ACMD Link | ACMD Programs: Your Pathway Towards Translation

The Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery (ACMD) recognises that investing in innovation is crucial to improve patient care and bring about changes to the healthcare system. The ACMD Translational Research Services progress ideas seamlessly from discovery, through translation, to launch. This journey is sequenced through three interconnected programs (ACMD Challenge, ACMD Advise and ACMD Engine).

This session is designed for clinicians and researchers who have a clinical problem they don’t know what to do with, or an idea they haven’t known how to progress. Through real project journeys, you’ll see exactly how ACMD helps, and what it looks like to take that first step.

Join innovators, clinicians and researchers at ACMD on Thursday 18 June for an honest look at how two real projects moved from a clinical problem to a funded research project.

This is not a panel of polished success stories. It’s a structured conversation with the people who lived it: the clinician who raised their hand, the researcher who got the call, and the ACMD team who built the bridge between them.

This ACMD Link event is powered by ANDHealth

EVENT DETAILS

Date: Thursday 18 June 2026

Time (AEST): 4:00pm - 6:00pm

Venue: The Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery (ACMD), Auditorium, Level 1, 27 Victoria Parade, Fitzroy, VIC 3065

Session format: Hybrid delivery with presentations, audience Q&A and networking  

Registration*: Free to attend, but registration is essential

*Registrations will close 9am Wednesday 17 June 2026

Who should attend:

• Clinicians and researchers with an unsolved problem or an early-stage idea

• Postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers

• Early-stage innovators, founders and CXOs

• Medtech, digital and connected health professionals and service providers

MEET OUR SPEAKERS

[Moderator] Dr Michelle Low, Program Manager, ACMD

Michelle is an experienced program manager with a PhD in Chemical Engineering, a co-founder of Engineers Without Borders South Africa and a former lecturer. She has coordinated diverse projects in research, teaching, policy, and grant management,

Dr Low developed several grant rounds allocating $32M to address skills gaps in the MedTech, BioTech, and Pharma sectors, monitoring the life cycle of the funding and building strong partnerships. She has led impactful reports for ACOLA and ATSE, supported policy development through steering committees, and now leads the ACMD programs, collaborating with partners to form new projects towards commercial or social impact.

Dr James Mahon, Consultant Geriatrician, St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne

Dr James Mahon trained in Ireland as a Consultant Geriatrician, General Physician and Stroke Physician. He has worked as a Consultant Geriatrician in St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne (SVHM) since 2020 and is a Clinical Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry & Health Sciences, University of Melbourne, and Research Lead for the Department of Geriatric Medicine in SVHM.

James conducted his postgraduate doctoral thesis with Trinity College Dublin on Osteoporosis and Hip Fractures and has completed a clinical fellowship in Bone Health in Mercer’s Institute for Successful Ageing, Dublin.

James is Principal Investigator on an active clinical trial using technological approaches early prediction and diagnosis of delirium in hospital settings, and is an associated investigator on other funded trials in the field of dementia and heath equity. He has additional subspecialty and research interests include reducing and eliminating the use of restrictive practices (physical, mechanical and chemical restraint) in Australia and New Zealand.

James has extensive governance experience with the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and the Incorporated Orthopaedic Hospital of Ireland and has completed an MBA in the Australian Catholic University, and is a member of the Justice Health Victoria Clinical Advisory Panel. 

Dr Priya Rani, Biomedical Engineering, RMIT University

Dr Priya Rani is a Lecturer in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering at RMIT University. Previously, she worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Applied Artificial Intelligence Institute at Deakin University, Victoria after completing her PhD in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from RMIT.

Her current field of research is in the application of Artificial Intelligence to various health conditions to improve digital healthcare in the Australian community. She has worked on various health problems such as retinal diseases, foot ulcers, lung-related diseases, cognitive conditions, mental health conditions, to name a few, and looks at finding diagnostic and/or prognostic solutions using AI models.

She is also an Academic co-lead for Early Career Researcher in Research and Innovation Committee in School of Engineering at RMIT. Being in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) field for about 16 years, she champions STEM and work actively towards raising awareness in STEM careers, gender equity, inclusion and diversity in STEM fields. She is one of the STEM Ambassadors with Science and Technology Australia (2020), Board Director at Women in STEMM Australia and a Senior Member at Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Victorian Section.

A/Prof John Ding, Gastroenterologist, St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne | Associate Professor, University of Melbourne

A/Prof John Nik Ding is a gastroenterologist at St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, with a research focus at the intersection of clinical medicine and translational science. He completed his PhD at St Mark's Hospital and Imperial College London — one of the world's leading centres for colorectal and inflammatory bowel disease — investigating therapeutic stratification of IBD patients through metabolic profiling and bioinformatics.

John leads IBD clinical trials at St Vincent's as Principal Investigator, and is co-Chief Investigator of the PROACTIVE trial, a national multicentre study advancing treatment for fistulising Crohn's disease. He has successfully brought international collaborative trials including SPARE and Biocycle to Australia, demonstrating a strong track record of translating global research into local clinical benefit.

His translational work spans biomarker discovery, colonoscopy quality improvement, and young-onset bowel cancer screening — the latter through a research group established between St Vincent's, ACMD, and Swinburne University. He is lead gastroenterologist for the National Bowel Cancer Program at St Vincent's and has co-edited a textbook on Biomarkers in Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Beyond the bench, John co-founded the Young-GESA network — now with over 300 members — to support the next generation of gastroenterologists through education and mentorship. He serves on the Executive Committee of the ANZ IBD Consortium and has previously contributed to research governance through the European Crohn's and Colitis Organisation.

He supervises MD and PhD students and is actively engaged in patient advocacy through Crohn's and Colitis Australia and Bowel Cancer Australia.

Dr Christina Trambas, Chemical Pathologist, Medical Director of Pathology, St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne

Dr Christina Trambas is a Chemical Pathologist, clinician-scientist, and the Medical Director of St Vincent’s Pathology, Melbourne.

Christina joined SVHM in 2020 as the Head of Biochemistry. She studied Medicine at the University of Melbourne and undertook her Chemical Pathology training at The Alfred Hospital and Melbourne Pathology before being awarded her fellowship of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia.

Prior to entering Medicine, Christina completed a Bachelor of Science with Honours and a PhD in Immunology at The University of Tasmania, and undertook a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at The Dunn School of Pathology at Oxford University, where she studied the cell biology of natural killer cells. Christina’s current research centres on innovations in Pathology that improve diagnosis and prognostication, better inform clinical decision making and ultimately improve patient care.

Important note for attendees:

Please be advised that photographs and videos may be taken by ACMD and ANDHealth staff. By attending this event, you agree to being filmed or photographed, and acknowledge that these may be used for marketing or promotional purposes.

As a condition of complimentary registration, all guests attending this event will be required to complete a short post-event survey. Your feedback supports continuous improvement and helps shape the direction of future industry activities.