Dr Mary Beth Brinson

CEO, Wavewise Analytics

Dr Mary Beth Brinson is a medtech executive, company Chair and non-executive board member with a focus on early commercialisation and product adoption. She is the CEO at Wavewise Analytics, translating brain-monitoring R&D into market-entry milestones and partner-ready propositions.

Previously, she was CEO and CMO of ASX-listed TALi Digital Pty LTD, an experience that sharpened her operational and go-to-market execution under public-company disciplines.

Dr Brinson spent 16 years at Cochlear, culminating as Vice President, Global Clinical Affairs, building the evidence and regulatory foundations that de-risked first launches. She has consistently aligned clinical research, regulatory readiness, and initial go-to-market strategy to compress time-to-value in the early commercial phase.

Her qualifications include a Doctorate in Audiology (University of Louisville), an MBA (Rutgers), and a Bachelor’s in Audiology & Speech Pathology (University of Georgia). Prior to joining Cochlear in 2006, she was a clinical audiologist specialising in cochlear implantation, practising in the USA and in the UK.

Adam Caplan

Founder and General Partner, Jumpspace Ventures

Jumspace Ventures is a New York based venture capital firm focused on breakthrough innovations in neuroscience and human-machine interfaces. The firm invests in early-stage companies advancing brain-computer interfaces, neuromodulation and neural diagnostics.

Adam Caplan is also a Co-Founder at Artisan Council, a digital marketing agency, as well as a Co-Founder and Board Member at Facteus, a provider of consumer transaction data to hedge funds.

Earlier in his career, Adam co-founded ID8 Investments, a diversified venture capital firm, as well as Super Rewards, a monetization solution for social network games which was acquired by Adknowledge in 2009. Before that, he worked as an investment banker with Morgan Stanley for eleven years, focusing on the emerging Internet and new media sectors.

Professor David Grayden

Clifford Chair of Neural Engineering in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, and Leader of the Bionics Laboratory in the Centre for Neural Engineering, Melbourne School of Engineering, The University of Melbourne

Professor David B. Grayden is Clifford Chair of Neural Engineering in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering & Information Technology and the Graeme Clark Institute for Biomedical Engineering. He is Co-Director of the Victorian Medtech Skills and Devices Hub and Director of the ARC Training Centre in Cognitive Computing for Medical Technologies. Prof Grayden’s main research interests are in understanding how the brain processes information, how best to present information to the brain using medical bionics, such as the bionic ear and bionic eye, and how to record information from the brain, such as for brain-machine interfaces. He is also conducting research in epileptic seizure prediction and electrical stimulation to prevent or stop epileptic seizures. Prof Grayden teaches BioDesign Innovation in collaboration with the Melbourne Business School, and he is Co-Director of Biodesign Australia.

Dr Elise Jenkins

Co-founder, Coherence Neuro

Elise’s research background is in bioelectronics and cancer neurotechnology at the University of Cambridge. She previously led technical teams at Siemens. In 2024 she was awarded Forbes 30u30 for her part in building Coherence. Coherence Neuro is building foundational neurotechnology that will overhaul how we track and treat cancer.

Peter Johnstone

CEO, Clem Jones Foundation

Peter Johnstone is the CEO of the Clem Jones Foundation, a role he has enjoyed since 2011. Prior to joining the Clem Jones Foundation, he held senior roles in the Queensland Government, was CEO of the Leukaemia Foundation of Queensland and CEO of the Royal Agricultural Society of Queensland. Peter is a long-standing passionate supporter and partner of medical research. He has worked directly with both Vice Chancellors, Senior Advancement Staff and Academics at Queensland Universities. He was Chair of the Griffith Institute for Drug Discovery Development Board and the Griffith University Foundation.

Andrew Morokoff

Neurosurgeon and Associate Professor, The University of Melbourne

Associate Professor Morokoff is an academic neurosurgeon at the Royal Melbourne Hospital,
University of Melbourne and the Brain Cancer Centre Australia. He trained in Melbourne and
his PhD is in the biology of glioma. He completed a neuro-oncology fellowship in 2006-2007
at Harvard University, Boston and Necker Hospital in Paris. His clinical interests are brain
tumour, acoustic neuromas, skull base surgery, epilepsy and his research focuses on liquid
biopsies for brain cancer, brain tumour associated epilepsy and novel brain-computer
interfaces. He was the neurosurgeon for the first-in-human clinical trials for NeuroVista,
Synchron and Epiminder and is an advisor to a number of innovative brain tech startups.

Professor Nicholas Opie

CEO, Ultra Bionics; Founding Director, Synchron; Head of Vascular Bionics Laboratory, University of Melbourne

Professor Nicholas Opie BE BSc PhD MBA is a biomedical engineer and world expert in neural interfaces. He is Professor and Laboratory Head of the Vascular Bionics Laboratory, Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne, and an NHMRC Research Fellow.

Prof Opie has taken multiple numerous biomedical devices from concept to clinic, including a suprachoroidal retinal prosthesis (bionic eye) designed to restore sight to those with profound vision loss, and a motor neuron prosthesis (bionic spine) that is aimed at restoring independence, communication and mobility to those with paralysis.

Prof Opie is the founding CTO and Board Member of Synchron, a neural interface company based in Melbourne and New York and has raised over AUD$217M in both private funding and grants. Prof Opie designed and developed Synchron’s flagship product, the Stentrode.

Professor Cassandra Szoeke

Lead, Women’s Healthy Ageing Program, Monash Centre for Health Research

Professor Cassandra Szoeke is a Consultant Neurologist, Author and Internationally awarded Academic. In addition to her medical qualifications and fellowship in the Royal College of Physicians she has a BSc with Honours in Genetics and PhD in Epidemiology, her postdoctoral studies at Stanford University CA, focused on public health and policy and her sabbatical at Oxford University focused on sex-specific medicine.

Cassandra is is the Inaugural Chair of the Asia-Pacific Node of the Women’s Brain Project. She has contributed to the development of national health policies, has sat on the Council of the Australian Medical Association, was appointed to Medical Panels by the Department of Health (Victoria) and has held Chief Health Advisor roles for the Australian Healthy Ageing Organisation and the National Council of Women.