AI & Public Health Conference 2026

Professor Martyn Kirk is an epidemiologist and public health leader specialising in foodborne disease surveillance, outbreak investigation, and innovative methods of public health, including whole genome sequencing and artificial intelligence. As a Professor of Applied Epidemiology at the Australian National University, he has led national research programs that integrate infectious disease surveillance, data science, and public health intelligence to strengthen Australia’s preparedness for emerging threats. His work spans large‑scale cohort studies, real‑time analytics, and the development of workforce capability across government and academia. Martyn is widely recognised for advancing evidence‑based policy and for championing responsible, transparent approaches to public health data analysis.

Dr Amalie Dyda is an infectious disease epidemiologist working as a teaching and research academic in the School of Public Health. In 2009 she completed a Master of Applied Epidemiology at the Australian National University, followed by a PhD investigating vaccine preventable diseases in adults at the University of New South Wales in 2017. She has experience working as a field epidemiologist in numerous health departments throughout Australia and has research experience in infectious diseases, data linkage and public health informatics. She is currently working on projects investigating the use of technology and machine learning methods to assist the public health response to infectious diseases, and links between social media use and health. Additionally, Amalie does a lot of work to improve gender equity in health and medical research, including working as part of the peer advisory committee for Franklin Women.

Consultant Cardiologist and founder of the Medical Intelligence, Innovation and Data Science (MINDS) Hub at Campbelltown Hospital. PhD student at the University of Sydney - The Heart Watch Study, researching the feasibility of using Smartwatch 12-lead ECG for population self screening with Advanced ECG analysis. Founding member of the international Medical Intelligence Society.

Dr. Adrian Webster leads the Data Governance & Integration Group and is the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s (AIHW) Chief AI Officer. His team is responsible for the AIHW data integration system and data governance, ethics and privacy management arrangements across the organisation as well as supporting the organisation’s use of AI and machine learning techniques and tools. 

A sociologist with over 25 years’ experience in health and welfare, Adrian has led monitoring, evaluation, research and statistics activities in a variety of international and Australian public health contexts, including in First Nations communities and in relation to HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment across the Former Soviet Union.

Since joining the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) in 2009, Adrian has led many disease monitoring and health system-related work programs, including primary health care and hospitals monitoring, health system performance reporting, Australia’s National Health Accounts and chairing the OECDs Working Party for Health Statistics.

Adam Dunn is Professor of Biomedical Informatics in the Sydney School of Public Health at the University of Sydney. His main interest is in applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in health, especially in applications in public health, clinical evidence synthesis, clinical decision support, and health communications. Adam established the Discipline of Biomedical Informatics and Digital Health at the University of Sydney in 2020 and has led or co-led research projects funded by the NHMRC, AHRQ, NLM/NIH, and WHO. He is currently a Deputy Editor for npj Digital Medicine and Editor-in-Chief for npj Digital Public Health.

Dr Navoda Liyana Pathirana is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Deakin Centre for Global Preventive Health and Nutrition, within the Deakin Institute for Health Transformations. She is a multidisciplinary researcher working at the intersection of artificial intelligence, public health, and sustainable food systems. Her research focuses on developing data‑driven, AI‑assisted policy evaluation frameworks to address harmful digital marketing, unhealthy food environments, and the commercial determinants of health. As part of her fellowship, she leads ECHO (Evaluating the Co‑benefits of food policies on Health, environmental and socio‑economic Outcomes), which applies environmental‑economic modelling and programming tools to quantify the multiple impacts of food and public health policies. Dr Pathirana has led and contributed to internationally funded projects with partners including UNICEF, WHO, VicHealth, and government agencies, and has published in BMJ, Nature Food, and Public Health Nutrition. Her work directly informs public health regulation in Australia and South Asia.

Public Health Physician at HNE Public Health Unit, founder FluTracking. General communicable disease surveillance, outbreak investigation and environmental health. Leader of unit Community of Practice in AI, author of How NOT to piss off a community.

Dr. Kylie Ainslie is an infectious disease modeller and biostatistician who develops mathematical models and statistical methods to understand how diseases spread and the impact of interventions (e.g., vaccines) on disease transmission. She is Modelling for Policy Lead at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, University of Melbourne and an Honorary Assistant Professor at the University of Hong Kong School of Public Health. She has led critical modelling initiatives in the United Kingdom and Netherlands that directly informed policy decisions. Her work spans multiple pathogens including SARS-CoV-2, influenza, mpox, measles, and scabies. 

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Previously, Kylie was a Senior Researcher at the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) (2020-2025). At RIVM, she developed transmission models with vaccination and directly advised the government on health policy, including key decisions throughout the Dutch COVID-19 vaccine rollout. Kylie conducted postdoctoral research at the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College London (2018-2020) to determine how repeated exposures to influenza through natural infections and vaccines influenced an individual’s susceptibility to subsequent infections. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she led the analytical pipeline for Imperial’s Real-time Assessment of Community Transmission (REACT-1) study, providing regular surveillance reports to the UK government that shaped England's COVID-19 pandemic response. Kylie received her PhD in Biostatistics from Emory University in 2018, where her doctoral research focused on developing statistical methods to evaluate influenza vaccine effectiveness.

Mr Terry Slevin has been Chief Executive Officer for the Public Health Association of Australia since May 2018. 

He is Adjunct Professor in the National Drug Research Institute at Curtin University, and Adjunct Professor in the College of Health and Medicine at the Australian National University. 

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He is a Fellow of PHAA and was the first Vice President (Development) of the Association.

Ms Cal Spencer-Rosenberg joined the PHAA team in March 2022.

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She has over 25 years of experience managing events, gained in corporate, private, and non-profit organisations across London, Melbourne, and Brisbane.

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In January 2022 she completed a Bachelor of Health Sciences, majoring in public health at The University of Queensland, and brings both her academic and professional career experience to this role.

Ms Tamara Mok joined the PHAA team in November 2025.

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Tamara Lee Mok is an experienced event professional with over 8 years in the events industry. She has delivered outdoor events, galas, award ceremonies, conferences, and celebrations, blending creative vision and styling with operational precision to create inclusive, memorable experiences.