Please note: all prices include GST
Includes lunch, beverages and fantastic speaking programme
* Tables of 10 include:

• One VIP branded table (each table seats a maximum of 10 guests)
• Opportunity to provide a door prize to be drawn during the luncheon

Moderator: Erica Bremner Kneipp, Deputy Chair, AusBiotech
Erica Bremner Kneipp’s experience spans several decades of work at all levels of government, the private and not-for-profit healthcare and life science sectors in Australia. From 2009-2019 she was a senior executive in the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care. She was instrumental in establishing the $500m+ Biomedical Translation Fund and the $20b Medical Research Future Fund, which effectively doubled Australia’s investment in health and medical research. She also led the national agenda on clinical trial reform enhanced by a collaborative industry forum. She has lead research praxis at the George Institute for Global Health with a focus on renal dialysis service delivery and spend time building capability and service offerings in rural and regional aged care in NSW during 2004-2009. She also worked for a decade with the Western Australian Department of Health building innovative models of care of high-cost interventions and remote service delivery, including renal dialysis. Erica is a committed advocate for Australian life sciences and passionate about research impact. She brings a unique perspective on innovation policy. In addition to being a Non-Executive Director on Brandan Biocatalyst she sits on the Board of AusBiotech and the Indigenous-led Board of the National Centre for Indigenous Genomics.

Karen Hood – Country Lead & General Manager, General Medicines, Sanofi Australia & New Zealand
With a career spanning more than 25 years, Karen is currently the Country Lead for Sanofi Australia & New Zealand, the General Manager of the company’s Australia & New Zealand General Medicines business and the Community Head for its General Medicines Foundation business in the Japan Pacific Region. Karen’s experience has seen her lead transformational organisational evolution with a focus on equitable access to innovative medicines and vaccines as a foundation of our country’s healthcare system. She is a passionate proponent of the healthcare industry, its commitment to patients and the ability of her team members to deliver on their shared purpose each day. As Country Lead, Karen has focused on building an inclusive workforce able to draw in and welcome diverse voices. She is a strong advocate for women in leadership and is an active member of Sanofi’s Women in Leadership Council for the Japan & Pacific Region. She is also a member of G20 Empower, an alliance among businesses and governments working to accelerate women’s leadership and empowerment. Karen is committed to growing Sanofi’s local and global leadership as a company that responsibly builds sustainable value within the communities it serves. Her long held attention to this is evidenced by the range of initiatives her team continues to lead across the areas of best practice community engagement, environmental sustainability, reconciliation and more. 

Dr Deborah Burnett – Group Leader & 2023 Premier’s Prize Winner for Early Career Researcher of the Year (Biological Sciences), Garvan Institute of Medical Research
Dr Deborah Burnett is an immunologist dedicated to advancing our understanding of the body’s protective immune responses. As co-lead of collaborative initiatives that span research institutions and hospitals, her focus is on enhancing vaccine efficacy against challenging infectious threats including those linked to autoimmune diseases. Deborah has made ground-breaking discoveries in antibody protection, which have resulted in the development of cutting-edge research platforms that evaluate vaccine responses against critical infectious threats. Her work has yielded publications in prestigious journals including Science, Cell and Immunity and she has filed several patents related to antibody and vaccine design. Deborah’s vaccine research has secured $6.7 million in competitive grant funding, including a National Health and Medical Research Council Investigator Grant, an NSW RNA Future Leaders Grant, and a Ramaciotti Award. Her outstanding contributions led to a highly commended Discovery Award from Research Australia in 2022 and in 2023 Deborah was awarded the Premier’s Prize for Early Career Researcher of the Year (Biological Sciences). Deborah’s is passionate about promoting gender equity and diversity in science, and in 2023 Deborah was announced as one of 5 Australian and New Zealand “Loreal-UNESCO For Women in Science” Fellows.

Professor Doug Hilton, AO – Chief Executive, CSIRO
Dr Doug Hilton AO commenced as CSIRO Chief Executive on September 29, 2023. Dr Hilton is a molecular and cellular biologist and previously Director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI). At WEHI, his medical research focussed on understanding how blood cells communicate and using this knowledge to improve disease treatments. He and his team held more than 20 patents and translated their research through collaboration with venture capitalists and the biopharmaceutical industry. Through an honorary appointment in the Zoology Department at University of Melbourne, he also studies a family of tiny day-flying moths involved in the pollination of Australian plants. Beyond research, Dr Hilton has emphasised the importance of strong institutional cultures, and furthered diversity in science including as a member of the Champion of Change Coalition and a board member of Australians Investing in Women.

Dr Terrance Fitzsimmons, Managing Director, Australian Gender Equality Council
Dr Fitzsimmons is the Managing Director of the Australian Gender Equality Council (AGEC), a body whose members comprise of peak national bodies representing 400,000 women across industry sectors in Australia. He is the director of the UQ AIBE Centre for Gender Equality in the Workplace. In February 2020 he released a report in partnership with the Australian Workplace Gender Equality Agency examining leading practices in progressing workplace gender equality in Australia. In 2021 he released the ‘Towards Board Gender Parity’ report with the Australian Institute of Company Directors examining how Australia became one of only three countries in the world to achieve 30%+ women on their ASX200 boards without recourse to legislated quotas. In July 2022 he released the ‘Experiences of COVID-19: The pandemic and work/life outcomes for Australian men and women.’ Looking at the gender differential experiences of COVID-19 on men and women.
He has published in the world’s leading journals on the topics of leadership and gender equality, advises many of Australia’s largest firms on issues of diversity and inclusion and speaks regularly in Australia and overseas on gender equality. He has served as national and state presidents of not-for-profit bodies as well as a being a director on boards of Listed Public Companies in Australia and overseas. He is currently as Associate Editor of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal.