Burnet Director and CEO Professor Brendan Crabb AC will join a new panel of leaders chosen to boost investment and jobs in Victorian health and medical research.

Fourteen members will sit on the new Science, Medical Research and Technology Panel, advising on ways to attract further funding for medical research, protect intellectual property, and translate and commercialise research.

The panel, announced by Victorian Health Minister Jill Hennessy, will be led by Ms Brigitte Smith, Co-founder and Managing Director of GSB Venture Partners as the inaugural Chair, with Professor Kathryn North, AM, Director of Murdoch Children’s Research Institute as the Deputy Chair.

The panel is made up of:

• Ms Brigitte Smith – Co-founder and Managing Director of GSB Venture Partners
• Professor Kathryn North AM – Director of the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute
• Dr Amanda Caples – Victoria’s Lead Scientist
• Professor Alan Trounson – Distinguished Scientist at the Hudson Institute
• Professor Brendan Crabb AC – Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Burnet Institute
• Professor Bronwyn Kingwell – Head of the Metabolic and Vascular Physiology Laboratory Program at Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute
• Mr Frank McGuire – Parliamentary Secretary for Medical Research
• Dr George Morstyn – Chairman of Biomedical Research Victoria
• Dr Jackie Fairley – Chief Executive Officer of Starpharma Holdings
• Dr Jenny Petering – Of Counsel at FB Rice, Patent Attorneys
• Dr Kerry Hegarty – Business Development Director at the University of Melbourne
• Dr Rob Grenfell – Director of CSIRO, Health and Biosecurity
• Professor Sharon Lewin – Director of the Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity
• Mr Simon McKeon AO – Chancellor of Monash University.

Minister Hennessy said the government hoped to further grow Victoria’s vibrant health and medical research sector.

Parliamentary Secretary for Medical Research Frank McGuire said he was proud to join a panel of experts whose work would ensure the state’s first-class medical research sector remained globally competitive.