ESA Council

Associate Professor (Peter) Shane Hamblin (President)

Affiliation: Department of Endocrinology & Diabetes, Western Health, Sunshine Hospital, VIC.

Shane Hamblin is Head of Endocrinology & Diabetes at Western Health, Melbourne. He graduated from Monash University, then trained in endocrinology & diabetes at The Alfred followed by two years at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis USA, studying thyroid hormone action. He is an honorary Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, Western Clinical School, The University of Melbourne and an Adjunct Associate Professor at Deakin University, Melbourne. He is a part-time PhD student in the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University, with research interests in diabetes pharmacotherapy. He is also a member of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee.

Professor Jenny Gunton (President-elect)

Affiliation: University of Sydney and Westmead Hospital

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’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.

Associate Professor Sunita De Sousa (Honorary Secretary)

Affiliation: Endocrinology & Genetics | Royal Adelaide Hospital
Adelaide Medical School | University of Adelaide

Assoc Prof Sunita De Sousa is a Staff Specialist in Endocrinology and Genetics at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. Her PhD examined genetic and clinical aspects of prolactinomas and was awarded the University of Adelaide Doctoral Research Medal. She has also completed an MSc at the University of London, and fellowships in pituitary endocrinology at St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney and clinical genetics in the SA Clinical Genetics Service. With ongoing funding from the ESA, RACP, MRFF and Royal Adelaide Hospital, her postdoctoral studies focus on monogenic diabetes and hereditary pancreatitis, and she was a co-author of the recent Australian hyperparathyroidism guidelines. Her current roles include PhD supervisor, reviewer for several journals, and member of the eviQ Cancer Genetics Committee and the US Endocrine Society Steering Committee for Endocrine Cancers Special Interest Group. She is the founding member of EndoGen, Australia’s national network of endocrine genetic centres. 

Dr Anna Story (Treasurer)

Affiliation: Northern Sydney Endocrine Centre
MBBS FRACP CCPU

Anna is a clinical endocrinologist who specializes in thyroid disease. She has a particular focus on thyroid cancer and is a member of the Endocrine Tumour Multidisciplinary Team at Royal North Shore Hospital. Anna undertook her undergraduate medical training at the University of Queensland (1997). She completed physician’s training at Royal North Shore Hospital and advanced training in Endocrinology at both North Shore Hospital and Prince of Wales Hospitals, completing this in 2005. Anna works in private practice at the Northern Sydney Endocrine Centre, where she is the practice head. She is also an honorary visiting medical officer at Royal North Shore Hospital.  She has a passion for education and is a Senior Clinical Lecturer for the University of Sydney and is an ultrasound course provider for ASUM. Most recently she has completed the Australian Institute of Company Directors course (GAICD).

Associate Professor Jun Yang

Affiliation: Hudson Institute of Medical research and Monash Health

A/Professor Jun Yang is the Head of the Endocrine Hypertension Group at Hudson Institute of Medical Research, Consultant Endocrinologist at Monash Health and Senior Researcher in the Department of Medicine at Monash University, Victoria, Australia.   Jun graduated from Monash University with a MBBS (Hon) in 2001, obtained the FRACP in 2010 and completed her PhD on tissue-selective coregulators of the mineralocorticoid receptor in 2013. She has continued basic and clinical research in the field of aldosterone-mediated hypertension.  She established the Endocrine Hypertension Service in 2016 and co-leads the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Primary Aldosteronism.  Jun is passionate about creating change through “bench-to-bedside” translational research and implementing research outcomes in clinical practice. Jun is also an active member of the endocrine community, serving as the ESA representative on the National Hypertension Taskforce, member of the ENDO Annual Meeting Steering Committee, member of the Endocrine Society Primary Aldosteronism Guideline Development Panel, and member of the Clinical Council of Hypertension Australia.  

Professor Roderick Clifton-Bligh

Affiliation: Head, Department of Endocrinology, Royal North Shore Hospital, St Leonards, Sydney
And Professor in Medicine, University of Sydney

Roderick Clifton-Bligh is Head of the Department of Endocrinology at Royal North Shore Hospital, and conjoint professor in Medicine at the University of Sydney. He trained in medicine at the University of Sydney before completing a PhD in the genetics of thyroid disorders at the University of Cambridge in 1998. He returned to Sydney to complete his FRACP in 2004 and was then appointed as Staff Specialist in Endocrinology at Royal North Shore Hospital. He is now senior staff specialist and Head of Department of Endocrinology at Royal North Shore Hospital and Professor (conjoint) at the University of Sydney. He heads the Cancer Genetics Laboratory at the Kolling Institute and direct twin research programs in Endocrine Neoplasia (Phaeochromocytoma/ paraganglioma syndromes, Thyroid Cancer, Adrenal Cancer, Pituitary Tumours) and Metabolic Bone Disease (calcium-sensing receptor function in health and disease, and FGF-23 regulation of vitamin D metabolism). He was admitted to Fellowship of Faculty of Science (The Royal College of Pathologists of Australia) in 2011. He has co-authored 198 publications in peer-reviewed journals with >6,000 citations. He has supervised 14 completed PhDs, including both basic science and clinical focused work; his students included the ESA Young Investigators in 2005, 2007, and 2010 and the ESA Bryan Hudson awardee in 2008. His work has been recognized by awards from NSW Cancer Institute (2013), Asia-Oceania Thyroid Association (2014) and the Endocrine Society of Australia Outstanding Clinical Practitioner Award (2021). His service to the Endocrine Society of Australia includes membership of the POC for its ASM in 2004-2006 and 2013-2015; and the ESA representative to the Specialist Advisory Committee in Endocrinology at the Royal Australasian College of Physicians from 2004-2012 (as chair, 2010-2012). He is passionate about scientific advancement in endocrinology through mentoring and training young physicians and scientists.

Associate Professor Carolyn Allan

Affiliation: Hudson Institute of Medical research and Monash Health

Associate Professor Carolyn Allan MBBS (Hons) PhD FRACP DRCOG (UK)

A/Prof Carolyn Allan is a Consultant Endocrinologist at Monash Health and Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor in the Hudson Centre for Endocrinology and Metabolism and School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health, Faculty of Medicine Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University. She is the Clinical Lead in the Andrology Service and the Head of the Endocrine Pregnancy Service at Monash Health. Carolyn completed her advanced training in endocrinology at Prince Henry's Hospital/Monash Medical Centre, Melbourne, and at St Bartholomew's in London.  She completed a Diploma in Obstetrics and Gynaecology whilst in the UK. Her PhD in Andrology was undertaken at Prince Henry's Institute (now the Hudson Institute of Medical Research) investigating the effect of ageing and body composition on androgens in the male. She maintains clinical and research interests in the field of male reproductive endocrinology. 

Carolyn also works in Private Practice and is the Director of the Victorian Diabetes Endocrine Network. She is the Chair of the Cabrini Hospital Endocrine Craft Group. 

Dr Lisa Hayes

Affiliation: Princess Alexandra Hospital , Brisbane

Lisa Hayes is the Director of Endocrinology at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane. She completed her endocrinology training in Brisbane. Lisa has a clinical interest in genetic endocrine conditions and established the QLD Statewide Combined Endocrine Genetics clinic in combination with the clinical genetics team at Genetic Health Queensland. She is a member of the eviQ Cancer Genetics Reference Committee and the EndoGen network of Australian Endocrine Genetic Centres. Lisa is passionate about teaching and mentoring endocrinology trainees. She has been organising the QLD NT Endocrine AT teaching series for the last 8 years and she is currently the co-chair of the QLD NT Endocrinology advanced trainee selection panel. She is also the co-chair for the QLD Quality in Diabetes Care meeting. Lisa is an associate fellow of the Royal Australian College of Medical Administrators and has an interest in workforce planning and improving staff wellbeing.

Dr Liz Johnstone (Basic Science Representative)

Affiliation: Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research and University of Western Australia

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.

Associate Professor Mitchell Lawrence (Basic Science Representative)

Dr Mitchell Lawrence is a Laboratory Head in the Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology and Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Monash University. His research on prostate cancer begins and ends with patients. Working with patient advocates, support groups, community organisations and clinicians, Dr Lawrence identifies critical clinical challenges facing patients. He tackles these challenges through multidisciplinary studies into tumour biology, pathology, and novel therapies. In collaboration with the Melbourne Urological Research Alliance, Dr Lawrence is using patient-derived models to uncover why some patients’ tumours are more aggressive than others and to identify how to treat these tumours more effectively. This is leading to changes in international clinical practice, concurrent clinical trials, and partnerships with industry

Dr Brendan Nolan

Affiliation: Department of Diabetes and Endocrinology
Princess Alexandra Hospital | Metro South Health

Dr Brendan Nolan is a Staff Specialist Endocrinologist at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane and Research Fellow in the Trans Health Research Group (University of Melbourne). His PhD examined the safety and efficacy of gender affirming hormone therapy for transgender and gender-diverse individuals and he was awarded the Bryan Hudson Clinical Endocrinology Award at the 2022 ESA Annual Scientific Meeting. He continues postdoctoral research with funding from ESA-RACP, MRFF and NHMRC. Brendan is a member of the US Endocrine Society Transgender Research and Medicine Special Interest Group and is Co-Chair of the Australian Professional Association of Trans Health Education Committee.