Research governance

Research Advisory Committee 

The committee provides advice and guidance on how our people can best contribute knowledge to the blood sector in Australia and around the world.  They’re from international blood operators, Australian hospitals, universities and research institutions. 

Professor Doug Joshua AO (Chair)

BSc, MB BS (Syd), D Phil (Oxon), FRACP, FRCPA, FFSc (RCPA)

Emeritus Professor in Haematology-University of Sydney

Emeritus Consultant Haematologist-Royal Prince Alfred Hospital

Doug was previously Head of Clinical Haematology at Sydney Cancer Centre, Head of the Sydney Area Health Service Haematology Service, Alan Ng Professor in Medicine at the University of Sydney, and Director of the Institute of Haematology and Senior Specialist in Haematology at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, New South Wales, Australia. He has received many awards including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Myeloma Society.

He's a founding member of the Faculty of Science of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (RCPA) and was Chief Examiner in Haematology for the RCPA.

Doug is a scientific advisor and member of the International Myeloma Foundation, a reviewer for many Journals and serves on the editorial board of Clinical and Laboratory Haematology and Clinical Lymphoma and Myeloma.

He’s collaborated on many clinical trials in myeloma research, as well as having a direct involvement in basic science research supported by such organizations as the National Health and Medical Research Council, Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, and the University of Sydney Cancer Research Fund. He has published extensively in clinical and basic research on myeloma and receives over one thousand citations annually (2014-2021).

Professor Christopher Ward 

Senior Staff Specialist and Director of Research 

Department of Haematology, Royal North Shore Hospital, St Leonards 

Professor of Medicine Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney 

Christopher is a clinical haematologist with special interests in disorders of blood clotting and bleeding. He’s based at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney and oversees teaching and research programs, including genetic screening for inherited bleeding disorders. Christopher represents Australia in several international societies and was recently appointed to the Council of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH).

Associate Professor Robert Andrews 

After graduating with a PhD in Biochemistry (University of Queensland, 1986), Robert’s research has spanned protein chemistry and organic synthesis (metalloenzymes and inhibitors) to biochemical analysis of human platelet receptors, ligands and snake venom proteins. This combination has led him to his current research on mechanisms of human disease involving haematological systems, and analysis of new platelet-specific biomarkers for bleeding and thrombotic risk. This research has resulted in over 200 peer-reviewed publications. 

Dr Ralph R Vassallo

MD, FACP

EVP and Chief Medical and Scientific Officer, Vitalant, USA

Ralph is the Chief Medical and Scientific Officer of Vitalant, based in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Prior to joining Vitalant in 2014, Ralph was the Chief Medical Officer of the American Red Cross Blood Services’ East Division. From 1992-2002, he was the Director of Medical Education, an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education  (ACGME)Program Director, and a hospital administrator for a 3-hospital system in Philadelphia.

Ralph serves on the committees of several leading international blood transfusion organisations, and is on the editorial boards of Transfusion and Transfusion and Apheresis Science.  He has authored book chapters in Williams' Hematology, Rossi's Principles of Transfusion Medicine, McLeod’s Apheresis Principles and Practice and more than 80 other articles and reviews.

Professor Eva Maria Merz

PhD

Senior researcher, Sanquin Blood Supply

Professor Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Department of Sociology

Eva-Maria is a sociologist with a background in family studies and demography. She is head of the research line Donor Behaviour at Sanquin and Professor in Donor Behaviour at the Sociology Department of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her research benefits from her theoretical expertise in social science theories on prosocial behaviour and her collaborations within the Dutch Blood Bank, the Biomedical Excellence of Safer Transfusion (BEST) Collaborative, and the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT).

Professor Elizabeth Gardiner

PhD

Deputy Director of the John Curtin School of Medical Research at the Australian National University, Canberra

Scientific Director of the National Platelet Referral and Research Centre, ANU and The Canberra Hospital.

Elizabeth received her PhD in Biochemistry from Monash University (1994) and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland OH USA. She has expertise in platelet biochemistry and platelet receptor function, particularly relevant to both thrombosis and bleeding in patients. She is a Trustee of the Thrombosis and Haemostasis Society of Australia and New Zealand (THANZ), Senior Associate Editor of Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, and on the Editorial Board of Blood. She is co-Editor in Chief of Platelets Journal. She is on the ISTH Membership Committee and the ISTH Basic Science Taskforce.

Dr Darren Saunders

Darren is a Eureka Prize winning scientist, with over 20 years’ experience in cancer biology and neuroscience in Australia and North America. He is NSW Deputy Chief Scientist & Engineer and Executive Director in the Office of the NSW Deputy Chief Scientist & Engineer, leading independent scientific reviews for NSW Government. Darren has worked with Elizabeth Broderick & Co since 2017 as a senior research advisor and data expert on numerous reviews into workplace culture, harmful behaviours and systemic discrimination in the mining, aviation, education, arts and law enforcement sectors. Darren is an Adjunct Associate Professor in Medical Sciences at the University of Sydney, has held senior roles in peak professional bodies - leading policy and regulatory reforms in science and technology, and is a regular commentator on television and radio. Darren is also a committed thalassophile.

Professor Angela Dawson 

Professor Angela Dawson is a public health social scientist with expertise in maternal and reproductive health service delivery to priority populations in Australia and low and lower middle-income countries. She’s undertaken research into the delivery of reproductive health services in humanitarian emergencies, the management and referral of women who have experienced domestic violence, as well as access to abortion and emergency contraceptive pills in Australia and internationally. Angela was an NHMRC Translational research fellow examining approaches to counselling women with FGM/C at the point of care and the recipient of the Sax Prize for research impact. Angela currently leads an NHMRC Ideas grant examining the health of refugees over generations. She is the co-chair of the Australasian Sexual and Reproductive Health Alliance (ASRHA), a Fellow of the Public Health Association of Australia, a member of the Interagency working group of Reproductive Health in Crisis and an Associate Editor of the journal BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth.

Angela has a special interest in Indigenous health and innovative approaches to delivering drug and alcohol services. She has been involved in the evaluation of Aboriginal child health programs across NSW. She is currently an investigator on the Centre for Research Excellence on Indigenous Health and Alcohol at the University of Sydney and an investigator on an NHMRC Ideas grant to improve data on methamphetamines and other drugs among Indigenous Australians. She has also contributed to an NHMRC Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases grant examining the scaling up of a community-based alcohol education program in rural Sri Lankan villages.