President

dr anthony villani | queensland

Accredited Practising Dietitian and lecturer at the University of the Sunshine Coast.

Dr Anthony Villani is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and Senior Lecturer at the University of the Sunshine Coast. He is also the Honours coordinator for the School of Health and Behavioural Sciences at the University of the Sunshine Coast and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Dr Villani’s expertise and research track record extends from the identification of frailty and sarcopenia in nutritionally vulnerable older adults, dietary patterns (in particular the Mediterranean diet) and nutritional interventions to promote musculoskeletal health and physical function with age.

Immediate Past President

a/prof solomon yu | South australia

Clinical Deputy Director l Deputy Director of Training l Senior Consultant Geriatrician, Aged and Extended Care Services, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Central Adelaide Local Health Network, Clinical Associate Professor, Adelaide Geriatrics Training and Research with Aged Care (GTRAC) Centre, School of Medicine, University of Adelaide.

Associate Professor Yu is currently a senior consultant geriatrician and Deputy Director of Aged and Extended Care Services (AECS) at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Central Adelaide Local Health Network. He is also a clinician researcher and completed his PhD study with Dean’s commendation, University of Adelaide, in 2014 on the topic of “Sarcopenia in Older People” under the supervision of Professor Renuka Visvanathan. The focus of his study looks at developing a tool for detecting sarcopenia at an early stage, so that preventive intervention can be introduced before detrimental effects set in.

Treasurer

Dr ronaldo piovezan

Geriatrician at the Aged and Extended Care Services, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Central Adelaide Local Health Network.

Dr Ronaldo Piovezan is a geriatrician at the Aged and Extended Care Services, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Central Adelaide Local Health Network. He is also a Senior Lecturer at Adelaide Geriatrics Training and Research with Aged Care (GTRAC) Centre, School of Medicine, University of Adelaide. He is also a specialist in Sleep Medicine by the Sleep World Society. His research is focused on the impact of sleep on the development of sarcopenia.

Secretary

clin/prof charles inderjeeth | Western australia

Clinical Professor (University of Western Australia), Consultant Physician (Geriatrician & Rheumatologist), NHMRC-NICS DVA Fellow, Clinical Epidemiologist, Director of Clinical Training, Research and Programs (Osborne Park Hospital Program), Linear Clinical Research, QE 2 Medical Centre, Nedlands, WA.

Clinical Professor Charles Inderjeeth is a Clinical Epidemiologist and Consultant Physician in Rheumatology and Geriatric Medicine. He is currently Director of Clinical Training (DCT), Research and Programs in the Area Rehabilitation and Aged Care and DCT for Sir Charles Gairdner and Osborne Park Hospital Group in Perth. He is a Clinician in Rheumatology, Geriatric Medicine and Osteoporosis. He is a Clinical Professor (School of Medicine and Pharmacology University of Western Australia) and has been an honorary associate in the School of Medicine of the University of Tasmania. He is a Senior Board Examiner for the College of Physicians and an accredited Trainee supervisor. He is a member for the Australian Curriculum Framework for Junior Doctors and AMSEC Framework Working Group.

Council Member

prof alan hayes| victoria & tasmania

Assistant Dean or the Western Centre for Health Research and Education building and Deputy Director of the Australian Institute for Musculoskeletal Science (AIMSS).

Professor Alan Hayes is a muscle and exercise physiologist with an interest in decreasing the global burden of muscle wasting conditions such as muscular dystrophy and sarcopenia. He has more than 25 years of experience conducting investigations into the effects of exercise and nutraceutical supplements to promote healthy ageing. Professor Hayes completed his doctoral studies at The University of Melbourne, and has been a teaching and research academic at Victoria University since 1997.

Council Member

dr linda xu | new south wales

Geriatrician and General Physician based at Ryde Hospital.

Dr Linda Xu is a dual trained geriatrician and general physician with an enthusiasm for frailty and medication safety. She was part of the team that piloted the Northern Sydney Frailty Initiative, partnering between the local health district and primary health network, which won the district Quality and Improvement Awards for delivering integrated care. Dr Xu is based at Ryde Hospital and currently working within the Ryde Reversing Frailty Project and Sydney North Primary Health Network Frailty Screening Advisory Group to improve and sustain frailty screening and management in primary care. She is also a member of the Agency for Clinical Innovation Frailty Taskforce’s Community of Practice Group and Medication Management for Frailty Reference Group. In her free time, she volunteers with St John Ambulance (SJA) NSW and is the medical advisor to SJA NSW Clinical Advisory Group. Dr Xu has also served as the chair of Northern Sydney Local Health District JMO Wellbeing Board Committee in recent times and has an interest in medical education. 

Council Member

dr lara vlietstra | new zealand

Assistant Research Fellow, Department of Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.

Lara is a physiotherapist and clinical health scientist. Since being awarded a PhD for her thesis on pre-sarcopenia in middle-aged adults, Lara’s research has focused on healthy ageing and the prevention of age-related diseases, with a particular focus on sarcopenia.

Council Member

DR MARK Q THOMPSON| SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Research Fellow, University of Adelaide | Occupational Therapist

Mark is a Post Doctoral Research Fellow with the University of Adelaide’s Centre of Research Excellence: Frailty and Healthy Ageing. His current research is focused on the epidemiology of frailty and sarcopenia in older adults and factors associated with improvement or worsening of frailty status, and the primary and acute care management of older adults. Mark is an occupational therapist with experience in community aged care, rehabilitation, Aboriginal health, and palliative care. Mark is the managing director of a private allied health service.

Council Member

DR natasha reid | queensland

Dr Natasha Reid is an epidemiologist and Research Fellow with the Centre for Health Services Research at the University of Queensland. Natasha specialises in research aiming to understand and influence frailty and quality of life in older adults across settings including long-term care, cancer and acute-care patients, with a particular focus on community-dwelling adults and behavioural interventions. Having worked across both secondary data analysis and primary data collection and intervention, Natasha’s experience includes complex data analysis as well as both individual and systems-level behaviour change strategies. Natasha helps support students at varying levels of their studies in research methodology and data analysis. She sits on a number of committees, including conference organisation and early career academic committees at the centre and faculty levels. Natasha is the coordinating research fellow for the FITTEST trial, a national, hybrid implementation-effectiveness trial addressing frailty in community-dwelling mildly frail older adults. She is also the sustainability and stakeholder engagement lead for the Australian Frailty Network.