Jenny Couper is a practising paediatric endocrinologist and Academic Lead, Women’s and Children’s Health Network, Adelaide University, South Australia. She leads the Environmental Determinants of Islet Autoimmunity (ENDIA) nation-wide consortium which follows children at-risk from the pregnancy. She is Principal Investigator of the Australian Islet Autoantibody Monitoring Program and Registry (AusDAP). She co-leads the ISPAD international early T1D working group.

John Wentworth is an adult endocrinologist whose research focuses on type 1 diabetes prediction and prevention.

Jeremy brings his personal experience to the diabetes conversation, having been diagnosed three years ago. With a long-standing interest in science, he sought out the opportunity to participate in a clinical trial focused on early-onset diabetes treatment. The experience has been both rewarding and eye-opening, deepening his understanding of the condition and its impact. Jeremy is passionate about sharing his journey, offering insights from both a patient and participant perspective, and contributing to a more informed and optimistic outlook on diabetes management.

Professor of Transplantation, Department of Surgery at the University of Sydney and Director of the National Pancreas and Islet Transplant Laboratories at Westmead Hospital. He serves as Immediate Past President and current Treasurer/Secretary of the International Xenotransplantation Association (IXA) and is President of the Australasian College of Biomedical Sciences. With more than 30 years of leadership in organ and cell transplantation, Professor Hawthorne established Australia’s first clinical islet transplant laboratory and performed the nation’s first allo and auto islet isolations and transplants, including the first islet after kidney and combined islet–kidney transplants. Internationally, he is recognised for pioneering contributions to islet cell transplantation and xenotransplantation, and for shaping global policy through major organisations including the WHO, TTS, ISHLT, and IXA. His sustained impact is reflected in continuous NHMRC and JDRF International funding for over three decades and recognition among the Stanford Top 2% of scientists worldwide.

Jacqueline Schiesser is Team Leader of Pancreatic Development at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and an Associate Investigator at the Novo Nordisk Center for Stem Cell Medicine (reNEW). Her work focuses on developing stem cell-derived beta cell therapies, modelling type 1 diabetes and identifying biomarkers for human pancreatic endocrine cells. Her research aims to improve the characterization and production of stem cell-derived pancreatic cells for treatment of diabetes.

Dr Shane T. Grey is Head of the School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences [BABS] and Head of the Transplantation Immunology Laboratory in the Faculty of Science at UNSW, where he also holds a Professorship in Science. Shane completed his PhD in immunology at Monash University, followed by postdoctoral training at the Sandoz Center for Immunobiology Boston, from where he progressed to Instructor in Surgery (1998) and then to Assistant Professor (2001) Harvard Medical School. He was recruited back to Australia to the Garvan Institute in 2004 and joined UNSW in 2023 as Head of School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences. His research centres on the genetic control of inflammation, particularly how the TNFAIP3 gene and NF-κB pathway regulate immune activation, tissue inflammation, tolerance, and cancer. Shane has authored over 100 publications, with more than 12,000 citations, reflecting a sustained contribution to immunology and translational science. He is passionate about bridging basic discovery with clinical translation: founding the Australian Islet Study Group (AISG), serving as a lead investigator in Australia’s first clinical islet transplant program, helping to drive national and international research programs in type 1 diabetes, and developing a novel gene therapy now in first-in-human trials to modulate immune and tissue inflammation. He has been recognised for his basic and translational research efforts through multiple awards including from the JDRF International, TTS and TSANZ. Shane is also committed to equity in science, with a strong focus on supporting women in research—evidenced by his active involvement in the Franklin Women mentoring program and his leadership in inclusive policy reform. Beyond the lab, he’s an avid adventurer who loves trekking, camping, and exploring remote, off-grid places.