Reporting to the Board, the HMRI Council advises the Board on technical matters and research management processes to ensure the quality of research. The members of the Council are among the research leaders of our region and represent the HMRI's research programs. The Chair of the Council is the Executive Director of HMRI who is also invited to be a member of the HMRI Board.

Professor Maree Gleeson

Director, Hunter Medical Research Institute

Chair, HMRI Research Council

Professor Gleeson was appointed as the Director of HMRI in November 2006. Under her directorship HMRI will develop and implement strategies to enhance health and medical research in the Hunter region and to promote the research undertaken by HMRI. Professor Gleeson was the Inaugural Director of Medical Research in the NSW Ministry for Science and Medical Research (2004 – 2006), where she was responsible for strategic planning for growth and innovation of medical research in NSW and funding of health and medical research programs by the NSW Government.

Professor Gleeson is an immunologist, with over twenty-eight years experience in diagnostic pathology, and was previously the Director of Immunology in the Hunter Area Pathology Service. Holding an appointment at the University of Newcastle, Professor Gleeson’s research focuses on the impact of respiratory infections on disease outcomes and spans the fields of asthma and allergy, sudden infant death syndrome, infections in premature birth and exercise immunology.

In addition to serving on a number of Federal and State Government scientific advisory committees, Professor Gleeson is a Member of the Board of Directors of Alzheimer’s Australia NSW. She is active in community service through Rotary International, in particular the Australian Rotary Health Research Fund mentorship program.

Dr Stephen Ackland

Leader of the HMRI Cancer Program, Director of Department of Medical Oncology, Calvary Mater Newcastle and Conjoint Professor of Faculty of Health, The University of Newcastle

Professor Julie Byles

Co-Leader of the HMRI Public Health Program, Director of the Newcastle Institute of Public Health Director, Priority Research Centre for Gender, Health and Ageing, Faculty of Health, the University of Newcastle

Professor Vaughan Carr

Leader of the HMRI Brain and Mental Health Program, Director, Centre for Brain and Mental Health Research, James Fletcher Hospital, Hunter New England Health Director, Priority Research Centre for Brain and Mental Health, the University of Newcastle

Professor Paul Foster
Leader of the HMRI Vaccine Immunity Viruses and Asthma (VIVA) Program, Co-Director, Priority Research Centre for Asthma and Respiratory Disease, Faculty of Health, the University of Newcastle

Professor Afaf Girgis

Co-Leader of the HMRI Public Health Program, Chair of HMRI’s Health Behaviour Collaboration, Director of the Centre for Health Research & Psycho-oncology (CHeRP) and Conjoint Professor of Faculty of Health, The University of Newcastle

Associate Professor Derek Laver

Leader of the HMRI Cardiovascular Health Program, Faculty of Health, the University of Newcastle

Professor John Rostas

University of Newcastle Representative, Deputy Head of Faculty (Research), Faculty of Health, The University of Newcastle

Professor Rostas graduated from Monash University and also studied in the USA as a Fulbright Fellow. In 1981 he returned to Australia as a Queen Elizabeth II Research Fellow and joined the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Newcastle. His research focuses on the mechanisms regulating the way nerve cells communicate with one another in the brain, which is the basis of learning, memory and the capacity to recover following injury. Professor Rostas was appointed Executive Director of HMRI in September 1999. In 2001, he was appointed to the NSW Government Ministerial Advisory Committee on Biotechnology, The NSW Health Research and Development Advisory Committee and member of the Project Grants Committee of the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NH&MRC).

Professor Rodney Scott
Leader of the HMRI Information Based Medicine Program, Head of Discipline of Medical Genetics, School of Biomedical Sciences, the University of Newcastle

Professor Roger Smith
Leader of HMRI Pregnancy and Reproduction Program Director, Mothers and Babies Research Centre Co-Director, Priority Research Centre for Reproductive Science, Faculty of Health, the University of Newcastle

Professor Graham Vimpani

Hunter Children's Research Foundation (HCRF) Representative