Friends for the Future 2023 Luncheon

October 26, 2023 - 10:00am to 1:00pm
Friends for the Future 2023 Luncheon

HMRI warmly invites you to attend our 2023 Friends for the Future presentation.

Our Friends for the Future supporters are an incredibly special group of people who have chosen (or may be considering) to leave HMRI a bequest once they pass on.

This presentation is simply an opportunity for us to thank you for your support.

When: Thursday 26 October
Time: 10.00 am - 1.00 pm
Where: In-person at the HMRI Building, John Hunter Hospital campus or live-streamed online


Click here to register to attend in-person
Click here to register to watch the live stream of presentations online.


Event Proceedings

10.00 am: Arrival and Morning Tea

  • Optional lab tour

10.30 am: Presentations commence (online live stream)

  • Professor Frances Kay-Lambkin – Institute Director
  • Professor Brett Nixon
  • Dr Katherine Baines
  • Julia Berry – HMRI Senior Bequest Manager

12.00 pm: Presentations conclude

12.00 pm - 1.00 pm: Light luncheon

Meet our presenters

Professor Brett Nixon is the Director of the HMRI Infertility and Reproduction Program. He is also a Senior Research Fellow of the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia and co-Director of the University of Newcastle’s Priority Research Centre for Reproductive Science.

Over his career, Brett has conducted research activity at the basic biology / clinical andrology interface, gaining international recognition for his mechanistic insights into how spermatozoa acquire the functional competence to engage in fertilisation, and how this process becomes so dramatically disrupted in cases of male infertility. More recently, his research has expanded to focus on the mechanisms by which environmental exposures impact sperm quality and the repercussions of such changes for embryo development.

Brett is also the HMRI 2022 Research Excellence Award winner.

Dr Katherine Baines is a Research Fellow in Transplant Immunology in the School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Newcastle, and Hunter Transplant Research Foundation.

Katherine is an experienced research leader in molecular biology and immunology and Deputy Director of HMRI’s Immune Health Research Program. She is interested in applying state of the art omics technologies to increase the understanding of immune disease phenotypes, identify immune cell signatures, and develop translatable molecular biomarkers to drive personalised medicine strategies.

Katherine aims to grow this research in collaboration with the amazing transplant surgeons and nephrologists at the John Hunter Hospital to better the immune health of our local kidney transplant recipient population.