Professor Benjamin Howden is Director of the MDU Public Health Laboratory and Co-Director of the Centre for Pathogen Genomics at the University of Melbourne (Doherty Institute) in Melbourne. He is a leader in pathogen genomics and antimicrobial resistance research at the public health and clinical interface. He also leads capacity and capability building programs and research in these fields, focussed in the Asia Pacific Region.

Cornelia Landersdorfer, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University in Melbourne. She trained in clinical PK studies, bioanalysis, PK/PD modelling and microbiological studies in Germany, Australia and the USA. She leads a research group that integrates dynamic in vitro infection experiments with mechanism-based mathematical modelling to optimise dosing of antibiotics and other drugs. Her group performs the design and analysis of clinical and preclinical population PK studies. She is the Academic Deputy Director of the Monash-Moderna Quantitative Pharmacology Accelerator (MMQPA) which is focused on driving advancements in mRNA medicines. She has >140 peer-reviewed publications, and received the Georgina Sweet Award for Women in Quantitative Biomedical Sciences (2018), the Future Leader Award (2016) and Research Impact Award (2020) in the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (#2 worldwide, QS world ranking), a 2022 Australian Award for University Teaching, and the 2023 Monash Graduate Supervisor of the Year award. Invited conference presentations include the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases and American Society of Microbiology Microbe congress. Her research is supported by NHMRC, ARC, NIH and pharmaceutical industry, and has impacted on dosing guidelines and patient therapy internationally.

A/Prof Velkov is a world leading expert in several aspects of antibiotic pharmacology, including their mode of action, chemistry, structure-activity relationships and toxicity. His innovative research is encompassed by complementary and integrated streams that encompass the ‘lab bench to bedside’ doctrine and efficiently translate his multidisciplinary research to clinical practice and pharmaceutical products. Specifically, A/Prof Velkov’s team has been highly engaged in research across the following fields: (1) Pharmacology, chemical biology and structure-activity relationships (SAR) of lipopeptide and teixobactin antibiotics; (2) Novel antibiotic resistance mechanisms; (3) Pharmacology and neurotoxicology of polymyxin antibiotics; (4) Development of novel resistance-resistant teixobactin depsi-peptide antibiotics as dry powder and hydrogels formulations for the treatment of multi-drug resistant lung and wound infections; (5) Development of synergistic polymyxin-nonantibiotic combinations against Gram-negative ‘superbugs’.

Dr Andrea Kwa, a distinguished pharmacist clinician -scientist, has had a remarkable journey fueled by her curiosity. She excels in translational science, where she conducts evidence-based research and translate discoveries into practical applications, ensuring top-tier patient care. She specialised in critical care medicine, infectious diseases, and antimicrobial resistance research, specifically in in-vitro wet bench translational (phage therapy, antibiotics combination testing), population PKPD studies, molecular diagnostics in anti-fungal and antibacterial resistance, epidemiology/outcomes studies and health services research (specifically AI/ML for AMR management) to guide antimicrobial stewardship. To date, she has authored more than 120 publications.