008)
TJ Martin Medal - doctoral thesis award (2011)
CSANZ Ralph Reader Clinical Research Prize (2010)
Job Titles:
- Research Staff Member
- Adjunct Professor at Monash University
- Professor
Professor Kaye's research examines the pathophysiology of heart failure, with a particular emphasis on identifying novel mechanisms that can be targeted for therapeutic intervention.
Professor Kaye is an Adjunct Professor at Monash University with over 420 peer reviewed publications in top tier journals.
Currently, a major area of Professor Kaye's research interest is a form of heart failure termed HFpEF (heart failure with preserved ejection fraction). The major problem in this condition is stiffening of the heart muscle. Professor Kaye and his team have identified several key mechanisms that can lead to HFpEF in human studies and in experimental models. These include the effects of aging, high blood pressure and altered gut health. Professor Kaye is also testing the effectiveness of several new treatments that have arisen from this work, including an oral medicine for end stage heart failure.
Professor Kaye has been highly successful in the generation of intellectual property leading to commercial and clinical outcomes, this has resulted in his appointment as Chair of the medical advisory boards for Osprey Medical and Cardiora Pty Ltd.
Achievements
Eureka Prize for Medical Research Translation (2012)
Co-founder, Osprey Medical, USA
Co-founder, Cardiac Dimensions Inc, USA
RT Hall Prize, Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (2007)
Eric Sussman Prize for Research Excellence, College of Physicians (2003)
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President, Organisation Transformation and External Affairs at CSL Limited
- Vice President, R & D
Dr Andrea Douglas is the Vice President, R&D Strategy and External Affairs at CSL Limited
Before joining CSL Andrea was the CEO of the Gene CRC and previously a senior researcher at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute.
Andrea has a PhD degree in Forensic Medicine from Monash University, holds a Master's degree in Health Administration and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She is a Director of BioCurate and the WILD Advisory Board and was a Director of AusBiotech from 2013-2019.
Andrea is Chair of the Institute's Commercial Issues Committee.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor
- Head of the Human Integrative Physiology
- Research Staff
Erin is the head of the Human Integrative Physiology lab, co-lead of the Physical Activity Program and also the co-chair of Research Training and Education Committee at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute. She is an honorary senior research fellow in the Department of Cardiometabolic Medicine at the University of Melbourne and School of Public Health and Preventative Medicine at Monash University. After receiving her PhD from the University of Queensland in 2012, Erin completed 4 years of postdoctoral training at the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine a world renowned institute for study of human clinical and integrative physiology. In 2020, Erin was awarded a prestigious Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellowship and was recognised by the Baker Institute as an Emerging Leader through the award of the "Sir Laurence Muir" Prize.
Erin's background is in clinical exercise physiology with further training in cardiovascular imaging and invasive haemodynamics. Her program of research seeks to enhance the prevention and treatment of cardiometabolic disease in at risk groups through developing innovative multidisciplinary approaches, with a particular focus on "exercise as medicine". The main impact of more effective therapeutic strategies will be lower health care expenditure, improved quality of life and reduced morbidity and lower mortality associated with cardiovascular disease. Her research combines ‘state-of-the-art' cardiac and vascular imaging approaches, exercise testing and classic hemodynamic techniques and big data/bioinformatics approaches to gain a deeper understanding of human integrative physiology. Erin's diverse research program aims to improve outcomes for those at risk of heart failure, to do this her team investigates the mechanisms of exercise intolerance in at risk individuals and efficacy of novel treatment strategies.
Erin's most seminal work to date showed that exercise training is an effective countermeasure to prevent the cardiovascular effects of sedentary aging, which was published in Circulation in 2018. She has also recently led the development of a tool to characterise exercise limitations via a novel approach which phenotypes the oxygen pathway which was also published in Circulation in 2021.
Achievements
Baker Institute Emerging Leader Fellow (2018-2019)
Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellow (2020-2023)
Awards
Baker Institute Sir Laurence Muir Prize for Outstanding Medical Research (2020)
1000 Mile Travel Award (2019)
CSANZ Travel Award (2018)
CASS Travel Award (2018)
Carolyn Thomson Travel Award (2018)
American Physiological Society select award for distinction in scholarship (2015)
John Sutton Award for Best New Investigator - Performance Enhancement and Basic Science (2009)
Job Titles:
- Relationship Manager, Corporate Partnerships
Julie McMullen PhD heads the Cardiac Hypertrophy laboratory at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, and is recognised internationally for research which has defined the molecular distinction between physiological and pathological heart growth (cardiac hypertrophy) in preclinical models of health and disease.
Her research aims to advance understanding of cardiovascular conditions such as heart failure at a molecular level to enhance treatments for this condition, which is rapidly increasing in Australia and globally.
She is fascinated by the idea that the heart enlarges in elite athletes or those who exercise a lot, and this heart growth is good. However, on the other hand, the heart also enlarges in people with heart disease or heart failure and this heart growth is bad. Her work aims to help define which genes are responsible for good or bad heart growth. She discovered that a signalling pathway activated with exercise (i.e. IGF1-PI3K pathway) was critical for physiological hypertrophy (e.g. athlete's heart) but not pathological hypertrophy (e.g. setting of hypertension). She has over 15 years' experience in the generation and characterisation of genetic and surgical preclinical models of cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure, and expertise related to IGF1-PI3K signalling in the heart. She believes activating this pathway in a setting of heart failure could provide a promising therapeutic strategy for this condition.
More recently she has developed novel therapies based on her findings in genetic mouse models involving adeno-associated virus (AAV) technology, RNA interference approaches, and small molecules. Other research interests include atrial fibrillation and cardiotoxicity.
Professor McMullen graduated from the School of Physiology and Pharmacology at the University of New South Wales. She then trained as a Cardiology Research Fellow at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre and Harvard Medical School in Boston. During this time she gained experience generating and characterising cardiac specific transgenic mice. In 2005, Professor McMullen established her own laboratory at the Baker Institute. Professor McMullen is currently supported by an NHMRC Research Fellowship. She sits on the Editorial Board of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology and Clinical Science, Scientific Committee of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand, and is a Fellow of the American Heart Association and International Society for Heart Research.
In 2017, she was appointed as Head of Discovery and Preclinical Domain at the Baker Institute; overseeing 8 research laboratories. In 2019, she became co-lead of the Hypertension and Cardiac Disease Program at the Baker Institute. She also co-chairs the Institute's Research Quality Steering Committee and chairs the Animal Ethics Governance and Policy Committee.
Memberships
Founding member, Australian Cardiovascular Alliance (2015-present)
Founding member, Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (2013-present)
Associate editor, Journal of American College of Cardiology (2013-present)
Deputy editor, JACC-Cardiovascular Imaging (2008-present)
Job Titles:
- Corporate Affairs Executive
- Owns and Operates Successful Corporate Affairs Consultancy, Stinton Advisory / More Info
Ben is a leading corporate affairs executive with more than 25 years' experience in media, communications and government relations.
Ben has worked with some of Australia's largest companies and advises CEOs, non-executive directors and significant public figures on media, government, reputation and stakeholder engagement.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Chairman of the Board
- AM Is a Senior Adviser for Gresham Partners
He has more than 30 years' experience in providing financial advice to large Australian companies and governments.
He was a member of the Australian Takeovers Panel from 2002 to 2014 and the New Zealand Takeovers Panel from 2008 to 2014. He served as a director of the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes (AAMRI) from 2013 until 2019 and as Chairman of the Medical Research Future Action Group in 2014 and 2015.
Job Titles:
- Senior Advisor
- Senior Advisor With the Australian
Mr Robert Nicholson is a senior advisor with Herbert Smith Freehills
He was a member of the Freehills board between 2000 and 2011 and was Chairman between 2008 and 2011. He is a director of Alinta Energy; Port of Melbourne, owned by Future Fund and funds managed by QIC Limited, Global Infrastructure Partners and Ontario Municipal Retirement Scheme; Landcare Australia Limited; and the Nucleus Network Group.
Job Titles:
- Director of BHP Limited
- Director of BHP Limited, ANZ and Stockland
Ms Christine O'Reilly is a director of BHP Limited, Medibank Private and Stockland
She was Co-head of Unlisted Infrastructure at Colonial First State Global Asset Management from 2007 to 2012 and prior to that Chief Executive Officer of the GasNet Australia Group. Christine serves on the Institute's Audit and Risk Management Committee, the Remuneration and Appointments Committee and the Investment Committee.
Kate Metcalf is a senior solicitor operating her own legal practice and is also a sessional Member at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal
She is a Trustee of the Baker Foundation and a Director of Boroondara Aged Services Society, BASS Care. She has previously held positions as the Legal Director Asia, General Counsel Australia and New Zealand, Director and Company Secretary of Carestream Health Australia Pty Ltd, and Senior Counsel and Company Secretary Kodak (Australasia) Pty Ltd. Kate serves on the Institute's Commercial Issues Committee.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Executive Director in Corporate Advisory Division at Goldman Sachs
Marina Kelman is an Executive Director in corporate advisory division at Goldman Sachs
She was formerly CFO of MLC Life Insurance. Prior to joining MLC, she worked in senior roles at NAB and UBS Investment Bank. Marina is the Chair of the Institute's Audit and Risk Management Committee.
She is a member of the Finance Committee of the State Library of Victoria. Marina is a CPA. She is a member of the Australian Takeovers Panel.
Job Titles:
- Research Staff Member
- Professor