NEONATAL RESPIRATORY TRIALS IN SICK & PRETERM NEWBORN INFANTS
Professor Brett J. Manley, Consultant Neonatologist
Mercy Hospital For Women, Melbourne & Professor of Neonatal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Newborn Health, University of Melbourne, Australia
RESEARCHER PROFILE
Filmed in Melbourne, Australia | August 2025
Professor Brett J. Manley is a Consultant Neonatologist at the Mercy Hospital for Women in Melbourne, Australia, and a Professor of Neonatology in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Newborn Health at The University of Melbourne. His research is supported by a fellowship from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), Australia.
He divides his work time between being a clinician in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), and a clinical researcher. He is passionate about caring for sick and preterm newborn infants and contributing to the evidence base for their care, to improve their shorter- and longer-term outcomes.
Prof Manley leads and collaborates on large national and international randomised clinical trials in neonatology. He previously collaborated on 4 randomised trials of nasal high-flow as non-invasive respiratory support for preterm and term infants, all of which were published in N Engl J Med. Recently he led the PLUSS trial of intratracheal budesonide for extremely preterm infants, that recruited in 21 NICUs across 4 countries, the results of which were published in JAMA. PLUSS was awarded the Australian Clinical Trials Alliance Trial of the Year in 2025. Another passion of his is mentoring and supervising early career researchers to undertake their own clinical trials.
Source: Supplied
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0212-7956
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Digital Biomarkers and AI for Optimal Diagnosis, Treatment, and Decision-Making
Associate Professor Johan Verjans is a clinician-scientist with a strong focus on cross-disciplinary translational research. In his role as Deputy Director at the Australian Institute for Machine Learning (AIML)—one of the world’s premier machine learning institutes, with over 200 researchers—and as Group Leader of Artificial Intelligence at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), he integrates his expertise in molecular medicine, clinical research, and advanced imaging with machine learning applications. This unique combination enables him to drive the translation of cutting-edge AI research into practical medical applications. He works with global teams from multinationals on AI problems.
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Novel therapy for pancreatic cancers, targeting molecular foundation
Dr Michael Lee is an experienced medical oncologist, sub-specialising in gastrointestinal cancers and neuroendocrine tumours at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
He plays a key role in molecular tumour boards at VCCC Alliance (Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre) and MPCCC (Monash Partners Comprehensive Cancer Consortium), ensuring the accurate and effective use of precision medicine in cancer care across the state.
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Oral administration of insulin for Type 1 Diabetes
Huiwen Pang is a 3rd year PhD candidate in the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, University of Queensland, focusing on biomedical health research. Prior to commencing his PhD, Huiwen studied animal genetics in his Masters degree at Huazhong Agriculture University in China.
People with diabetes, especially Type 1 diabetes, largely rely on the insulin injections or insulin pumps to control their high blood glucose levels, which is painful and has a high risk of infections.
Huiwen Pang is conducting research on nano-based drug formulations for Type 1 diabetes treatment, with a focus on using nanomaterials to load insulin for oral administration and employing anti-apoptotic and anti-inflammatory approaches to mitigate damage to beta cells.
