ESA Council

Associate Professor Ann McCormack (President) 

Department of Endocrinology | St Vincent’s Hospital | Sydney | NSW
Hormones and Cancer Group Leader | Garvan Institute of Medical Research | NSW
Conjoint Associate Professor | Faculty of Medicine | UNSW

A/Professor McCormack graduated in 2000 from the University of Sydney and undertook postgraduate training at the Royal North Shore Hospital. Her subsequent PhD examined the role of chemotherapy and genetic biomarkers in the management of aggressive pituitary tumours. In 2010 she completed a clinical and research fellowship in the Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism, with a focus on pituitary tumours. She was then appointed to her current position as senior staff specialist in the Department of Endocrinology at St Vincent’s Hospital in 2011. She now also heads The Hormones and Cancer Group at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. Her primary research interests are in exploring the biology of aggressive pituitary tumours and investigating new treatment options. She also has research interests in pituitary tumour genetics, particularly familial pituitary tumour syndromes. As a member for the European Society of Endocrinology’s Taskforce on Aggressive Pituitary Tumours, she was integral to the development of guidelines on the management of aggressive pituitary tumours published in 2017. She is board member of the International Pituitary Society, and holds other leadership positions within the pituitary field including chair of the St Vincent’s Campus pituitary multidisciplinary team, chair of the Sydney Pituitary Collaborative Group (SPCG) and co-chair of the Australia New Zealand Pituitary Alliance (ANZPA). 

Professor Jenny Gunton (Treasurer)

Professor Jenny Gunton is the Director of the Centre for Diabetes and Obesity Research at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research and is Chair of Medicine at Westmead Hospital, University of Sydney.  Jenny received her PhD from the University of Sydney and completed her post-doctoral fellowship in Ron Kahn’s lab at the Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School.  

Jenny’s research interests include diabetes, obesity, and vitamin D. She is particularly interested in the intersection of transcription factors and their regulation by nutrients including iron and Vitamin D. 

Professor Mathis Grossmann (Honorary Secretary)

University of Melbourne | VIC
Austin Health | VIC

Associate Professor Mathis Grossmann is a Principal Research Fellow at the Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne, Austin Health. He is a Consultant Endocrinologist and Head of Andrology at Austin Health, where he runs Endocrine Men’s Health and Endocrine Breast Cancer Clinics. He graduated with an MD from Heidelberg University Medical School and did his internship in Munich, Germany. He then spent 4 years in basic research at the National Institutes of Health, USA, and obtained a PhD at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne, followed by clinical training leading to FRACP. He joined the University of Melbourne at Austin Health in 2006. His research focuses on the roles of reproductive hormones in health and disease. His group conducts observational and interventional trials in men with i) low testosterone and chronic disease, ii) hypogonadism, iii) prostate cancer receiving androgen deprivation therapy, and iv) women with breast cancer receiving aromatase inhibition to understand how reproductive hormones regulate musculoskeletal health and glucose homeostasis, both at the clinical and the molecular level.

Associate Professor (Peter) Shane Hamblin (President-elect)

Department of Endocrinology & Diabetes | Western Health | Sunshine Hospital | VIC 

Shane Hamblin is Head of Endocrinology & Diabetes at Western Health, Melbourne and a consultant endocrinologist at The Alfred, Melbourne. After graduating from Monash University, he trained in endocrinology & diabetes at The Alfred followed by two years at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis USA, studying thyroid hormone action. He then worked for many years in private practice in Melbourne in addition to his public hospital appointments. He is an honorary Clinical Associate Professor (Principal Fellow) in the Department of Medicine- Western Precinct, Melbourne Medical School, The University of Melbourne and an Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Central Clinical School, Department of Medicine, Monash University. He is a member of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee. His main research interest is in clinical diabetes.

 
Associate Professor Frances Milat

Deputy Director of Endocrinology | Monash Health | VIC
Metabolic Bone Services | Monash Health | VIC
Metabolic Bone Research Group | Hudson Institute of Medical Research | VIC
School of Clinical Sciences | Monash University | VIC

Frances is a Consultant Endocrinologist, Deputy Director of Endocrinology and Head of the Metabolic Bone Services at Monash Health, Head of the Metabolic Bone Research Group at the Hudson Institute and Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Clinical Sciences, Monash University. Associate Professor Frances Milat is committed to improving patient care through clinical research, with interests in osteoporosis and metabolic bone disorders associated with chronic medical conditions including neurological disability, kidney disease, haematological disorders, early menopause and breast cancer. She is involved in the supervision of research students as well as medical student and postgraduate teaching.

Dr Ada Cheung

Endocrinologist | NHMRC Research Fellow
Department of Medicine (Austin Health) | The University of Melbourne | VIC

Ada Cheung is an endocrinologist at Austin Health, Victoria and in private practice. She is currently an NHMRC and Dame Kate Campbell research fellow at The University of Melbourne. Following the completion of her PhD in andrology, over the last 4 years, Ada has established a Trans Health Research group. She has won a number of national and international awards for her research and community leadership including a US Endocrine Society Early Investigator Award and an Inspirational Woman Award for International Women’s Day 2020 at Austin Health. She led new national guidelines on the hormonal management of transgender individuals published in the Medical Journal of Australia in 2019. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Community Directors Australia attaining a Diploma of Business (Governance) in order to most effectively serve on boards. She serves on various professional organization committees and is an editorial board member for Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism and Therapeutic Advances in Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Dr Liz Johnstone

Liz Johnstone obtained her PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Western Australia (UWA) in 2016. Since then she has been working as a postdoctoral researcher at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research/UWA Centre for Medical Research where she studies the molecular pharmacology of receptors. In 2017, she spent a year working part time as Senior Project Officer for Accelerating Australia, a consortium dedicated to promoting biomedical innovation and entrepreneurship. In 2021 she was appointed as a Pharmacology Lecturer in the UWA School of Biomedical Sciences, while she continues her research at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research. Liz was the inaugural Co-Chair (Science) of the ESA Early Career Committee from 2019-2022, and is also currently a member of the International Union of Pharmacology’s Early Career Committee.