Cheese and Chats: Improving health equity

Advances in medical research offer the promise of precision medicine tailored to a person's genome.

But improvements in predicting, preventing and treating disease are not available equally. Most human genetic data is from people of European ancestry, meaning those from other populations do not receive the benefits of advances in healthcare equally.

Event details

Date: Wednesday 20 November

Time: 5pm for 5:30-7pm

Venue: The Atrium, 308 Queen Street, Brisbane City

Cost: $35 (includes one cheese box with tasting notes and one standard drink) cash bar available

Register now

Join our panel of doctors and researchers who are striving to improve health equity:

Dr Sonia Shah is a Group Leader at UQ's Institute for Molecular Bioscience. She uses large-scale genomic data to address knowledge gaps in disease, with a particular focus on cardiovascular disease. Dr Shah leads the South Asian Genes and Health in Australia study, which aims to increase the representation of people of South Asian descent in genetic studies. She won the 2024 Australian Academy of Science Ruth Stephens Gani Medal for outstanding contribution to genetics research; was 1 of 5 global finalists for the Nature Inspiring Women in Science (Scientific Achievement Award) in 2023, and was named in Australia's Top 25 Women in Science by Newscorp.

Associate Professor Loic Yengo is a Group Leader at UQ's Institute for Molecular Bioscience who develops and applies new methods to analyse large volumes of genomic data. In 2024, he was awarded a Snow Medical Research Foundation Fellowship to accelerate the deployment of genomic risk prediction in the clinic and improve the benefit of genomic medicine in under-represented populations. Loic was the 2022 recipient of the Ruth Stephens Gani Medal of the Australian Academy of Science recognizing outstanding contributions to research in human genetics, and was named in Nature Medicine's 2022 Yearbook among 11 early-career researchers "to watch".

Dr Samarra Toby is an Indigenous medical practitioner and scientist with a fellowship from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners'. She currently has a special interest in the following fields and works as a scientist to promote Space Medicine, Artificial Intelligence, Nanotechnology and Astrobiology in addition to her clinical work as a GP with a special interest in longevity medicine. She has a passion for healing and caring for First Nations, South Sea Islander, Pacific Islander and Tribal nations across the globe to redress health disparities. Additionally, she has a special interest in patients with neurodivergent conditions such as Autism and works in this field to support families who are living with and on the spectrum. She works with plant and bush medicines and traditional healing to support her patients.

Dr Nchafatso Obonyo is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Critical Care Research Group, Prince Charles Hospital, and UQ's Institute for Molecular Bioscience. He holds a medical degree in addition to a PhD, and his main research focus is cardiac critical care and sepsis research. Dr Obonyo received the 2023 Africa Top-40 Under-40 Science Award and the 2023 African Professional in Australia of the Year Award.

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