Friday 23 October 2026 | Gold Coast QLD
Alex Barty is a highly experienced commercialisation professional and fund program leader specialising in early-stage digital and connected health technologies. He has a strong track record delivering complex, government-funded investment programs and designing investment readiness and commercial strategy methodologies that accelerate the commercialisation of both deep technologies and consumer-facing products.
As Director, Non-Dilutive Investment Programs & Portfolio at ANDHealth, Alex leads the end-to-end delivery of the $33M+ Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF)-BioMedTech incubator (BMTI)-funded ANDHealth+ program, overseeing cohort selection, due diligence frameworks, investment governance, milestone reviews, and hands-on commercialisation support. He also co-manages the $50M CUREator+ and $50M CUREator+ Dementia & Cognitive Decline programs in partnership with Brandon BioCatalyst, representing ANDHealth across program operations and portfolio strategy. He previously led the successful close-out of ANDHealth’s inaugural MRFF Early Stage Translation and Commercialisation (ESTAC)-funded ANDHealth+ program, deploying $15M across 21 companies to de-risk technologies and strengthen investment and market readiness, demonstrating his ability to manage high-complexity, multi-stakeholder initiatives to completion.
Alex has a longstanding relationship with the University of Sydney, where he supported commercial strategy, global partnering, and grant development across oncology and neurology platforms, and later served as inaugural General Manager of medtech spinout ChemoTrak, with SA-based seed investors Innovyz to position the company for follow-on investment and scale-up readiness. He remains a Research Affiliate. Earlier, he held senior roles at an ASX-listed digital health company, leading partnerships, IP strategy, regulatory compliance, and global stakeholder engagement. Alex’s early career in the wine industry, including founding his own label, underpins his practical, founder-focused approach. He holds an MBA (Distinction) from the University of Sydney and degrees in Pharmacology and German from UWA.
Anne has over 30 years' experience in the health, medical research and policy sectors, including frontline experience developing and administering health and medical research policies and programs for NSW’s health system. In 2025, she was awarded the Public Service Medal in the King's Birthday Honours List for outstanding public service to NSW in medical research and innovation. Anne joins ANDHealth following a distinguished career in public sector leadership, innovation and commercialisation at NSW Health. Widely recognised as one of Australia's leading architects of health and medical research commercialisation, Anne has designed and governed major public funding programs, most notably the NSW Medical Devices Fund, which has returned over A$2 billion in investment to NSW and delivered nearly 1.7 million devices into the global health system, and has since been adopted as the blueprint for the NSW Physical Sciences, BioSciences and Emerging Technology Commercialisation Fund. Her leadership has made a lasting contribution to Australia's innovation ecosystem. A longtime advocate of diversity, Anne has worked throughout her career to advance opportunities for women and underrepresented groups in health and technology, and she is a mentor in the Industry Mentoring Networking in STEM (IMNIS) initiative led by the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, of which she is an elected Fellow. Anne is also on LifeSciences Australia Board of Directors and is a member of Bioshores Ventures Advisory Board.
Dr Helena Franco is an Orthopaedic Surgery registrar in Queensland and co-founder of Australis Scientific. During her studies at Harvard Medical School, the team won the 2023 Harvard President's Innovation Challenge Grand Prize, the first Australian to receive Harvard's highest innovation award, for the Confidanz (formerly InConfidence) Smart Patch. The innovation is a wearable, at-home percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation therapy for urinary incontinence and overactive bladder.
She was named in Forbes 30 Under 30 (Healthcare & Science) in 2024, and is a Flare Capital Scholar and Latinx Venture Capital Fellow. She holds an MD from Bond University, a Master of Surgery from the University of Sydney, and a Master of Medical Sciences from Harvard Medical School.
Rachel Swift has spent her career in the parts of health systems under the most strain, from the Ebola response in West Africa to the workforce shortages now reshaping health and aged care across Australia. Her work today is about what artificial intelligence can practically do about them.
She is Group Executive Director at Future Secure AI, where she leads the Asia-Pacific Health, Aged Care and Agriculture group. Her teams deploy AI Co-Workers inside enterprise health systems solving some of the most complex human and financial challenges facing the care sector. The focus is deliberately unglamorous work: the tasks that consume enormous clinical and administrative effort without adding anything to patient care.
Rachel has more than two decades of international experience across health strategy and delivery, including a decade at The Boston Consulting Group, with executive roles spanning private health insurance, hospital systems leadership and global health.
In 2014 she was Expert Advisor to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response in West Africa, shaping the strategy and operations that brought the epidemic under control. Earlier in her career she led a global health program on maternal and childhood nutrition in East Africa with the Clinton Health Access Initiative and worked on the Global Polio Eradication Initative.
She serves on the Innovation and Enterprise Advisory Board of the University of Melbourne School of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, is Vice-Chair of the Australian Advisory Board on Competitiveness, a director of GMHBA and an advisor to Tin Alley Ventures. Rachel has held teaching appointments at the Universities of Oxford and Adelaide and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health and the Australasian College of Health Service Management, and a Certified Health Executive.
Dr Steve Burnell is the Managing Director of Tenmile and Chair of the Investment Committee. Tenmile is an Australian health technology venture capital company owned by Tattarang, one of Australia’s largest private companies. Steve’s professional experience spans research, philanthropy, strategy consulting, M&A, and operating global businesses in fields as diverse as ecology, digital health, and precision oncology. He is relentlessly passionate about the power of new technology to positively impact human health and mitigate our climate impacts. Prior to his current role, Steve managed a global business, led M&A and established a new informatics and real-world data business for the world’s largest biotech, Roche-Genentech based in the USA. He remains a senior strategic advisor to Minderoo Foundation where he has led large initiatives focused on COVID-19, Cancer, and Ocean Genomics amongst others. He holds a B.Sc. (Hons.) in Biology and a Ph.D. in Population Biology from the University of Sydney.
Dr Trang Nguyen is the Founder and CEO of SeeTreat, with over 15 years of experience spanning clinical research, medical physics and biomedical engineering.She leads the company’s clinical and scientific vision, translating advanced research into practical solutions that improve cancer treatment and patient care. Dr Nguyen has deep expertise in radiotherapy, medical imaging and AI driven clinical technologies, and in her academic roles authored numerous peer reviewed publications across biomedical engineering and medical physics.
Elyse Shapiro is the founder of SIRCA Partners, a specialist healthcare strategic and capital markets advisory firm working with boards and executive teams across biotechnology, medical technology, healthcare services and digital health.
She brings more than 12 years of healthcare equity research experience, including as Senior Healthcare Analyst at Canaccord Genuity. Her coverage included healthcare IT and digital health, alongside the broader ASX-listed healthcare sector including biotechnology and medical device companies, with a focus on assessing business models, commercialisation pathways, competitive positioning and valuation in the context of the private and public market.
Through SIRCA, Elyse helps companies translate complex technologies and clinical propositions into compelling, credible investment cases. She advises on corporate strategy, capital markets readiness and investor engagement, bringing a holistic understanding of what investors need to see, from evidence of adoption and scalable economics to milestones that support long-term value creation.
Helen has a BA in Statistics and Computer Science and over 20 years of commercial expertise spanning FMCG, digital innovation, MedTech, Biotech, and digital health.
As CEO of Cardihab, Helen is focused on delivering innovative solutions that harness the power of technology and data to improve outcomes for patients and healthcare professionals. She is a strong advocate for evidence-based digital health innovations that support the growth of the Australian digital health ecosystem.
Helen is a MTAA Women in MedTech Champion (2025) and received the AIDH Inaugural Organisational Impact Award on behalf of Cardihab (2026).
She also serves as a Board Member of the Medical Technology Association of Australia (MTAA) and is the Chair of the MTAA Digital Health Advisory Group (DHAG).
Klaus is an experienced company leader and entrepreneur with over 35 years of experience in the technology industry, including systems integration, SaaS and on-premises software development, B2B, B2C, hardware and software solutions sales, managed services, hosting and management consulting. Earlier in his career, Klaus spent 8 years working alongside Marty Gauvin at ASX-listed Hostworks Group and later at Virtual Ark, an experience that continues to inform Dreamoro's operator-led approach to backing founders. software development, B2B, B2C, hardware and software solutions sales, managed services, hosting and management consulting.
Klaus was the CEO and Co-Founder of 1st Group Ltd, the company behind the MyHealth1st.com.au healthcare appointment booking and online marketplace platform, which launched in early 2012, and which he listed on the ASX via an IPO in 2015 and led as CEO and Managing Director until his exit in October 2022. By the time of his departure, the company had thousands of healthcare customers across Australia and New Zealand, including in the veterinarian market via the brand PetYeti.com.au supporting pet owners looking after their pet's health needs, partnered with private hospitals, pharmaceuticals, buy-now-pay-later leaders and practice management software vendors and facilitated over 18 million appointments online.
He deeply understands the challenges that founders face having experienced more than his share over his career whilst building 1st Group and other businesses, and more recently survived the unprecedented demands of COVID-19. He is an experienced mentor, entrepreneur, advisor and inspiring leader trusted by his team, customers and shareholders. Klaus is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a board member of the not-for-profit Melanoma Patients Australia.
Oona Reardon is the Director of Pulse Economics, a consultancy specialising in health economics, market access, reimbursement and pricing strategy for the medtech, biotech and pharmaceutical industries. With over 20 years of experience across the healthcare sector in industry, consulting and government, Oona is a recognised expert in health technology assessment (HTA) and evidence-based market access. Her expertise spans the full spectrum of access strategy, from early evidence planning through to submissions to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) and Medical Services Advisory Committee (MSAC), post-listing evaluation and pricing negotiations.
Before founding Pulse Economics, Oona held senior roles in health economics and market access, including positions at Labcorp, HealthConsult and the Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation (CHERE) at UTS. She also served as an evaluator of PBAC and MSAC submissions on behalf of the Australian Department of Health, providing her with unique insight into how evidence and value arguments are appraised within the national reimbursement system. Oona combines strategic foresight with analytical rigour, partnering with clients to communicate the value of new therapies and technologies through robust clinical, economic and financial evidence. Her goal is to help clients achieve timely and sustainable access, so that patients can benefit from innovative health technologies sooner.
Oona holds a Master of Public Health (Health Economics) and a Bachelor of Science (Medical Physics, Honours) from the University of Technology Sydney.
Sandra has over 20 years' experience advising national and international corporations on intellectual property, corporate litigation and dispute resolution. She provides strategic and practical advice on the development, protection, management and enforcement of intellectual property rights. She manages trade mark portfolios for global and local clients, provides pre-filing advice, and manages enforcement, licensing and renewals. Sandra successfully represents clients in patent enforcement cases, trade mark infringement and opposition proceedings, copyright infringement and design infringement matters. She advises on domain name rights and brand protection strategies.
Sandra advises on high-value disputes in the Federal Court and Supreme Courts. She is also a member of the International Trademark Association's Anticounterfeiting Committee and The Intellectual Property Society of Australia and New Zealand.
Sarah is Partner & Head of Healthcare at OneVentures, with more than 20 years of leadership experience across start-ups, ASX and NASDAQ-listed companies, multinational pharma and research institutions. As an experienced dealmaker, she has led transactions spanning early-stage investments through to major global pharma partnerships.
Sarah is Chair of Vaxxas and serves on the boards of BiVACOR, Kira Biotech and Vertero Therapeutics. She previously served on the board of Life Sciences Queensland.
OneVentures is an Australian later-stage venture capital firm backing companies using technology and science to solve real problems at global scale. We invest through growth equity and credit, bringing hands-on operational experience to help companies scale.
Our healthcare practice backs clinical-stage therapeutics, medical devices and diagnostics from clinical proof through to commercialisation. Portfolio companies include BiVACOR, whose total artificial heart is in first-in-human studies, and Vaxxas, which is developing needle-free vaccine delivery technology.
Trent is a Partner based in Brandon’s Queensland’s Office. Before joining Brandon Trent was an Industry Professor at the University of Queensland where he led various biotechnology focused research programs and strategic initiatives. Trent was previously Senior Vice President at Microba (ASX:MAP) and an Executive Director at Amgen based in Thousand Oaks, California. Trent is a director of Vaxxas and Life Sciences Queensland and sits on the scientific advisory board of several other biotechnology companies including Cynata and Macro biome. Trent has a Bachelor of Science (Honours) from James Cook University, a PhD in protein biochemistry from The University of Queensland, he completed postdoctoral research at Harvard University and was a Welcome Trust senior postdoctoral research fellow at The Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge.
