ACMD Link: Why Commercialise? Turning Health Innovations into Real-World Impact

Are you a clinician, researcher or early-stage innovator with an idea that could create impact, change lives or improve health systems, but unsure how to take it beyond the lab?

Join ACMD and CHICC on Thursday 19 March for an engaging session on translating research concepts and health innovations into tangible outcomes for patients and healthcare systems.

Bringing together leaders from clinical research, translation, commercialisation and entrepreneurship, this event will explore why translating and commercialising matters and how it underpins the real-world impact of meaningful discoveries.

Through expert insights and practical case studies, speakers will share key considerations and lessons learned from their own commercialisation journeys, including:

• Why addressing unmet clinical and health system needs is the starting point for innovation

• How translation enables change, improving patient outcomes, optimising health services and supporting workforce experience

• The importance of health equity, improving access and affordability for diverse and underserved populations

• The mindset required for successful commercialisation, from purpose-driven design to global scalability

• What works (and what doesn’t) when moving from idea to impact.

Attendees will gain a clearer understanding of the pathway from research and early-stage innovation to real-world application, recognising that commercialisation isn’t all about business objectives or financial returns, but a purpose-driven pursuit to ensure breakthroughs reach the people and systems they were designed to help.

You’ll leave with practical takeaways, a fresh perspective and renewed inspiration to progress your own innovation journey.

EVENT DETAILS

Date: Thursday 19 March 2026

Time (AEDT): 9:00am - 11:00am

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

Speakers:

Andrew Batty, Chief Commercialisation Officer, ACMD

George Kenley, Head of Commercialisation Services, ANDHealth

Prof James Fallon, Chief Technical Officer, Bionics Institute | Head of Department, Medical Bionics Department, University of Melbourne

A/Prof Fiona Brownfoot, Co-Founder, Kali Healthcare | Clinician Scientist, The University of Melbourne | Obstetrician, The Mercy Hospital for Women

Dr Kyle Berean, Co-Founder and Head of Clinical Affairs, Atmo Biosciences

Dr Anabela Correia, Director, Inner Maven

Registration: Free to attend, but registration is essential.

Please note: Registrations will close 12:00pm (midday), Wednesday 18 March.

Who should attend:

• Clinicians, researchers and scientists

• Early-stage innovators, founders and CXOs

• Medtech, digital and connected health professionals and service providers.

INDUSTRY EXPERTS

Andrew Batty, Chief Commercialisation Officer, ACMD

Andrew is a MedTech executive with over 25-years’ experience in the healthcare sector where he’s developed, executed, and managed business strategies and companies to commercialise innovative and emerging technologies.

Andrew has worked in Sales, Marketing, Business Development, Clinical Operations and Management with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. He has launched private and ASX listed companies including CogState, IM Medical, and Anatomics, establishing exits, manufacturing agreements and global distribution channels.

Andrew is the Director and founder of Wonderland Medical, assisting businesses, at start-up, SME or corporate level to design, plan and implement commercial strategies. He was a Partner at Templar Capital Group raising local and foreign investment for Australian companies.

More recently, he has launched several local MedTech companies including VividWhite developing a microfluidic implant for glaucoma, iFix Medical developing a topical medicate for corneal repair, Morand Medical in the field of the tissue engineering and NeuroInsights recording brain activity for neurological conditions.

Andrew has a Bachelor of Science, a Master of Commerce, serves as a Director on several company boards, is the past chair of the University of Melbourne IAG for Biomedical engineering and is currently the Chief Commercial Officer at the Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery.

George Kenley, Head of Commercialisation Services, ANDHealth

George Kenley has over eight years of experience scaling early-stage medtech ventures from innovation to market adoption, underpinned by a background delivering complex healthcare infrastructure projects at Lendlease. As Co-Founder and COO of Seer Medical (2017–2024), she helped lead the development of commercial, clinical, and regulatory systems. Whereby the organisation grew from 3 to 220 staff across three countries, established 24 clinics, and secured TGA, CE, and FDA approvals, enabling multimillion-dollar revenue growth and access to advanced monitoring for thousands of patients.

Alongside her executive roles, George used her experience to support the broader medtech and digital health ecosystem by mentoring pre-revenue startups on commercial strategy, investment readiness, market access, and scalable business models, with a focus on aligning clinical and commercial pathways to meet investor and customer expectations.

Prof James Fallon, Chief Technical Officer, Bionics Institute | Head of Department, Medical Bionics Department, University of Melbourne

Professor Fallon has two decades of internationally recognized experience with in vivo electrical stimulation and recording, supported by grants totalling over $27 million and commercial research totalling over $6 million.

His research has led to the development of devices/technologies in several clinical trials including for cochlear implants, bionic eyes, deep brain stimulation and inflammatory bowel disease.

Professor Fallon is actively engaged in mentoring and supervision of both students and staff, with a particular emphasis on enabling early- to mid-career researchers to rapidly translate research findings; align with industry standards of device development under the Institute’s ISO 9001 certification; and facilitate progression to first-in-human clinical trials.

A/Prof Fiona Brownfoot, Co-Founder, Kali Healthcare | Clinician Scientist, The University of Melbourne | Obstetrician, The Mercy Hospital for Women

Fiona has had a long-standing interest in developing novel therapeutics for preeclampsia and has translated metformin and sulfasalazine from laboratory assay through to clinical trial. More recently, she has developed an interest in novel biomedical engineering technologies to reduce the most devastating pregnancy complications of stillbirth and cerebral palsy.

Fiona heads a multidisciplinary team of physicists, chemists, materials engineers and software engineers. Together they are utilising novel fibre optic technology, flexible electrical hardware and artificial intelligence to develop innovative devices to detect fetal distress during pregnancy and labour.

Fiona has published over 50 scientific papers, presented her work at international conferences and obtained numerous government and philanthropic grants.

Dr Kyle Berean, Co-Founder and Head of Clinical Affairs, Atmo Biosciences

Dr Kyle Berean has a PhD in materials science and electronic engineering. As an early career researcher, he has over 40 peer reviewed journal articles, many in prestigious journals such as Nature Electronics.

Kyle has over ten years of experience during his PhD and post-doctoral roles in digital health technologies, running clinical trials and developing biomedical devices.

Kyle is a co-inventor of Atmo Bioscience’s Gas Sensing Capsule and has managed many aspects of the project, including the development of over 12 clinical trials, the successful completion of the pivotal trial for regulatory submission, the future technology roadmap and the Commercialisation and Reimbursement pathway.

Dr Anabela Correia, Director, Inner Maven

Dr Anabela Correia is a healthcare CEO and Director specialising in scaling medical technologies from validation to revenue and strategic investment.

She is the Founding Director of Inner Maven, partnering with healthcare companies and investors to drive commercial scale, capital strategy and growth execution across devices, diagnostics, digital health and therapeutics.

With a PhD in Cardiovascular and Renal Medicine, and lifetime in business, Anabela combines clinical insight with venture and capital structuring expertise. She has supported the commercialisation of more than 15 healthcare technologies to revenue in global markets and contributed to over A$100 million in capital raised.

She works with founders, boards and investors on commercial strategy, market entry, capital readiness and growth execution, translating innovation into sustainable revenue.

This ACMD Link event is delivered in collaboration with CHICC and supported by the Victorian Government.

Important note for attendees:

To encourage inclusive and open dialogue, this event operates under Chatham House Rule. We kindly ask that you do not film or record this session, including the use of AI notetakers.

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 asked to complete a short post-event survey. Your feedback supports continuous improvement and helps shape the direction of future industry activities.