NSW SOUTH WALES:

Assoc Prof John D. Yeo, AO MB MS DPRM FRACS FACRM FAFRM

Honorary Director, SpinalCure Australia.
Honorary Medical Officer, Spinal Injuries Unit,
Royal North Shore Hospital, NSW.
Consultant in Rehabilitation at Dalcross Private Hospital, Killara, NSW.
Retired Director, The Spinal Research Foundation.

Dr Sue Rutkowski, MBBS

Director, Spinal Cord Injuries Outpatient Services and Research, Royal North Shore Hospital.
Co-Investigator on Prof Phil Waite's NSW Premier's SCI and other Neurological conditions Grant.
Understanding how the brain wires up during development and how it can be rewired after injury is essential if we are to help conditions like paraplegia and dementia.
Cutting edge imaging, and physiological and microscopic techniques tackle clinically relevant issues such as SCI and brain damage in traffic accidents.

Dr Stella Engel, MBBS DPRM FAFRM

Associate Director, Prince Henry Spinal Unit.

QUEENSLAND:

Prof Perry Bartlett, FAA

Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.
Foundation Chair of Molecular Neuroscience, University of Queensland.
Director, Queensland Brain Institute.
President, Australian Neuroscience Society.
QBI researchers are claiming a breakthrough in spinal regeneration research with the discovery of a molecule that blocks regrowth of damaged nerve processes.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA:

Assoc Prof Ida Llewellyn-Smith, AB PhD

Research on the role of nerve pathways in autonomic functions - those functions over which we have little, if any, conscious control. Prospects for improving bowel, bladder and sexual dysfunction among people with spinal cord injuries.

Dr Ruth Marshall, MBBS DPRM FACRM FAFRM (RACP)

Director, Orthopaedic, Amputee & Spinal Injuries, Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre.

VICTORIA:

Professor Mary Galea, PhD

Professor of Clinical Physiotherapy; Director, Rehabilitation Sciences Research Centre - The University of Melbourne and Austin & Repatriation Medical Centre.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA:

Dr B. Kakulas, AO MD(Hons) FRACP FROpath FRCPA

Professor of Neuropathology, Royal Perth Hospital.

Assoc Prof Alan Harvey, MA PhD

Royal Perth Hospital. Dept Anatomy & Human Biology.

Prof Lyn Beazley, MA PhD

Principal Research Fellow NH&MRC, Chairman Medical & Scientific Committee, ABF (WA) Department of Zoology, The University of Western Australia.

Prof Sarah Dunlop, PhD

Professorial Fellow (Research), Senior Research Fellow, NH&MRC, School of Animal Biology, The University of Western Australia.

Mr J. Ker, MB Bch(Hons) FRCS FACRM FAFRM

Director, Sir George Bedbrook Spinal Unit.

GERMANY:

Prof Mellitta Schachner-Camartin

Institute of Biosynthesis, University of Hamburg.
Formation of the appropriate connections among nerve cells is essential for the correct and efficient functioning of the nervous system. It is through very specialized interactions between the different neural cell types that such connections are formed during development, maintained or modified in the adult, and reformed or even prevented after trauma.

UNITED KINGDOM:

Prof James W. Fawcett, FRCP PhD MRCP BA

Cambridge University Centre for Brain Repair.

USA:

Prof Fred H. Gage

Laboratory of Genetics at Salk Institute,California.
Concentrates on the adult central nervous system and unexpected plasticity and adaptability to environmental stimulation that remains throughout the life of all mammals.
Gage's lab showed that, contrary to accepted dogma, human beings are capable of growing new nerve cells throughout life.

Prof Dennis D.M. O'Leary

Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory, Salk Instutute, California.
Studies genes that guide brain development in the growing embryo. He focuses on the genes that orchestrate cell identity and arrange connections in the cortex, the part of the brain that controls perception, reasoning and voluntary actions.