Meet Our Speakers
The AIMS 2026 National Scientific Meeting is pleased to welcome our Keynote & Invited Speakers.
As new speakers are confirmed they will be updated here, so check back soon.
Each speaker will bring a unique perspective, knowledge, and experience. So don’t miss the opportunity to hear from these leaders within their respective fields.
Keynote Speakers
Professor Allen Chan
Professor Allen Chan is the Associate Vice-President (Knowledge Transfer) of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and the Chairman of the Department of Chemical Pathology at the Faculty of Medicine at CUHK. He is a co-inventor of the non-invasive prenatal test (NIPT) for Down syndrome, an innovation that has transformed prenatal care worldwide, with millions of tests performed annually.
Professor Chan has developed a number of NGS-based approaches for cancer detection. He led the first large-scale prospective study demonstrating the use of plasma DNA analysis (“liquid biopsy”) for early cancer screening. Using nasopharyngeal cancer as a model, his team showed that plasma DNA analysis is able to detect early asymptomatic cancers and improve survival. This study was featured as one of the top ten notable articles in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2017.
Professor Chan is a co-inventor of over 150 patent families. In 2020, he was named one of the “Top Twenty Translational Researchers” by Nature Biotechnology.
Associate Professor Mandy Ballinger
Associate Professor Mandy Ballinger is Deputy Director of the Centre for Molecular Oncology at the University of New South Wales and Head of Cohorts for Omico. Her clinical training is in Genetic Counselling. A/Prof Ballinger’s research focus is to define heritable cancer risk and inform future clinical risk management through large patient cohort studies. Her work in Li Fraumeni syndrome has impacted clinical practice internationally. A/Prof Ballinger has overseen patient recruitment to Omico’s programs, facilitating tumour comprehensive genomic profiling for >20,000 Australian cancer patients, and she is a member of the Omico national Molecular Oncology Board.
Dr Becky Griffiths
Dr Becky Griffiths is a Senior Research Fellow at Australian Red Cross Lifeblood a Senior Research Fellow at Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, leads a research team developing cellular therapies, including ex vivo red cell production.
Becky drives national efforts to establish clinical grade workflows and advance stem cell–derived red cell therapeutics for rare blood groups and neonatal patients. With prior roles including at NHS Blood & Transplant (UK), her work has shaped clinical trial pipelines, including foundational contributions to the first in human trial of allogeneic laboratory grown red cells.
Becky’s research focus at Lifeblood is understanding red cell biology with the overall aim to create a better, tailored red blood cell product for specific patients such as those with rare blood groups and neonates whose needs are outside of the norm.
Paul Schneider
Paul Schneider is an experienced multidisciplinary medical scientist and senior executive with 40 years’ experience in private and public pathology services. He holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Medical Laboratory Science and a Master of Science (Microbiology) by research and is a professional member of both MAIMS and MASM.
Paul has worked across independent and multinational pathology organisations, holding a range of senior and executive leadership roles, including Chief Scientist and State Manager. He has worked in both greenfield startup pathology services, as well as established pathology services, and has a track record of building successful pathology business. From 2006 to 2017, he co-founded and operated a successful independent pathology service, providing him with deep, practical insight into the Australian pathology industry, including business operations and the critical role of customer-focused service delivery.
He has a longstanding professional interest in quality management, laboratory automation, laboratory information system development, and the delivery of high-quality pathology services. Paul is a NATA assessor and has contributed extensively to professional scientific and advisory committees at both state and national levels.
Paul currently serves as the Executive Director, Operations at PathWest Laboratory Medicine WA and Vice President and Board Director of Public Pathology Australia (PPA).
Kerryn Weekes
Kerryn Weekes worked as a Medical Scientist for 43 years after graduating from La Trobe University in 1977. Her career has spanned many facets of pathology beginning at PANCH as an all-round core lab medical scientist, then specialising in Haematology and Clinical Immunology at Royal Children’s Hospital and St Vincent’s.
In 2000, she headed to Monash Medical Centre to work in the molecular diagnosis of thalassaemia and haemophilia.
She was appointed Senior Scientist in the Thalassaemia and Haemophilia Molecular Reference Laboratory in 2007 and undertook her Fellowship in Molecular Genetics in 2016.
Kerryn served on the AIMS Victorian Branch Committee for nine years and has continued working with AIMS into retirement by having an ongoing role with the AIMS Examination Council as an Examiner in Molecular Pathology.
