MBL, GDHSM, BBus, GAICD

Simon Brewin is an experienced non-executive director holding several health-related board appointments, including the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, CERA, Uniting AgeWell and Guardian Network.

He is experienced in corporate and clinical governance, risk & compliance, and strategy. Previously, Mr Brewin held senior appointments within the Victorian healthcare sector, including executive director roles at Alfred Health, Monash Health and Peninsula Health.

Simon is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, past state branch president of the Australasian College of Health Service Management.

Dr Colleen Lewis is an Honorary Professor at the Australian Studies Institute, ANU, an associate of the Centre for Public Integrity, a member of the Accountability Round Table and a member of the Australasian Study of Parliament Group’s Victorian Executive.

Her areas of expertise include public policy, politics and policing and her research is mostly focused on accountability, transparency and openness in public life. Colleen is the author of a book on the politics of complaints against police and co-editor and contributor of seven books spanning several social science disciplines.

Colleen has lost central vision in her left eye from ‘dry’ age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and has ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ AMD in her right.

Daniel became a CAG member after being inspired by members of the research team who supported him through his clinical trial. Usher Syndrome 2a showed Daniel that success in life was not dependent on all senses being perfect.

He enjoyed sporting success as a child, representing his region and state in various sports. Among other qualifications, Daniel achieved his master’s in occupational therapy, diploma in management and certificate in life coaching.

Daniel has worked in leadership roles in large corporate, government and clinical environments and currently as a senior mental health clinician at Grampians Health whilst operating his own coaching business.

He hopes his CAG contribution can help improve the experience of others going through clinical trials and those wanting to move from setback to triumph.

Diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa at 31, Jane has been actively involved in raising awareness of inherited retinal disease (IRD) and raising funds to support research into early detection and treatments. 

Jane was appointed the Australia board in 2021 – raising awareness of IRDs through promotion of campaigns and social media communication strategies.  She is a graduate of Retina International’s Education Programme and former Vice Chair of the Retina International Youth Council.  

Jane is committed to the challenge of ensuring ongoing funding for IRD research and those diagnosed have the information and support to be fully equipped for the journey ahead.

PhD, MPH, BA (Hons)

Ronelle is a mother of three, including a child living (and thriving) with low vision from an IRD. Her professional background is as an executive in public policy spanning the health, aged care and disability sectors and working with federal and state governments.

She is the author of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioner’s Patient Feedback Guide (1st edition) and undertook PhD research examining the use of social media to improve health literacy for patients with chronic health problems. Ronelle is a board member of the Association for Children with Disability. 

Ronelle is passionate about ensuring that the voices and experiences of consumers inform clinical care and research designs.

Chris Edwards is a manager and director with extensive experience across the human services sector and expertise in disability inclusion and improving organisation performance in service delivery.

He is the Director Government Relations and Advocacy for Vision Australia. His other appointments include non-executive director Aruma, non-executive director Disability Media Australia and member of the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre’s People and Culture Committee.

Chris is a Seeing Eye Dog handler and works in partnership with his Seeing Eye Dog, Eva. 

BOptom, MPhil, PhD

Dr Flora Hui is interested in innovative methods to improve patient outcomes in optometry and ophthalmology and neuroprotectants for treating glaucoma.

At CERA, she works in clinical glaucoma research – focusing on developing novel clinical tools that measure retinal structure and function to shorten the timeframe of detecting glaucoma progression. 

Flora conducted a world-first clinical trial investigating high-dose nicotinamide (Vitamin B3) as a neuroprotectant in human glaucoma, showing that nicotinamide could lead to early and significant improvements to visual function.

BSc, MSc, PhD

Dr Luis Alarcon-Martinez is Principal Investigator at CERA and Head of Visual Neurovascular research. His research focuses on how vascular dysfunction may contribute to neurodegenerative disorders and vision loss.

Luis has spent over a decade working in visual sciences and neuroscience in Europe, Canada and the US. He has developed sophisticated technical skills, including innovative imaging set-ups and microsurgical skills to study retinal diseases such as glaucoma, AMD and ischemic retinopathy.

BOrth, MBiostat, PhD

Dr Myra McGuinness is the head of biostatistics at CERA. Over 10 years, she has been at embedded within CERA’s Population Health, Macular Research and Research Support units.

Myra is an honorary research fellow and research supervisor at the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health’s Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics. She is also the chair of the Early Career Biostatisticians’ committee of the International Society for Clinical Biostatistics. 

Myra is passionate about incorporating best-practice research methodology when designing research studies and assessing results at CERA. 

MBBS, DMedSci, FRANZCO

Cerulea Clinical Trials Chief Medical Officer Professor Lim is a uveitis and medical retina subspecialist and leads CERA’s clinical trials research. 

After completing her ophthalmology training in Melbourne, Lyndell then completed two Fellowships – one in medical retina at The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, and one in uveitis/ocular inflammatory disease at the Casey Eye Institute, Portland, Oregon, USA. 

Her main research interests are clinical studies in the field of uveitis and ocular immunology, and diabetic retinopathy. Lyndell’s team runs both investigator-initiated and sponsored clinical trials that aim to investigate new treatments in a variety of ophthalmic diseases. 

Cerulea Clinical Trials CEO Michelle Gallaher is an award-winning thought-leader, speaker, advocate and health technology entrepreneur.  She has established four start-ups including Trialkey, which applies AI to improving and predicting clinical trial results. 

Her career spans clinical and administrative roles in public and private health, commercial and executive roles with biotech, pharmaceutical and medical organisations, as well as and leading a biotech peak-body and influencing legislation and regulation in healthtech. 

Michelle is a renowned champion for the appropriate application of AI in healthcare and the role of ethics and digital leadership in technology development.

Throughout her career, Kelly has held senior corporate roles in complaints, accessibility and inclusion, customer experience, and brand and communications. Her blend of strategic thinking and human-centred design methodologies brings alignment of disparate groups to influence positive momentum and drive growth. 

Kelly holds board roles in disability service provision, on the Victorian Disability Worker Registration Board, and is a member of Swinburne University’s Technology, Innovation and Value Creation Committee.

Kelly identifies as “blind, with just enough vision to be dangerous” and is ably assisted by her guide dog, Velvet. 

We work alongside people with lived experience to ensure their insights are at the heart of advancing eye research.