Meet the Team
Associate Professor
Associate Professor
Associate Professor
Senior Research Fellow
Project Manager
Clinical Trial Monitor and Auditor
Program Manager
Clinical Trial Project Manager
Clinical Trial Project Officer
Clinical Trial Project Officer
Clinical Trial Project Officer
Software Developer
Business Analyst
Project Officer
Team Details
Professor Chris Reid
Director
Chris is a cardiovascular epidemiologist with appointments as Research Professor in both the School of Population Health at Curtin University in Perth and the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University in Melbourne. He is Director of the Curtin and Monash Centre’s of Clinical Research and Education and the Clinical Trials Enabling Platform – Western Australia. His major research interests include clinical outcome registries, randomised controlled trials, and epidemiological cohort studies.
Chris has received over $87M in NHMRC / MRFF funding and is currently leading the COLCOT-T2D trial in Australia.
He has been Study Director for the 2nd Australian National Blood Pressure (ANBP2) Study and currently a Chief Investigator for the Aspirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE) Study, the Statins in Reducing Events in the elderly Trial and the Australian arms of the HOPE-3, REACH and CLARIFY Registries. He is a Principal Investigator for the Victorian Cardiac Procedures Registry Project, the Melbourne Interventional Group (MIG) registry, and the ANZSCTS National Cardiac Surgical Registry. He has over 300 peer-reviewed publications, many of which are in leading journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, JACC and the BMJ. He participates as a WHO consultant for prevention of cardiovascular disease in Mongolia, Vietnam and the West Pacific region.
Clinical Trial Consultant
Sue is a registered nurse who has extensive experience in the conduct and management of clinical trials across a variety of settings and therapeutic areas. Her experience includes all phase trials, with a particular focus on cardiovascular outcomes trials in general practice and she brings extensive expertise in ethics and governance.
Julia Fallon-Ferguson
Executive Officer
Julia has worked in the health sector, in diverse government, non-government and corporate roles. She is a Registered Nurse with a degree in Health Science (Health Promotion). Her previous roles include Regional Manager, Perth North East for the WA Primary Health Alliance, National Manager for PC4, the Primary Care Collaborative Cancer Clinical Trials Group (cancer research in primary care) and Senior Development Officer in the Department of Health.
Role: CRE-COI: monitoring funded projects and scholarships, and the budget; drafting a business plan and communications strategy. ANZACT: setting up the ANZ Alliance for Cardiovascular Trials – recruiting members, organising workshops, drafting policies and procedures. WACOR – the WA Cardiac Outcomes Registry, which will collect a minimised, standard set of information from all patients undergoing specific cardiac treatments or procedures at participating hospital sites.
Associate Professor
Associate Professor Dan Xu MBBS, PhD, FRACGP, is a general practitioner and principal research fellow with particular interests in cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, men’s and women’s population health , chronic disease management and epidemiology.
Role: As medical liaison officer and researcher, Dan identifies and recruits GPs and community participants for clinical trial projects. He is coordinating principal investigator on the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) sponsored Multimorbidity Integrated Care Study (MICS) in the Curtin School of Population Health, and principal investigator/associate investigator on a number of NHMRC funded studies and provides medical oversight for clinical trial research participant visits within the Healthy Living Clinic of CCRE.
Associate Professor
Sharmani is an epidemiologist and biostatistician who has experience in the academic, government and private health sectors in England and Australia. She has developed techniques for the analysis of linked data for the evaluation of population health interventions, including the NHS Health Check. More recently, she has developed techniques for the estimation of excess mortality and mortality displacement resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, estimates that have been used for monitoring and decision making. Sharmani has also worked in both academic and NGO sectors in the UK, India, and within Africa in the areas of water and sanitation and sexual and reproductive health.
Dr Hui Jun Chih, PhD, SFHEA
Associate Professor
Associate Professor Hui Jun Chih (PhD, SFHEA) works at Curtin School of Population Health and Clinical Trials Enabling Platform (CTEP-WA). She was the 2020 Western Australia Heath Translation Network (WAHTN) Clinical Trials Biostatistics Fellow mentored by John Curtin Distinguished Professor Christopher Reid. Jun provides her expertise in the design of clinical trials and longitudinal epidemiological, public health and clinical research studies (including protocol development, sample size and power calculations, randomisation process) as well as analyses of cross-sectional and longitudinal data using both commonly used and complex modelling and machine learning techniques, interpreting the findings in a sensible approach for clinicians and consumers of research evidence, and drafting research publications.
Nationally and internationally, Jun has worked with multi-disciplinary research teams across public and private hospitals, clinics, research centres and government. Jun has been awarded research grants (total: >$6.8M), published over 90 peer-reviewed papers with over 1,162 (Scholar Google i10-index 30) in the area of cardiovascular diseases, cancer (breast, lung), brain diseases (injury, Parkinson’s disease), mental wellbeing, patient outcomes and effective education practices, to name a few.
Dr Jacquita Affandi
Senior Research Fellow
Jacquita Suemarni is a Clinical Triallist and Senior Research Fellow at Curtin University with a PhD in Immunogenetics from UWA. She leads the clinical trials team and provides academic oversight for investigator-led trials across Australia.
Her experience spans project and financial management, ethics and governance, and fostering collaborations across multidisciplinary academic, clinical, and international teams to deliver high-quality research outcomes.
Project Manager
Anneli is a Project Manager at the Centre for Clinical Research and Education (CCRE). She has a Masters of Drug Development and has worked in phase I-IV clinical trials in both the United Kingdom and Australia. Anneli is a Certified Clinical Research Coordinator (CCRC) and an Accredited Research Manager (Foundation) (ARMF).
Anneli manages study start-up activities, including contracts, ethics and governance, for all clinical trials conducted at CCRE.
Christine Robins
Clinical Trial Monitor and Auditor
Christine comes with over 40 years’ experience as a nurse working in remote areas above the 26th parallel in Western Australia, and general practice nursing and practice management roles in the metropolitan area.
She has extensive experience in Clinical Trials including all phase trials and currently leads the Monitoring and Auditing Service for the Clinical Trials Enabling Platform – Western Australia (CTEP-WA).
Program Manager
Sim is an accomplished professional with numerous years of expertise in the Clinical Research Industry. Throughout her career, she has held key roles as a Senior Clinical Research Associate and Clinical Research Scientist within Contract Research Organisations, Pharmaceutical, and Medical Device companies in Australia and the UK. Sim’s extensive experience also includes project management of university-based clinical trials.
With a PhD in Science from UWA, Sim is a proficient researcher who has contributed to numerous therapeutic areas. In her current role, she applies her comprehensive understanding of clinical trial operations to ensure successful project outcomes. Sim fosters professional and collaborative relationships with sponsors, study personnel, peers, and project team members.
Amy Ward
Clinical Trial Project Manager
Amy has a degree in Science and a Graduate Certificate in Project Management. Her previous roles have included Cardiac Technician, Laboratory Technician and Research Officer.
Role: Amy coordinates study related activities in our on-site clinic rooms, she performs participant recruitment, study visits and liaises with stakeholders. Currently Amy is lead study coordinator for the GMRx2 clinical trial and assists with STAREE Biobank and the PACIFIC study.
Dr Rachel Galettis
Clinical Trial Project Manager
Rachel is an experienced Clinical Trials Manager with almost 30 years of managing a range of Academic, Collaborative and Commercial, Global and National multisite trials (early-phase through to global phase III and pre-clinical translational studies) in Oncology, as well as working with the Australian Corneal Graft Registry.
She has a PhD in Pharmacology and Toxicology and is knowledgeable and experienced in all aspects of Clinical Trials. She has actively worked to expand her expertise in recent years, participating on a low-Risk Ethics Review Committee, MRFF Roundtable, Senate review submissions, collaborative Guidance authorship, and an MRFF Grant Selection Panel.
She is responsible for oversight of the ASPIRE-HCC Trial, led by Prof John Olynyk, which has ethics approval from SMHS HREC for NMA recognition. Funded by a $5.1M MRFF CTCS 2024 grant, the study investigates whether daily aspirin can reduce the risk of hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) risk in people with chronic liver disease.
Dr Nandini Makwana
Clinical Trial Project Manager
Dr Nandini Makwana is a clinical research professional with a PhD in Immunology and extensive experience across academic and hospital-based research settings. Before joining Curtin University, she worked at Fiona Stanley Hospital’s Medical Oncology Clinical Trials Unit, managing industry-sponsored Phase II/III oncology trials . She has also held a Postdoctoral Research Fellow position at the Institute of Respiratory Health, where she contributed to neoantigen cancer vaccine research. Nandini has a strong background in project management, regulatory compliance, stakeholder engagement, with a particular interest in integrating clinical operations with research innovation to improve patient outcomes and advance evidence-based practice.
Clinical Trial Project Officer
Alison is a Registered Nurse with over 30 years’ experience in Australia and the UK as well as volunteer experience in Zimbabwe and Indonesia. Previous research roles have been as a Clinical Research Nurse and Research Study Coordinator in the specialties of oncology, diabetes and endocrinology.
Role: Field Officer for the STAREE study conducting participant visits in GP practices. Additionally, Alison supports the Healthy Living Clinic as a Research Nurse assisting the GMRx2 study, BIOBANK and other projects.
Karen French
Clinical Trial Project Officer
Karen is a registered nurse with 20 years’ experience as a Critical Care Nurse working for the NHS in the UK. She moved to WA with her family in 2008. Since arriving in Perth, Karen has worked as a Clinical Trial Nurse in areas of Respiratory health, Alzheimer’s disease and Early Phase clinical trials.
Role: Full time Field Officer for the STAREE study conducting participant visits in GP practices. Karen also manages the STAREE-HEART sub study.
Yvonne Stott
Clinical Trial Project Officer
After thirty years as a nurse, Yvonne tried a change of career to bank manager for 16 years. She is now very happy to be back in the medical field and enjoying her role as Clinical Trial Project Officer.
Role: As a GP liaison officer, Yvonne was responsible for recruiting general practitioners as co-investigators to the COLCOT-T2D trial.
John Barrett
Senior Developer
John is an experienced Software Developer and enjoys developing custom solutions in an ever-evolving technological space. John also ensures best practices and technologies are used to help keep CCRE systems agile and adaptive to change.
Role: John is the Administrator of CCRE REDCap systems, web site architect and software developer across the team.
Business Analyst
Doug leads the design and implementation of data-driven research solutions, combining sound design principles, analytical rigour, and financial management expertise. He delivers fit-for-purpose research ecosystems that enable high-quality, collaborative, and efficient research outcomes.
Senior Data Scientist
In the past 14 years, Wenbin has been continuously conducting research in a range of areas including public health, medicine, addiction and social science as a biostatistician and epidemiologist. He has worked at universities, Government funded agencies and research institutes. He conducts research through collaborating with academics from different health-related disciplines in Australia, Canada, United States and China.
As a Chief Investigator, Wenbin has been supported by national and international competitive grants, as well as fundings from universities and government agencies. Wenbin also provides methodological advice and guidance to research staff and students. He has published over 90 peer review journal articles, book chapters and other publications.
Project Officer
Dr Sage Ishimwe is a medical doctor with experience in multi-country clinical research in Rwanda and the USA. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Public Health at Curtin University. Her previous roles included General Practitioner, clinical research physician, Lecturer, and Research Faculty.
Role: Project Officer for the MICS study, supporting project writing, ethics applications, and overall project implementation.
Dr Marisol Lugo-Gavidia
Research Fellow
Marisol is a medical doctor and researcher specialising in cardiovascular and metabolic disease. She has worked across the Americas, Europe, and Australia on cardiovascular clinical trials (Phase III/IV), national and international multicentre registries, and healthcare quality improvement projects.
She is dedicated to improving the timely diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease and advancing cardiovascular risk prevention and management.
Dr Madoka Inoue
Research Officer
Madoka brings over 15 years of expertise in medical research, combining experience in leading complex projects with practical involvement across academic and hospital-based settings. She has managed national and international initiatives, specializing in database design and maintenance. Her past work includes contributions to gastroenterology projects and prehospital care and, such as the Western Australia Barrett’s Registry and the Western Australia Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest database.
Madoka and holds a PhD in Public Health and previously held a Research Fellow position at Curtin Medical School. She has extensive experience in conducting studies using diverse research methods, including randomised clinical trials, epidemiology with machine learning techniques, and wet lab studies.
Jo Boone
Research Officer
Jo is an experienced administrative professional currently working as a Research Officer, with more than 20 years in executive and administrative support, clinical trial coordination, and stakeholder engagement.
In her role, Jo supports John Curtin Distinguished Professor Christopher Reid and the Centre for Clinical Research and Education, contributing to a wide range of clinical trial activities and ensuring adherence to good clinical practice guidelines. She is recognised for her strong organisational abilities and her capacity to manage competing priorities in busy environments.
Jo’s adaptable approach and collaborative working style enable her to work effectively with colleagues and stakeholders. She is committed to supporting academic and research teams through reliable administrative processes and clear, professional communication.
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Address: School of Population Health, Curtin University, Bentley WA 6102