The meeting was opened by MC Tony Battaini, and the weekly reflection was delivered by President Elect Philip Cornish. The transcript of the reflection is published later in this bulletin.
Having proposed the toast and after a brief meal break, President Catherine came to the podium to commence proceedings in Rotary Melbourne’s celebration of Hat Day and the role of Australian Rotary Health in supporting research into Mental Health treatment and preventative measures.
Rotary Melbourne member Suresh Marcandan, and District 9800 Rotary Health Chair gave a brief overview of ARH’s critical role in mental health research. He then introduced Harry Dempsey who is currently undertaking his PhD with support from Australian Rotary Health. You can learn about his fascinating work by taking a look at the full meeting recording (see links below).
After President Catherine reminding members to consider booking our places at the Rotary Central Melbourne PHF breakfast and congratulating all members who volunteered at the final Melbourne Marathons drinks station, she invited Karen Kim to the platform to introduce our guest speakers: Dr. Katie Allen, distinguished leader in medical research, public service, and innovation, known for her pioneering work in food allergy research and has published over 400 scientific articles.
Katie thanked Rotary Melbourne for this speaking opportunity and shared a personal story about her uncle Jeff, whose experience with hemochromatosis inspired her research in genetic screening. She outlined the journey and challenges faced to establish population-wide genetic screening for hemochromatosis, emphasizes the importance of genetic screening in preventing diseases like hemochromatosis. She then discussed policy changes and innovations she has been involved in while in parliament, and stressed the need for better R&D, collaboration between businesses and universities, and reforms to IP laws to enhance technology transfer.
She then passed the Microphone to Professor Colin MacLeod's, who is noted for his roles in supporting researchers, students, and entrepreneurs through initiatives at the Melbourne Entrepreneurial Centre. Colin shared a personal story about his father’s early death and how it influenced his career in research commercialization.
He discussed the complexity and challenges of commercializing technologies, especially in med-tech, highlighting the lack of venture capital in Australia for deep tech and commercialization. Colin stressed the importance of strategic investments, skills development, financial infrastructure, and talent in commercialization.
He also outlined initiatives like MAP and TRAM at the University of Melbourne to foster entrepreneurship and introduce the university's venture capital fund as a means to support spin-outs and nurture startups.
The first question related to the discrepancy between state and federal support for genetic screening programs. Dr. Allen responded by highlighting the challenges due to the divide between state and federal responsibilities in health and education. She highlighted the effective national response to COVID due to strong collaboration among medical researchers and stressed the importance of experienced individuals in parliament streamlining the political process for better outcomes.
The next question raised a concern about support for commercialization from universities.
Professor MacLeod agreed and explained the steps Melbourne University is taking and the role of it’s technology transfer office. He underscored the need for venture creators to help shepherd university IP into spin-out companies. He noted the challenge of unseen IP and the necessity of fostering a culture of risk-taking among academics. Finally, he emphasized the importance of collaboration and ongoing development in commercialization practices.
In closing Karen Kim thanked Katie and Colin for their insightful addresses and called the meeting to a close.
You can view the meeting by following one or bother of these links. Apologies for the poor video quality which was caused by internet reception issues. To view:
Speaker series Click here
Full meeting: Click here
