Dr Phillip Altman
BPharm (Hons), MSc, PhD
Dr Altman is a well-known Australian authority on clinical trials and regulatory affairs with more than 40 years of experience in designing, managing and reporting clinical trials and in working with the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration in gaining new drug approvals. He established Australia’s first contract research organisations (CROs), where he served as a Senior Industry Consultant for more than half of the pharmaceutical companies present in Australia. His career has seen him involved in more than one hundred clinical trials (Phase I through IV). He has been personally responsible for the market approval of numerous new drugs since joining the pharmaceutical industry in 1974. A graduate of Sydney University with an Honours degree in Pharmacy, Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees (focusing on drug development, pharmacology and pharmaceutical chemistry), he co-founded and is a Life Member of the largest professional body of pharmaceutical industry scientists involved in clinical research and regulatory affairs. More recently Dr. Altman has provided expert reports in relation to both the Australian and NZ Judicial Review and High Court cases in relation to the Covid vaccines.
Dr Andrew Madry
Physics, BSc (Hons), PhD
Andrew Madry has a degree in Physics, a BSc (Hons) and a PhD from the University of Sydney. His PhD work was in acoustics and signal processing.His early career was in the defence industry developing and testing sonar systems for the Royal Australian Navy. This involved designing and testing transducers and developing signal detection algorithms.He had a second career in medical devices, initially leading a team at a major Sydney hospital developing technology for treating abnormal heart rhythms. That work in cardiology led to a career-long interest in understanding abnormal electrical signals in the heart and in particular developing algorithms for understanding the mechanisms of atrial fibrillation.He has been a technical consultant since 2001 through his company Madry Technologies Pty Ltd. In consultancy, he has provided services to many companies including medical device companies Cochlear and Resmed, as well as defence and industrial companies. Andrew developed a software product, called Cardiac Electrophysiology Analysis System (CEPAS), that is used by researchers in the field of cardiac electrophysiology, in the USA, Japan and Australia.In the last 5 years, Andrew has had a focus on the field of Data Science. Has been engaged in specific data projects implementing analytical techniques to resolve problems in a variety of domains. Part of Andrew’s work in Data Science has been providing customised training, based on years of experience in industry. Andrew is currently the executive of the Systems Engineering Society of Australia (SESA). A particular interest is the application of Systems Thinking principles to data projects as well as healthcare.
Clare Pain
MSc
Clare is a medical journalist and science writer with over a decade experience of writing for doctors and the general public. After two years of studying Medicine, Clare completed a Chemistry degree, followed by a Masters in Operational Research. She then worked for 12 years in industry in the UK as a statistician and economic forecaster. Clare turned to science writing and medical journalism in 2011. She has written for the ABC, New Scientist, the Springer Nature publishing group, Medical Observer, Australian Doctor and Spectator Australia. Since December 2021, Clare has run projects on www.ClarityonHealth.org to examine the response to COVID-19 in Australia. Projects include the ‘The Australian Survey of Reasons for COVID-19 Vaccination’ and the Mandate Update project, which tracks which employers are (and are not) mandating COVID-19 injections. Working with Monica Smit, Reignite Democracy Australia, and a team of international volunteers on www.excessdeathstats.com, Clare’s current focus is to bring the phenomenon of worldwide excess deaths to the attention of ordinary people and their elected representatives.