Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
USA
I am the vice chair for Academic Affairs and director of the Skull Base and Pituitary Surgery Programs at the OSUCCC – James. I joined The Ohio State University in 2010 and became a professor in 2017. My medical journey began in Brazil, where I attended medical school and finished my residency. I then completed a fellowship in neuroendocrine and pituitary surgery at the University of Virginia and another in skull base and cerebrovascular surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. I specialize in brain and skull base tumors, and I am a pioneer in endoscopic endonasal approach (EEA) and other minimally invasive techniques for brain tumor removal. I am one of only a few neurosurgeons in the world who have performed more than 1,000 EEA cases. This technique allows surgeons to access the base of the skull, the intracranial cavity and the top of the spine by operating through the nose and paranasal sinuses. My current research focuses on developing minimally invasive approaches to the brain and skull base that will result in the best surgical tumor resection possible with the least amount of disruption to normal tissue. Our individualized patient approach, combined with opportunities for research, makes The James a very fulfilling place to work. There are few places that offer the types of highly specialized surgery that we do, and I’m proud to be a part of our patients’ care.
Daniel M. Prevedello, M.D., MBA
Professor
Co-Director, Skull Base Surgery Fellowship
Director, Comprehensive Skull Base Center at The James
Director, Pituitary Surgery Program
The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
Royal Adelaide and Women's & Children's Hospitals
SA Australia
A/Professor Amal Abou-Hamden is a Senior Consultant Paediatric & Adult Neurosurgeon and Director of Cerebrovascular & Skullbase fellowship program based at the Royal Adelaide and Women’s & Children’s Hospitals.
She completed her Neurosurgery training in Adelaide and Melbourne and subsequently completed 3 post-FRACS fellowships including CerebrovascularSurgery and Paediatric Neurosurgery at The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto.
She has served as SET Supervisor of Training, is active in clinical research and post-graduate student supervision and is currently Neurosurgery Examiner at the RACS Neurosurgery Court of Examiners and Chair of RACS, SA.
Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital
QLD Australia
Hamish Alexander is Neurosurgeon and Spine Surgeon based in Brisbane, Australia.
Dr Alexander is Director of Neurosurgery at Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital in Queensland. He is also a senior lecturer in the Department of Medicine, University of Queensland and a clinical associate with the Sid Faithful Brain Cancer Laboratory, QIMR Berghofer.
Dr Alexander completed his specialist neurosurgical training in New Zealand and Australia having earned undergraduate degrees in neuroscience and medicine at Otago University, NZ. He attained Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 2016. Neuro-oncology and Skull base surgery are the focus of Dr Alexander’s clinical and research work. He was awarded an M.Phil degree from the University of Queensland in 2015 for research on Immunotherapy for Glioblastoma. Following training he undertook a prestigious neurosurgical-oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York, USA in 2017.
New Zealand Society for Endocrinology
New Zealand
Dr Richard Carroll is an Endocrinologist in Wellington, New Zealand and the current President of the New Zealand Society for Endocrinology (NZSE). His clinical and research interests include primary aldosteronism and adrenal disorders, pituitary and neuroendocrine tumours, and inherited endocrine disorders. He is the primary co-investigator of the national RED (Rare endocrine disorders) and FERNZ (Familial endocrine disorders) registries.
John Hunter Children's Hospital
NSW Australia
Patricia Crock is a Senior Paediatric Endocrinologist at the John Hunter Children’s Hospital and Clinical Conjoint Professor at the University of Newcastle. Tricia graduated from the University of Melbourne and trained at the Karolinska, Stockholm, Sweden and at the Montreal Children’s Hospital and McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada. Her expertise includes the diagnosis and management of congenital hypothalamic and pituitary disorders and polyglandular endocrine autoimmunity. She is involved in a range of international and national research collaborations with a focus on molecular genetics. Tricia has served on a number of Committees in Specialist Societies, including as President of APEG (Australasian Paediatric Endocrine Group – now ANZSPED, Australian and New Zealand Society of Paediatric Endocrinology) and hopes to inspire younger Paediatric Endocrinologists to attend this wonderful meeting.
Royal Adelaide Hospital
SA Australia
Assoc Prof Sunita De Sousa is a Senior Staff Specialist in Endocrinology and Genetics at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Adelaide. Her PhD on prolactinomas was awarded in 2020, receiving the University of Adelaide Doctoral Research Medal. Her postdoctoral research now focuses on monogenic diabetes and hereditary pancreatitis in addition to ongoing work in pituitary tumours. She is a PhD supervisor and sits on the Adelaide Medical School Clinician PhD Pathway Panel. She is an elected member of the Endocrine Society of Australia Council, and an appointed committee member in the Pituitary Society, ClinGen and eviQ. She is also the founder and Chair of EndoGen – an Australian network of endocrine genetic centres which runs a regular national endocrine genetics MDT meeting. She has over 40 publications and her funding to date totals approx. $3m as a lead or co-investigator, including grants/fellowships from the MRFF and NHMRC. Her current work includes co-chairing the ANZ guidelines on genetic testing for monogenic diabetes as an interdisciplinary collaboration between endocrinologists, clinical geneticists and genetic pathologists.
Icon Group
QLD
Associate Professor Matthew Foote is a Radiation Oncologist who is an internationally recognised specialist in the management of brain tumours, including pituitary tumours. Having completed his specialist training in Brisbane in 2009, A/Prof Foote undertook further sub-specialist training in stereotactic (brain and spine) radiosurgery and neuro-oncology at the world-renowned Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto.
Commencing at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in 2010 and Greenslopes Private Hospital in 2012, A/Prof Foote has extensive experience in the multidisciplinary management of pituitary and parasellar tumours. He established and is Co-Director of the Gamma Knife Centre of Queensland, is a founding member and current Chair of the Stereotactic Interest Group of Australasia (SIGA) and is current Chair of the International Clinical Research Subcommittee (ICRS) of the Cooperative Trials Group for Neuro-Oncology (COGNO). He is a board member of the International Stereotactic Radiosurgery Society (ISRS) and was awarded University of Toronto Alumnus of the Year, 2019, in recognition of services to the field of radiation oncology. A/Prof Foote is experienced in the development and completion of practice changing clinical trials and has authored over 70 peer-reviewed publications, many in the field of brain tumour.
A/Prof Foote is a specialist who is committed to providing patient focussed care and is at the forefront of innovative radiotherapy practice.
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
VIC Australia
Dr Neda Haghighi graduated from the faculty of health sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. After gaining the FRANZCR, she completed an extended Fellowship in intra-cranial and extra-cranial Stereotactic Radiotherapy at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne.
She leads the Victorian Gamma Knife service and the neuro-oncology unit at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and holds a position as a senior Radiation Oncologist at Icon Cancer Centre. Dr Haghighi is involved as a primary investigator and co-investigator of international and local clinical trials, relating to radiation treatment and radiosurgery for primary and secondary brain tumors. Dr Haghighi has published several peer reviewed journal articles in high impact neuro-oncology journals. She is an active member of International Society of Radiosurgery (ISRS), International Radiosurgery Research Foundation (IRRF), Trans Tasmanian Radiation Oncology Group (TROG), and Cooperative Trials Group for Neuro-Oncology (COGNO). DR Haghighi chairs the Stereotactic Interest Group of Australasia (SIGA) and is a committee member on CNS disease specific interest groups. She possesses superior knowledge in management of tumors of the brain and spine with special interest in radiosurgery for the treatment of skull base tumors as well as functional neurological disorders.
Princess Alexandra Hospital
QLD Australia
Dr Michael Huo is a Radiation Oncologist at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane, Australia. He completed a 12-month clinical fellowship in Stereotactic Radiosurgery and Palliative Radiotherapy at the Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto in 2018, followed by an appointment as the inaugural Gamma Knife Fellow at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in 2019. He commenced as a Staff Specialist at the Gamma Knife Centre of Queensland in 2020 and subspecialises in radiosurgery for brain metastases and benign intracranial conditions.
Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital
QLD Australia
Dr Christina Jang is an endocrinologist at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and a Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland. She trained in Melbourne and worked at St Vincent’s Hospital before relocating to Brisbane in 2011. Her MD thesis studied the role of 11bHSD1 in skeletal muscle. She has expertise in female reproductive endocrinology and is currently President-Elect of the Australasian Menopause Society. She also has a clinical interest in pituitary disease.
Princess Alexandra Hospital
QLD Australia
Dr Andrew Pullar is a Radiation Oncologist having worked at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane since 2006. He is the Director of ROPART (Radiation Oncology Princess Alexandra Hospital Raymond Terrace).
He completed his MBBS through the University of Queensland in 1995. After admission to the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists in 2005, Dr Pullar’s primary focus has been delivering optimal radiation management of patients across all age spectrums with a primary focus on CNS malignancies. He has extensive experience in delivering conventional fractionated conformal radiation therapy and stereotactic techniques. His work also entails providing radiationoncology services for the Queensland Children's Hospital and Mater Health Services, South Brisbane. Dr Pullar has been involved in a range of international and national paediatric and adult research collaborations.
He is a senior lecturer for The University of Queensland and Visiting Lecturer at The Queensland University of Technology.
Dr Andrew Pullar is committed to delivering patient focussed care with the aim of optimal precision therapies.
Royal Adelaide Hospital
SA Australia
Dr Frank Saran is a senior radiation oncologist with a large experience in both conventional conformal radiation therapy, radiosurgery and medical oncology. He is an internationally recognised expert in the area of precision radiotherapy and novel systemic treatments in combination with radiotherapy.
Frank’s main academic focus is improving survival while minimising treatment related side effects for patients diagnosed with rare cancers.
Following completion of his training in Germany he obtained his MD degree in 1994 and was admitted as a Fellow to the Royal College of Radiologist (UK) in 2004 and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists in 2022. He moved to the UK in 1996 where after a fellowship in paediatric radiation oncology was appointed as consultant oncologist at Velindre Hospital in Cardiff in 1998. He moved to the Royal Marsden Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in London in 2001 where he headed for nearly two decades the Neuro-Oncology unit and Neuro-Oncology research group as well working as a senior radiation oncologist in the paediatric and sarcoma tumour streams.
Frank was appointed in 2018 as senior medical officer at Auckland City Hospital where he temporarily acted as service clinical director before moving to Adelaide in 2023. Dr Saran currently practices at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and Lyell McEwin Hospital.
Throughout his career, Dr Saran has maintained a continuing and active interest in research, quality improvement and guideline development. With over 120 peer reviewed articles and dozens of book chapters he has held – amongst others – key positions or made significant contributions to the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE), NHS England, the Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group (CCLG), the International Society of Paediatric Oncology of Europe (SIOP-E) and the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) as well as a founding member of the Paediatric Radiation Oncology Society (PROS).
Dr Saran’s work with the Australian Bragg Centre for Proton Therapy and Research (ABCPTR) will focus on exploring the clinical benefits of proton radiotherapy and the integration of proton radiotherapy into the rare cancer management.
Women's and Children's Hospital
SA Australia
Elaine Tham is a Paediatric Endocrinologist and Medical Unit Head of the Endocrinology and Diabetes Department at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Adelaide. She completed her Paediatric Endocrinology training in Adelaide and Vancouver and achieved a Masters in Medical Science in 2004. She has a broad clinical interest and is involved in the clinical care of children with diabetes and endocrine disorders.
Royal Melbourne Hospital
VIC Australia
Michael Wei is a Neurosurgery Registrar working at the Royal Melbourne Hospital in Victoria. He completed his Doctor of Medicine and Graduate Diploma in Surgical Anatomy at the University of Melbourne and is completing his Master of Surgery at the University of Sydney this year.
Royal Melbourne Hospital
VIC Australia
Dr. Yi Chen Zhao is a Rhinologist and anterior skull base surgeon at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. He is also the head of the rhinology clinics at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital. He completed his fellowship in anterior skull base surgery with Prof PJ Wormald. His research interest includes anterior skull base surgery and repair.