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Committee
Cassandra Griffin
President
Cassandra manages NSW Regional Biospecimen and Research Services at the University of Newcastle, NSW. She has held this position since early 2018 and has contributed to the growth and diversification of the Hunter Cancer Biobank and Mark Hughes Foundation Brain Bank with support from NSW Health...
Georget Reaiche-Miller
Vice President
Dr. Georget Reaiche-Miller received her Bachelor of Science and Honours degree in 2003 in the area of Microbiology and Immunology at The University of Adelaide. In 2008 she completed her PhD in Virology at the School of Molecular and Biomedical Science, The University of Adelaide. She was a full...
Leanne Wallace
Co-Treasurer
Leanne Wallace is the laboratory manager in the Human Studies Unit (HSU) for the Program in Complex Trait Genomics (PCTG) at Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland. Leanne was a founding member of the HSU laboratory established in February 2016. Leanne drew from her 20 years...
Louise Ludlow
Co-Treasurer
Louise manages the Children’s Cancer Centre Biobank at The Royal Children’s Hospital and Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne. Louise has been in this role since she was given the opportunity to establish the biobank in 2013. She strives to provide high quality, clinically annotated...
Samantha Higgins
Secretary
Samantha is currently the Quality Manager of the Victorian Cancer Biobank (VCB), a network of five Tissue Banks together with a Central Operations node located across Metropolitan Melbourne. Samantha uses her 14+ years of experience working as a Scientist in ISO-accredited forensic laboratories and...
Valerie Jakrot
Digital Media Officer
Starting in clinical trials Val moved to manage the biospecimen bank at Melanoma Institute Australia in 2010. In 2019 Val now oversees the collaborative research projects of MIA, their governance, reporting frameworks and funding (government and community grants). Val’s background is nursing and...
Ussha Pillai
Digital Media Officer
Ussha is a project officer at UNSW working with the Office of the Pro Vice Chancellor for Research Infrastructure and UNSW Biospecimen Services to support the planning and operation of the new Integrated Acute Services Building being built within the Randwick Health & Innovation Precinct. She...
Chris Gorman
Ordinary Member
Chris biobanks clinical samples from observational and interventional clinical trials in paediatric, adolescent and adult populations. And even the occasional non-human sample too. Chris coordinates the Biospecimen Service (BioSpecs) at Telethon Kids Institute, Perth Children’s Hospital. He is...
Anusha Hettiaratchi
Ordinary Member
Anusha is the manager at the UNSW Biorepository, located within the Lowy Cancer Centre, as part of the Mark Wainwright Analytical Centre at UNSW. She has over 13 years’ experience as a bench scientist, and uses skills learnt and refined during this time to now enable research through the services...
Jennie Hui
Ordinary Member
Jennie is a molecular geneticist whose primary training was in the field of Immunogenetics. She is the Director for the Busselton Population and Medical Research Institute (BPMRI) Laboratory and an Adjunct Associate Professor at the School of Population and Global Health at the University of Western...
Catherine Kennedy
Ordinary Member
Catherine is the manager of the Gynaecological Oncology Biobank (GynBiobank) at Westmead Hospital and The Westmead Institute for Medical Research, NSW. She has held this position since 2005. During this time, the GynBiobank has achieved significant growth with support provided, in part, by the ABN...
Carmel Quinn
Ordinary Member
Carmel holds a BSc(Hons) in Biology and a DPhil in microbiology from the University of York, UK. She spent 5 years at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, before moving to Sydney. After spending several years as a molecular-cell biologist in cardiovascular research at the...
Helen Tsimiklis
Ordinary Member
After completing a Bachelor of Science (Hons), Helen commenced as a research assistant at the Royal Melbourne Hospital where she supported research in acute leukaemia and reprogramming of stem cells. In 2000, she moved to the University of Melbourne and joined a research group focussed on...
Duncan Villanueva
Ordinary Member
Duncan is the Data Systems Manager for the Victorian Cancer Biobank (VCB), a collaborative network of geographically dispersed tissue banks across metropolitan Melbourne. In 2018, Duncan began leading the implementation, management, and improvement of research and biobanking information systems...
Shirley Wee
Ordinary Member
Dr Shirley Wee is a clinical research fellow with Menzies Health Institute Queensland (MHIQ), Griffith University. Following a career in advertising, marketing and promotions in South East Asia and Japan, she settled in Australia where she achieved a First Class Honours in Biomedical Science, a...
Li Zhou
Ordinary Member
Li was a registered paediatrician in China. After she obtained her PhD from University of Sydney in 2011, she worked as postdoctoral research officer for 2 years before she stepped into biobanking field. This year is her 7 years full time working as Project Officer with The Tumour Bank at The...
2023 Conference Organising Committee
The Conference Organising Committee is responsible for planning all aspects of ABNA's annual conference. This committee comprises ABNA members from the conference city who volunteer for this role as well as members of the the current Management Committee. The Conference Organising Committee is...
2023 Sub-Committees
Bio-Babble - Anusha Hettiaratchi, Cassandra Griffin, Georget Reaiche, Shirley Wee, Louise Ludlow, Carmel Quinn
Disaster Recovery - Helen Tsimiklis, Samantha Higgins, Ricky Williams, Louise Ludlow, Duncan Villanueva, Georget Reaiche, Cassandra Griffin
Publications - Catherine Kennedy, Louise Ludlow, Jennie Hui, Val Jakrot, Cassandra Griffin
Seminar Series - Helen Tsimiklis, Chris Gorman, Li Zhou, Ussha Pillai, Jennie Hui, Cassandra Griffin