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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...
Helen Tsimiklis
Co-Treasurer
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...
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...
Ussha Pillai
Secretary
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...
Nina D'Vaz
Ordinary Member
Nina holds an Honours degree in Biological Science from the University of Copenhagen and has completed PhD in Clinical Immunology through University of Western Australia. She has worked in laboratories for over 20 years and her experience includes recombinant protein generation, Murine tissue...
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...
Samantha Higgins
Ordinary Member
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
Ordinary Member
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...
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...
Louise Ludlow
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...
Wayne Ng
Ordinary Member
Wayne is the General Manager for the Victorian Cancer Biobank (VCB) consortium where he oversees the unique collaborative state-wide biobanking infrastructure that supports biomedical research and innovation. Under his leadership, the VCB has successfully undergone a transition into new governance...
Shirley Wee
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...
2022 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...
2022 Sub-Committees
Bio-Babble - Anusha Hettiaratchi, Cassandra Griffin, Georget Reaiche, Shirley Wee
Disaster Recovery - Leanne Wallace, Samantha Higgins, Georget Reaiche, Helen Tsimiklis, Cassandra Griffin
Publications - Catherine Kennedy, Anusha Hettiaratchi, Leanne Wallace, Georget Reaiche, Wayne Ng, Cassandra Griffin
Digital Media - Shirley Wee, Ussha Pillai, Valerie Jakrot, Georget Reaiche, Anusha Hettiaratchi, Cassandra Griffin, Li Zhou