Buddhila Wickramasinghe is a third-year PhD candidate in the Hypertension and Diabetes division at the Centre for Cardiovascular Biology and Disease Research, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. Her research focuses on understanding the role of the immune system in hypertension and chronic kidney disease by utilizing various animal models and in vitro techniques. As she continues to develop her research profile, she has presented her work at both national and international conferences, including the High Blood Pressure Research Council of Australia ASM and International Society of Hypertension Scientific Sessions. In addition to her research, Buddhila advocates for HDR students as the student representative for the Cardiovascular SIG of ASCEPT. She is also dedicated to promoting STEM education and inspiring the next generation of scientists by engaging with primary and high school students.

Claudia Sim is a final-year PhD candidate from the Respiratory Pharmacology Laboratory at Monash University. Her research seeks to establish novel methods and metrics to quantify silica in alveolar macrophages and proteomic profiling of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) from silicosis patients. Her work aims to deepen the understanding of disease mechanisms, establish ex vivo models of silicosis using human precision-cut lung slices for therapeutic testing, uncover potential biomarkers, and improve differential diagnosis in interstitial lung diseases. Claudia has presented her work at both national and international conferences. As an active member of the respiratory research community, she collaborates with industry partners like Owlstone Medical to advance breath-based diagnostics to support early disease detection, with an aim to empower individuals and healthcare providers to make timely, informed health decisions.

Joshua is a clinical pharmacist and PhD candidate from the University of Newcastle. Joshua has a particular interest in cardio-oncology — an emerging field that focusses on mitigating cardiovascular disease secondary to cancer treatment. His research focusses primarily on pharmacist-led models of care to support people with cardiovascular disease and cancer as they transition between hospital and home. Joshua has presented his research at national and international conferences and is an active member of the International Cardio-Oncology Society (IC-OS) pharmacist working group. Joshua is also a credentialed pharmacist who continues to provide domiciliary medication management review services for his community and has broad clinical experience across both hospital and community pharmacy.

Brendan recently completed his PhD in the laboratory of Nicola Smith at UNSW Sydney. He is now a Lecturer in the Department of Pharmacology in the School of Biomedical Sciences at UNSW Sydney. Brendan has a special interest in G protein-coupled receptors, particularly those that do not yet have an identified endogenous ligand which are termed “orphans”. Brendan is the chair-elect of the ASCEPT Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee and is committed to improving the visibility of the ASCEPT LGBTQIA+ community.

Andie Thorpe is a second-year PhD student at the University of Technology Sydney and the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research. Her research centres on the pulmonary effects of e-cigarette exposure, with a current focus on investigating the in-utero impacts of e-cigarette use and its implications for chronic respiratory diseases.

Olivia Young is a third-year PhD student in the Respiratory and Integrative Cardiovascular Pharmacology Laboratories at Monash University. Her research focuses on the therapeutic potential of anti-fibrotic components in the renin-angiotensin system, specifically angiotensin type II receptors (AT2R), in the treatment of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). She is particularly interested in modelling IPF ex vivo using precision cut lung slices, allowing efficient screening of novel AT2R agonists in human tissue. She has presented her work at national and international conferences, and is currently a fellow of the Centre for Research Excellence in Pulmonary Fibrosis (CREATE Fellow).