People 

Professor Gregory E Rice
Chairman

Professor Greg Rice is a co-founder of HealthLinx and a co-inventor of key patents that underpin HealthLinx’s product development goals.

Professor Rice is an NHMRC Principal Research Fellow at the Baker IDI and Chief Scientist at the Mercy Perinatal Research Centre at the Mercy Hospital for Women. He has an outstanding international reputation in reproductive biology, using both human and animal models. His academic qualifications include: BSc (Hons), PhD, Grad Dip Management and Master of Health Administration.

Professor Rice’s current research programs focus on the aetiology and early diagnosis of complications of pregnancy and reproductive tract cancers. His research teams at the Mercy Hospital for Women and Baker IDI are leaders in proteomic biomarker discovery platforms and the development of multiplex assay systems.

Stephen Copulos
Non-Executive Director

Stephen Copulos joined the Board on 1 August 2007. Stephen is the Managing Director of the Copulos Group of Companies and the largest single shareholder in HealthLinx owning 15% of the issued capital. Stephen has 30 years experience in a wide range of business enterprises including property development, investment, hospitality, fast food, and retail with operations in Victoria, NSW and QLD.

Stephen is currently the Executive Chairman of the largest independent KFC franchisee in Australia. Stephen was the Managing Director of Sundowner Motor Inns Ltd throughout a period of significant restructuring and growth of the business from 2002 to 2007 introducing a franchise model to complement the company’s 27 properties, completely reinventing all operations and marketing and establishing the first “green star hotel chain rating under the AAA Tourism framework”. During this period the company was transformed into a profitable hotel chain of company owned and franchise partners and eventually negotiated an attractive sale of the company to Lend Lease for the benefit of Shareholders.

Stephen has over 8 years experience in 4 public companies. Positions range from Non-Executive Director, Managing Director and Chairman. Stephen currently holds a Non-Executive Director position in Medivac Ltd.

John Evans
Non-Executive Director

John Evans is a chartered accountant and runs his own business consultancy practice, Rinnovate Pty Ltd. He holds various directorships on Australian publicly listed companies and private companies and brings over 15 years of financial management and corporate governance experience.

Nick Gatsios
Managing Director & Executive Director

Nick is a Director and co-founder of Teraform Advisory which was established to advise on the commercialisation of intellectual property from universities and research institutes in Australia. He has been responsible for developing and establishing licence agreements and partnerships for groups which has resulted in increased value for clients' products and services and increased access to investment. Nick has an extensive network in local and international financial institutions including Federal and State Governments.

Nick has spent the past five years building strong international networks and relationships where technology can be partnered and developed from product through to market. Nick, through Teraform Advisory, has been successful in securing over $40 million in grants and funding for clients.

Dr Stewart Washer
Non-Executive Director

Stewart has over 14 years of senior executive and Board experience in commercial technology companies in the medical, food, agricultural and industrial sectors. He has raised over $50m in private shareholder and government funds to invest in his companies and was a founder of Biopacific Ventures, a $120m life science fund.

Stewart is currently the founding CEO of Phylogica Ltd (ASX:PYC) that is developing peptide based biological drugs for inflammatory diseases including burns treatment and RA. Before this, he was CEO of Celentis and managed the commercialisation of intellectual property from AgResearch in New Zealand with 650 Scientists and $130m revenues. During this time he formed and governed a number of successful biotechnology companies that employed over 100 people with profitable revenues in excess of $30m.

Stewart is also a Director of Genesis (ASX:GEN) who are developing siRNA drugs against cancer and have spun off a novel bio energy and lignin company based in New Zealand. He is also the Chairman of Hatchtech Pty Ltd who have a novel anti pest egg hatching technology and are in clinical trials with a head lice treatment. Stewart sits as on the Senate at Murdoch University as a Senator and is on the Federal Government Advisory Panel for Industrial Biotechnology.

Associate Professor Elizabeth M Dax
AM MD BSc PhD

Elizabeth M Dax is an expert in the quality management of laboratory science and medicine, with extensive experience in project and financial management and research and is well known as a consultant, an educator, and an adviser in policy development in Australia and developing areas.

A/Prof Dax directs a national program for the quality of tests for transfusion transmitted infections and testing in facilities including the Australian Red Cross Blood Service and internationally, supporting quality in 80-100 reference laboratories in the South-east Asian and Western Pacific regions (funded partially by the World Health Organization (WHO). Laboratories with both diagnostic and blood transfusion safety mandates are involved. Programs are established pertaining to their specific requirements and resources.

Her current interests include: HIV vaccines, early immune responses to HIV and other infections, diagnostics development. Specific projects include development of an HIV test for incidence and development of software to facilitate quality assurance of laboratories. Patent is pending on an HIV incidence test.

Associate Professor Jane Armes

Dr Armes is a renowned clinical pathologist and researcher with broad expertise in women’s reproductive tract cancers, breast cancer and the application of advanced anatomical, histological and cytogenetic techniques for the analysis of such cancers.

Dr Armes has previously worked with: the Victorian Breast Cancer Research Consortium; Department of Pathology, University of Melbourne; Department of Pathology, Royal Women's Hospital, Melbourne; and the Departments of Gynaecological Oncology and Pathology, Mercy Hospital for Women, Melbourne; before accepting her current appointment as Director of Anatomical Pathology Mater Adult Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland.

Associate Professor Mahesh Choolani
MBBS, MRCOG, FRANZCOG, MMED, FAMS, PhD

Associate Professor Mahesh Choolani is one of the most highly regarded Professors in Singapore. He is currently Associate Professor of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the National University of Singapore where his current programs include the Fetal Genetics Programme & Ovarian Cancer Programme, (Diagnostic Biomarker Discovery Laboratory) & the Fetal Therapy Programme (Fetal Therapy Laboratory).

Dr Choolani is also a Senior Consultant of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at the National University Hospital in Singapore, Chairman of the NLAM Clinician Scientist Unit & Co-chairman of Research of NUS Leadership in Academic Medicine Program both at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. He is also Chairman of the Clinician Leadership in Research Programme at National Healthcare Group.

He has been awarded numerous awards, has contributed to hundreds of articles and publications and is currently named as the co-inventor of 4 patents.

Dr Gary Kruppa

Gary has spent the past 15 years specialising in Mass Spectrometry technologies and is currently the Vice President Western Region Operations for Bruker Daltonics US operations. Gary has a PhD and completed his Post Doc at the University of Basel in 1989.

Gary has over 38 publications to his name and brings both commercial and research experience to the SAC in the area of Mass Spectrometry. He is recognised globally as an expert in the field and will be a valued member of the SAC.

Professor Murray Mitchell

Prof Mitchell has more than 30 years experience in senior research positions spanning the United Kingdom, United States and Australasia. Currently he is the Deputy Director and Research Director of the Liggins Institute, University of Auckland and Deputy Director of the National Research Centre for Growth and Development. Prof Mitchell has contributed to more than 400 publications during his career and is recognised as a leader in reproductive biology.

Prof Mitchell brings a wealth of both academic and commercial experience to the SAC and the company with focus on women’s health.

Nick Gatsios
Managing Director

Nick is a director and co-founder of Teraform Advisory which was established to advise on the commercialisation of intellectual property emanating from universities and research institutes in Australia. Teraform advises on the market and application of the technology where commercial opportunities are discovered. Nick has spent the past five years building strong international networks and relationships where technology can be partnered and developed through to product and market.

Nick’s strengths are:

• Negotiation of licensing agreements for early and late stage technology;
• Market intelligence for IP and where it best fits within the global landscape
• Identifying the best fit industry partner and bringing together the two groups to proceed with transaction; and
• Structuring IP for either a spin off strategy and/or a licensing strategy
  

Dr Dominic J. Autelitano
Chief Scientific Officer & Manager, Peptide Therapeutics

Dr Autelitano received his Ph.D. from Monash University, Australia in 1986 in the field of Endocrinology. He spent 4 years at Columbia University and Mt. Sinai Medical School in New York, furthering studies on transcriptional regulation of peptide hormone genes involved in the stress response. Over the last ten years at the Baker Medical Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia, he has continued research work into the regulation and function of peptide hormones and their receptors on cardiac function.

Anton Lam
Finance Manager

Anton has extensive financial experience having spent 23 years at Telstra Corporation in varied roles which included Business Analyst, Financial Advisor, Treasury Operation Manager & Finance Officer. Anton graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration majoring in Accounting & is an Associate member of Australian Society of CPA & a Fellow member of Taxation Institute of Australia.