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Speakers Biographies Rafter, Dr. Ian | Rattan, Prof. Suresh | Reid, Dr. Richard | Roth, Dr. George | Sali, Prof. Avni | Sidorenko, Dr. Alexandre | Sinclair, Dr. Rodney | Stevens, Dr. John | Stough, Prof. Con | Suzuki, Dr. David | Tanzi, Prof. Rudy | Walker, Dr. Ross | Whitworth, Prof. Judy | Xue, Dr. Charlie · Born and brought up (1955) in Amritsar,
India. · Doctor of Science (1995), in the Biology of Ageing, from Aarhus University, Denmark. · Present job: Professor of Ageing, at the Danish Centre for Molecular Gerontology, Aarhus Univ, Denmark. · Founder Editor-in-Chief, Biogerontology : a peer reviewed international journal. · Areas of expertise: human cellular ageing of skin cells and bone cells, discovering gerontogenes, and the regulation of protein synthesis. · More than 120 scientific article on ageing; and several books, including those for school children, general public and scientists. · Discoverer of KINETIN as an anti-ageing
compound, which is being used in numerous anti-ageing cosmetic products
marketed by Revlon, Body Shop, and ICN pharmaceuticals.
Gynaecologist and Pelvic Reconstructive
Surgeon Dr Richard Reid was born in Perth, grew up in Papua New Guinea and studied Medicine at University of Queensland (1961-66). After a general residency in Auckland, New Zealand (1967-68) and a term as District Medical Officer in Papua New Guinea, Dr Reid trained in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney (1972-78). He won the F.J. Browne gold medal in 1977 and was awarded a Pelvic Surgery Fellowship at Wayne State University, Michigan (1979-81). This lead to an academic appointment at Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit (1981-96), first as a full time Assistant Professor in Gynaecology and later as Clinical Professor and Director of Laser Surgery at Sinai Hospital Detroit. Dr Reid is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (UK), Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and Fellow of the Australian College of Cosmetic Surgeons. During 19 years in the United States, Dr Reid was awarded seven important research grants. He has published over 100 scientific articles and edited five medical texts, dealing with cervical cancer prevention, humanpapilloma virus infection, incontinence and prolapse, pelvic reconstructive surgery, vulvar diseases and wellness issues in women's healthcare. His research has won five US national awards of merit. Dr Reid is on the editorial boards of several journals and was a voting member of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Advisory Committee on Medical Devices. On returning to Australia Dr Reid took up VMO hospital appointment at Liverpool Hospital Sydney (1997-2001) and held privileges at St Lukes Hospital (1997-2000). He currently holds a VMO appointment to New England Health Services Hospitals (since 2002) and has surgical privileges at Prince of Wales Private Hospital (since 1998). Dr Reid's practice, whilst concentrated mainly upon his subspecialty of pelvic reconstructive surgery and urogynaecology still retains a significant focus on Wellness and Ageing. Dr Reid's focus on the importance of Ageing
in Women's Health began when he was invited to co-edit a "Clinics
Of North America" volume on "Health Maintenance Strategies".
The invitation arose following the election of President George M. Bush
in 1988, because of his election promise to provide US$60 million in
funding to each American state, for improved breast and cervical screening.
Once triggered, Dr Reid's interest in wellness and the promotion of
healthy ageing has remained strong … to the point of writing a
brief text on the subject. In that >30% of women spend a significant
proportion of their later years restricted by chronic frailty state,
Dr Reid believes that gynaecologists can (and should) be more pro-active
on this matter. Dr. George S. Roth has been associated with the National Institute onAging since 1972. After receiving his Ph.D. in 1971 from Temple Univ.School of Med. and post-doctoral work with Dr. Richard Adelman at theFels Res. Inst., he progressed from Staff fellow to Research Chemist toChief of the Molecular Physiology and Genetics Section to Acting Chiefof the Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Biology. Dr. Roth iscurrently a Senior Guest Scientist at NIA and CEO ofGerotech Inc., a new biotechnology firm devoted to "anti-aging." He served as Co-executive Director of the American Aging Association from 2002 to 2003. Hisresearch interests continue to be basic mechanisms of aging, having workedin the area of signal transduction for many years, and now focussing on"anti-aging" strategies. The most visible project in this area has beenan examination of the effects of dietary caloric restriction in nonhumanprimates. Dr. Roth has published over 300 papers, serves on many editorialboards, and has received a number of honors and awards. These include the Sandoz (now Novartis) Prize for Gerontological Research, theResearch Award of the American Aging Association, Chair of the GordonConference on the Biology of Aging, Chair of the Biological Sciences Section of the Geront. Soc. of America, the Merit Award and Equal Employment Opportunity Award of the National Institute on Aging, and theThird Age Award of the Intl. Assoc. of Gerontology. In addition, he has been the Sigma Xi Scholar
in Residence at Miami Univ., an NIH Visiting Professor at Meharry Med.
College and the Univ. of Puerto Rico Med.School, the Ben Cohen Memorial
Lecturer at the Univ. of Michigan,Keynote Lecturer at Nagoya Intl. Symp.
on Aging and Health and theIsrael Endocrine Soc., and Alpha Omega Alpha
Professor at the Univ. of Puerto Rico. Dr. Roth has mentored 2 Ph.D.
students and more than 20post-doctoral fellows, is frequently interviewed
by the media ongerontological research issues, and is listed in Who's
who in America. Professor Avni Sali is Foundation Head of the Graduate School of Integrative Medicine, Swinburne University of Technology. He is on the Executive Council and Vice-President of the International Council of Integrative Medicine. Professor Sali is a director of the Victorian Public Health Research and Education Council. He is also on the International Advisory Board of the American Academy of Anti Aging Medicine. He was President of the Gawler Foundation from 1999 until 2002 and is currently a Board Member. Professor Sali is on the Board of the Australasian Integrative Medicine Association (Vice-President). In 2002 he was presented with the St Michael's
Award for outstanding community service.
Dr Rodney Sinclair is the President of the Skin and Cancer Foundation of Victoria and principle dermatologist to the hair clinic and the nail clinic. He is a Senior Lecturer in Dermatology at both the University of Melbourne and Monash University. Dr Sinclair is the co-author of the section on dermatology in the the Oxford Textbook of Medicine. He has written 7 textbooks of dermatology, over 130 journal articles and contributed 34 book chapters including the chapter on Hair Disorders for the next edition of Rook's Textbook of Dermatology. His main research interests are female androgenetic
alopecia, cicatricial alopecia and genetics of skin disease.
Dr. Suzuki is a geneticist. He graduated from Amherst College (Massachusetts) in 1958 with an Honours BA in Biology, followed by a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Chicago. He held a research associateship in the Biology Division of Tennessee's Oak Ridge National Lab (1961 - 62), was an Assistant Professor in Genetics at the University of Alberta (1962 - 63), and since then has been a faculty member of the University of British Columbia. He is now Professor Emeritus of The University of British Columbia, Sustainable Development Research Institute. In 1972, he was awarded the E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship for the outstanding research scientist in Canada under the age of 35. He has won numerous academic awards and holds 16 honourary degrees in Canada, the U.S. and Australia. A member of the Royal Society of Canada and the Order of Canada, Dr. Suzuki has written 40 books, including 17 for children. His 1976 textbook An Introduction to Genetic Analysis (with A.J.F. Griffiths), remains the most widely used genetics text book in the U.S. and has been translated into Italian, Spanish, Greek, Indonesian, Arabic, French and German. Dr. Suzuki has received consistently high acclaim for his thirty years of award-winning work in broadcasting. In 1974 he developed and hosted the long running popular science program Quirks and Quarks on CBC Radio. He has since presented two influential documentary CBC radio series on the environment, It's a Matter of Survival and From Naked Ape to Superspecies. His television career began on CBC in 1971 when he wrote and hosted Suzuki on Science. He then created and hosted a number of television specials, and in 1979 became the host of the award-winning The Nature of Things with David Suzuki. He has won four Gemini Awards as best host of a Canadian television series for The Nature of Things, which he has been with for 20 of the 40 seasons they have been on air. His eight part television series, A Planet for the Taking, won an award from the United Nations. His eight part PBS series, The Secret of Life, was praised internationally, as was his five part series The Brain for the Discovery Channel. On June 10, 2002 he received the John Drainie Award for broadcasting excellence. Dr. Suzuki is also recognized as a world leader
in sustainable ecology. He is the recipient of UNESCO's Kalinga Prize
for Science, the United Nations Environment Program Medal and the Global
500. He is a fellow of the American Association of the Advancement of
Science. Genetics and Aging Research Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital A. Narrative Report of Research Contributions Our studies are targeted toward determining
the pathogenic mechanisms by which defects or variants carried by these
genes contribute to the neurodegenerative process in the brains of patients
with AD. In prevalence studies, we have found that mutations in APP
appear to cause approximately 3 % of FAD, while those in the presenilin
1 (chromosome 14) and presenilin 2 (chromosome 1) genes are responsible
for at least half of all early onset FAD cases. Several late-onset AD
genetic risk factors also remain to be identified. In fact, the known
AD genes probably account for only 10 - 30% of the genetic variance
of AD. Thus, we have been carrying out human genome screens aimed at
identifying novel AD genes and have identified several promising chromosomal
regions for new AD genes that are currently being pursued. These include
chromosomes 1, 4, 6, 9, 10, 11, and 21, in particular. An in depth understanding
of the normal function of the AD genes and how mutations and variants
of these genes can lead to ?-amyloid deposition, neuronal cell death,
and dementia will be invaluable for the development of novel treatments
for AD. Along these lines, our overarching goal is to translate knowledge
gained regarding genetic mechanisms of neuropathogenesis of AD into
drug discovery. Dr Ross Walker is an eminent practising cardiologist
with a passion for people and health. Strangely, most people seem to accept this state of affairs, and feel powerless to change their life and health for the better. But there is a solution that will ensure a longer, healthier life. Dr Walker's life changing message is universal. From intimate corporate presentations to his recent speech to 35,000 people in an outdoor stadium in India, Dr Walker is empowering his audiences along the path to wellness. Dr Walker is continually praised for the entertaining, emotive style of his presentations and constantly receives testimonial as to the effectiveness of his programs. An internationally renowned health presenter
and best-selling author, he is the author of four books: If I Eat Another
Carrot I'll Go Crazy; What's Cookin' Doc? And Highway to Health and,
most recently, The Cell Factor. Dr Walker is currently working with
his publisher, Pan Macmillan, on his next book, The Life Factor, due
to be released in 2004. Professor Whitworth is the Director of the John Curtin School of Medical Research and Howard Florey Professor of Medical Research at the Australian National University in Canberra and heads the High Blood Pressure Research Unit. Professor Whitworth is Co-Chair of the WHO/ISH Guidelines for Management of Hypertension and a member of WHO's Global Advisory Committee on Health Research, an Ambassador for Canberra and an Ambassador for Women. She was Telstra ACT Business Woman of the Year in 2002 and is ACT Australian of the Year for 2004. Professor Whitworth graduated from the University of Melbourne, which awarded her the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1974, a PhD in 1978 and a Doctor of Science in 1992. Professor Whitworth is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. She has practiced medicine and research extensively in Australia and overseas; she chaired the Medical Research Committee of the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia and is a Past-President of the Australian Society for Medical Research, and the High Blood Pressure Research Council of Australia. Professor Whitworth's previous appointments were Australia's Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer and Professor of Medicine at St George Hospital, University of New South Wales. She was made a Companion in the Order of Australia in 2001 for service to the advancement of academic medicine and as a major contributor to research policy and medical research administration in Australia and internationally. Biographical Details
Associate Professor Charlie Changli Xue is head of The Chinese Medicine Unit and Co-Director of the Chinese Medicine Research Group (RCMRG) at RMIT University. He has been frequently sought as a World Health Organisation (WHO) Short-Term Consultant in Traditional Medicine (2002, 2003), a member of the Chinese Medicine Registration Board of Victoria, and Honorary Academic Advisor to the Institute of Chinese Medicine of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. In addition, Dr. Xue is a member of the International Advisory Committee to the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Chinese Government. He holds a medical degree majoring in Chinese Medicine from China and a PhD from RMIT University. He has recently been appointed as a co-editor of Annals of TCM published by The World Scientific Ltd. Assoc. Prof. Xue has been leading the development
of five-degree programs, including two undergraduate and three postgraduate
programs, in Chinese Medicine at RMIT. He has been playing an active
and leading role in the teaching and research of Chinese Medicine, involving
in many clinical trials, basic science research projects and teaching
at undergraduate and postgraduate levels to both doctors and other primary
health care practitioners. He has presented widely at national and international
conferences and has been frequently sought for media commentary.
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Professor Suresh I.S. Rattan
Dr Richard Reid
Dr. George S. Roth
Professor Avni Sali
Dr. Alexandre Sidorenko
Prof. Con Stough
Dr. David Suzuki
Dr Ross Walker
Professor Judith A Whitworth, AC
Associate Professor Charlie Changli Xue