The Alfred Research & Ethics Unit


Members of The Alfred Ethics Committee

John McNeil AM, Chair of the The Alfred Ethics Committee, graduated in medicine from the University of Adelaide in 1971 and undertook his medical specialist training at the Royal Adelaide and Austin Hospitals. He subsequently completed his PhD in clinical pharmacology at the University of Melbourne and an MSc in epidemiology at the University of London. After spending ten years in Clinical Pharmacology at the Austin Hospital he was appointed to the head of the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine (later renamed Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine) at Monash in 1986. His principal interests include cardiovascular epidemiology, drug safety and toxicology. He retains a clinical involvement as a vascular physician on the Vascular Medicine Unit at the Monash Medical Centre.
Colin Johnston AO, Chair of the Research Review Committee, is currently a Senior Principal Research Fellow at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, Honorary Professor of Medicine at Monash University and an Emeritus Professor of the University of Melbourne. Since 2006 he also has been Director of Research Strategy and Chairman of the Research Advisory Council at Southern Health which includes the Monash Medical Centre. He is member of the Board of Directors of Austin Health and Chairman of the trustees of the Foundation for High Blood Pressure Research. His major research and clinical interest is in hypertension and cardiology.
Stephen Duffy is Chair of the Health and Social Sciences Ethics Committee. He is Head of Cardiology General Services at The Alfred and an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences at Monash University. His research interests include vascular endothelial function, oxidative stress, coronary physiology, vulnerable plaque and interventional cardiology. Stephen joined the Ethics Committee in 2002.
Rowan Frew is Ethics Manager of the Alfred Research & Ethics Unit and secretary of the Ethics Committee. She has a background in physics and computing and moved into bioethics in the mid-nineties, completing a Masters of Bioethics at Monash University. Before joining The Alfred in 1994, she was a laywoman on The Alfred Ethics Committee.
Marta Ago is a lawyer who has practised in the areas of mental health law, criminal law, anti-discrimination law and the law relating to children and young persons. She has been a legal member of the Committee since 1994.
Mari Botti is a professor in the School of Nursing, Deakin University. She is Chair of Nursing, Epworth Healthcare and Director of the Alfred/Deakin Nursing Research Centre. She has held academic positions at La Trobe University and Deakin University since 1983.  Her nursing career over the past 20 years has combined nursing education, clinical practice in acute cardiac nursing and clinical research. She completed her PhD at the University of Melbourne. Her research program is in acute and critical care nursing with a specific focus on outcome measurement and pain management. Mari joined the Ethics Committee in 2006.
Fiona Ellis was a researcher for and Associate to a senior Judge of the County Court in the criminal jurisdiction prior to becoming a member of the Victorian Bar in 1997. Between 1981 and 1996, Fiona trained and then worked as a division 1 registered nurse. At the Bar, she has practised extensively in criminal law, coronial enquiries, licensing and disciplinary tribunals, administrative law (Judicial Review) and administrative law (Merits Review).
Judy Frayne is Head of the Alfred Stroke Unit and has had extensive experience in stroke trials. She undertook her graduate and postgraduate training at The Alfred and has been a consultant here since 1987. Judy has been a member of the Ethics Committee since 1999.

Richard Gerraty is a neurologist at The Alfred hospital. He has a clinical research interest in cerebrovascular disease and has a long experience with investigator-initiated and pharma-sponsored clinical trials. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at Monash University and he is on a number of state and national committees working towards improvements in stroke care. He was formerly a member of the ethics committee and the quality committee at St Vincent’s Hospital where he ran the stroke unit for several years. He is currently Victorian Chairman of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists, and the Australasian Stroke Unit Network. He is a member of the board of the Brain Foundation, Victoria.

Marilyn Hope (B Theol, Clinical Supervisor ASPEA Inc) is the Pastoral Care Coordinator, and comes to the Committee with a background in nursing and, more recently, in Chaplaincy and Chaplaincy training.
David Hunt is a semi-retired cardiologist. He became a cardiologist at the Royal Melbourne Hospital in 1971 and was Director of the Department between 1980 and 1993 and is currently a Consultant Cardiologist there. His main interests have been in coronary artery disease and the conduct of large international randomised clinical trials of medical therapy for acute coronary syndromes, diabetes and stroke - he has been on the management committees of many such trials and indeed still is involved. He has been the Chairman of the Senior Medical Staff at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, President of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand and has been heavily involved with the National Heart Foundation. He is now writing his family history and that of the Cardiology Department at the RMH. He has been a member of the Ethics Committee since 2003.
Michael Hurley is a general practitioner practising in Toorak. Prior to this, he worked in rural general practice in North East Victoria. His interests include medical education as well as forensic medicine.
Andrew Kauler is a lay member of The Alfred Ethics Committee.  He is a qualified Community Development Worker (Diploma in Community Services, Barton Institute 1998) and Social Worker (Bachelor of Social Work, RMIT University 1998). 
Victor Kalff is Deputy Director of Nuclear Medicine at The Alfred and is a nuclear medicine physician both at The Alfred and at Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute. He worked in the United States soon after graduating and has since been involved in research as well as clinical practice.
  Magda Karagiannakis is a Barrister [BEc, LLB, LLM (Monash), LLM Public International Law, Cum Laude, University of Leiden, Netherlands]. She has practised law in Australia and internationally since 1992. Internationally she has been a war crimes prosecutor and terrorism investigator and legal advisor, as well as a human rights consultant. She has also appeared as counsel before the International Court of Justice. She became a barrister in 2005 and practices in the areas of administrative law and criminal law, and specialises in human rights.
Paul Komesaroff is a physician, medical researcher and philosopher at the Department of Medicine, Monash University. He is also the Director of the Monash Centre for the Study of Ethics in Medicine and Society, located at The Alfred hospital. Paul is Ethics Convener of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and a former president of the Australian Bioethics Association.
Henry Krum is a physician at The Alfred hospital and heads Clinical Pharmacology at Monash University and The Alfred. He has extensive research experience in cardiovascular diseases and clinical pharmacology. His interests lie with heart failure and hypertension, and his work spans the fields of both basic and applied sciences. Professor Krum has been a member of numerous International Steering and Executive Committees for major clinical trials in the area of cardiovascular pharmacotherapy. He is currently Principal Investigator of a number of multicentre investigator-initiated trials testing cardiovascular therapeutic strategies.
Maria McKenzie is a newly appointed member of the Ethics Committee. She has a Bachelor of Behavioural Science with Honours from La Trobe University and has had considerable research experience managing a number of psychological / psychiatric trials. Over the last decade, Maria has worked mainly in Palliative Care at the University of Melbourne Centre for Palliative Care, conducting research with terminal cancer patients and their families and, more recently, has worked at the Cancer Council of Victoria as a Research and Evaluation Coordinator. She is a member of the Victorian Cooperative Oncology Group's Psycho-Oncology Advisory Committee.
Stephen Moloney (BA, LLB) is a practising Barrister, and has been a member of the Victorian Bar since 1991. Prior to that time he was an Associate to a Supreme Court Judge. He practises as a commercial, equity and public lawyer throughout the Commonwealth and also specialises in the regulation of the health care profession both at a Commonwealth and State level. He is currently the Chair of the Australian Institute of Administrative Law (Victorian Chapter), the Vice-President (Legal) of the Medico-Legal Society of Victoria and a member of the Victorian Bar’s Professional Standards Education Committee.

Roy Olliff has an engineering background with a technical speciality in the biological and chemical treatment of water and wastewater. His experience covers the full range from research to construction of small to billion dollar projects. Roy has carried out several emergency assignments with the UNHCR. His interests include sport (excessive), music (singing), writing (social issues), gardening (environmental).

Fran Westmore is a lay member of the Ethics Committee. With a background in corporate organizational change and systems integration, she is now the is the Executive Officer of a philanthropic trust, and is undertaking her Masters degree in Applied Ethics.

Frances Wise, MBBS, FAFRM (RACP), currently works as a rehabilitation physician at Caulfield Hospital. She has recently completed a PhD examining longer term social outcomes in stroke. Her clinical interests include cardiac rehabilitation, neurological rehabilitation, and falls and balance. Frances's research interests include outcome measurement in rehabilitation, social integration post-stroke, and patient adherence to cardiac rehabilitation.

Robyn Wright
Gersh Zylberman serves at Temple Beth Israel, a Progressive Jewish Synagogue in St Kilda. He was ordained at the US-based Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in May, 2005. Growing up in Melbourne, Rabbi Dr Zylberman attended Melbourne High School and Monash University where he obtained his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (Hons) in 1995. He worked as an intern and resident medical officer at The Alfred from 1996-1999 before moving into the rabbinate. Rabbi Zylberman has particular interests in pastoral counselling, medical ethics and liturgical music and is married to Rabbi Rayna Gevurtz. They are blessed with two young daughters, Adira and Noa.
Peter Gallagher consults on international trade and public policy to firms, to governments in Australia and around the world and to international organisations. He works at the interface between governments and private interests trying, among other things, to improve the use of information services in support of economic development strategies. His career has included appointments in the diplomatic service, the University of Melbourne Graduate Business School, a national food industry organisation and as a director of an e-commerce company. He has qualifications in public law, philosophy and economics.

[^Top]

This page was last modified on 10/09/08

URL: http://www.alfredresearch.org/ethics/ecommitteemem.htm

|Home| |News and events| |Research| |Ethics| |Alfred grants|
|External funding| |Useful links| |Contact us|

© The Alfred 2000 - 2008
E-mail: research@alfred.org.au