AI & Public Health Conference 2026

Prof. Enrico Coiera

Director
Centre for Health Informatics, Australian Institute of Health Innovation​

Trained in medicine and with a computer science PhD in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Professor Coiera has a 35-year research background spanning industry and academia with a strong international research reputation for his work on clinical AI and decision support. Professor Coiera is the founder of The Australian Alliance for Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare (AAAiH).

Dr Serina Chang

Assistant Professor
University of California, Berkeley

Serina Chang is an Assistant Professor at University of California, Berkeley, jointly appointed in Computer Science and Computational Precision Health. She is also part of the Berkeley AI Research (BAIR) Lab and Center for Human-Compatible AI (CHAI). Serina's research lies at the intersection of AI and human behavior, including developing human-centered AI models, simulating and inferring human behaviors with AI, and modeling population behaviors to guide high-stakes public health and policy decisions. Her work is recognized by Forbes 30 under 30, the ACM SIGKDD Dissertation Award, Google Research Scholar Award, KDD Best Paper Award, EECS Rising Stars, and Rising Stars in Data Science, and has received coverage from over 650 news outlets, including The New York Times and The Washington Post. Previously, she completed her PhD in Computer Science at Stanford University and a postdoc at Microsoft Research.

Dr Laura Espinosa

Expert Epidemic Intelligence
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control

Dr Espinosa is an Epidemic Intelligence Expert at ECDC and a graduated PhD from EPFL Digital Epidemiology Lab in Switzerland. She is a public health veterinarian with further specialisation in digital technologies.
 
She has focused her career on public health from an international perspective. She has been involved in ECDC activities in the past 10 years related to several public health events of international concern.
 
In the past years, she has broadened her expertise on artificial intelligence and the implementation of machine learning and deep learning in public health, and on the leverage of social media for public health functions. She is currently leading the digitalisation of early detection of threats through artificial intelligence and other technologies at ECDC.

A/Prof. Melissa McCradden

Deputy Director
Australian Institute for Machine Learning

A/Prof Melissa McCradden is a bioethicist and clinical researcher. She serves as the Artificial Intelligence Director and Deputy Research Director with the Women's and Children's Health Network, and a Deputy Director and The Hospital Research Foundation (THRF) Group Fellow at the Australian Institute for Machine Learning at the University of Adelaide. She is an Adjunct Scientist with the SickKids Research Institute and member of the SickKids Research Ethics Board in Toronto, Canada. Dr. McCradden's expertise is in the development of ethical frameworks derived from clinical and technical knowledge grounded in policy, law, and moral theory. She serves on multiple international reporting guideline initiatives and consortia, including the WHO/ITU's Clinical Evaluation Task Force in the Focus Group on AI 4 Health as well as the Centre of Excellence for Regulatory Science & Innovation in AI and Digital Health (CERSI-AI).

Dr Julie Ayre

Senior Research Fellow
Sydney Health Literacy Lab, University of Sydney

Dr Ayre is an NHMRC Emerging Leader Research Fellow (2023-2027) at the Sydney Health Literacy Lab, University of Sydney. Her research focuses on using digital technology to support health literacy initiatives in the healthcare workforce and the community. She has a strong track record with >80 publications in high quality national and international journals (e.g. npj Digital Medicine, MJA). Dr Ayre sits on the Scientific Advisory Team for the Australian Government’s National Health Literacy Framework.

Distinguished Professor Craig Olsson

Deakin Distinguished Professor and Director
Deakin Lifespan Institute

Deakin Distinguished Professor and Director, Deakin Lifespan Institute, Faculty of Health/School of Psychology
NHMRC Leadership Fellow: Lifecourse Epidemiology 
Scientific Director: The Australian Temperament Project Generation 3 Study
The Victorian Adolescent and Intergenerational Health Cohort Study
Founding Scientific Convener: MCRI LifeCourse Initiative
National Convenor: The Australian Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY) Longitudinal Studies Network.

Fields of Research:

• Applied and developmental psychology

• Social determinants of health

• Behavioural epidemiology

• Social epidemiology

• Epidemiology

• Child and adolescent development

• Psychology of ageing

Prof. Clair Sullivan

Director, Queensland Digital Health Centre
The University of Queensland

Professor Clair Sullivan is an internationally recognised clinical informatician, clinician and research leader driving digital health transformation in Queensland and globally. She is Director of the Queensland Digital Health Centre at The University of Queensland and Clinical Director for Community Diabetes at Metro North Health. A specialist endocrinologist, she holds a Research Doctorate in Medicine from the University of Leeds and has held senior leadership roles across government and academia since 2014.

Professor Sullivan has generated more than $70M in research funding and currently leads over $35M in active grants, including 6 MRFF projects (3 as CIA), 4 NHMRC projects and 3 ARC Linkage projects (1 as CIA). She leads a $110M+ research centre and is ranked in the top 1% globally in Medical Informatics, with over 150 publications.

Her work spans research, clinical practice and policy, with a strong track record of translating digital innovation into real-world impact. Through her leadership, she continues to shape national and international approaches to digital health, influencing how healthcare systems are designed, delivered and sustained into the future.

Ms Amanda Cattermole PSM

Chief Executive Officer
Australian Digital Health Agency

Ms Amanda Cattermole PSM is the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Digital Health Agency, a role she commenced in September 2020.

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Auspiced by the governments of Australia, the Agency is the steward for digital enablement of Australia’s health system, with a lead role in coordinating national engagement, delivery and adoption of digital health to enable person-centred, connected healthcare.

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Amanda has previously held senior roles in Commonwealth entities, including Treasury, the former Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and Services Australia.

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She has also held senior State government roles in the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services and the Western Australian Department of Indigenous Affairs. In her earlier career Amanda worked as a lawyer in Victoria, the Northern Territory and Western Australia.

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Amanda holds a Bachelor of Laws, a Bachelor of Commerce, a Master of Laws and a Master of Business Administration. In 2013, she received the Public Service Medal for outstanding public service leading reform in providing housing for Indigenous people in remote communities and the National Gambling Reform laws.

Prof. Ross Andrews

Executive Director
Public Health Intelligence Branch, Population Health Division | Queensland Health

Professor Ross Andrews is Executive Director of Public Health Intelligence Branch and an epidemiologist with over 25 years of public health experience. He is a former Chair of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) and a former Director Master of Applied Epidemiology Program, Australian National University. Ross has obtained 19 NHMRC grants related to public health and has supervised 15 higher degree by research graduands. 
The Public Health Intelligence Branch integrates ICT, data management and epidemiology functions for public health. The Branch has oversight of public health information management systems and ensures they are strategically aligned, interoperable and fit for purpose.