Asbestos Innovation Fund Panel

Professor Douglas Henderson - MB, BS, FRCPA, FRCPath, FHKCPath (Hon)

In 1976 he re-located to Adelaide to the Flinders Medical Centre, where he was later appointed as the Director of Electron Microscopy and subsequently became the Head of the Department of Anatomical Pathology during the period 1989-2005, with conjoint academic status as Professor of Pathology at the Flinders University.  He was the Chief Examiner in Anatomical Pathology for the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia during the period 1994-1999.

During his career at the Flinders Medical Centre, he was appointed as one of the four scientific advisers to the World Trade Organization (WTO) for the dispute between Canada and the European Communities concerning the ban on the importation of Canadian chrysotile asbestos into France.  He was also a member and co-chairman for the group of 19 scientists who formulated The Helsinki Criteria for the causal attribution of various diseases to asbestos.  He is a member of the International Mesothelioma Panel and until recently was a member of the Pathology Panel for the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer.  He is also a member of the Asbestosis Committee convened by the College of American Pathologists and the Pulmonary Pathology Society.

He is a co-author or editor for six books/monographs dealing with pleuropulmonary pathology and diagnostic electron microscopy, as well as 36 book chapters, over 130 publications in peer-reviewed journals and more than 150 presentations at local, national and international meetings and conferences.

He maintains an active interest in the diagnosis of pleuropulmonary disorders, especially malignant mesothelioma, by way of his personal practice and referrals, amounting to about 150-200 mesotheliomas each year.

His research interests have focused upon the criteria for causal attribution of lung cancer to asbestos and also on the pathogenesis and biomarkers of malignant mesothelioma, and they now include investigation of aquaporins in mesothelioma and lung cancer.

In 2006, he was awarded a Distinguished Fellow Award by the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia.  In 2010 he was awarded the Distinguished Pathologist Medal of the Australasian Division of the International Academy of Pathology.

Professor Niki Ellis - MBBS; Fellow of the Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine and Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine, Royal Australasian College of Physicians; Member of the Royal Society of Medicine, UK is an occupational and public health physician.

Niki moved to London in 2002. During her time there she was a senior public health advisor to the Division of Public Health, Department of Health and was Principal Investigator for two projects on health workforce innovation at London South Bank University. On her return to Australia the LSBU appointed her as honorary professor to the University. Whilst in London she was also an honorary Research Associate at the Welcome Trust Centre. 

In 2000 and 2001 she was Director, Health Risk Management, PricewaterhouseCoopers in Sydney.

For 10 years prior to this she built up a private occupational and public health consultancy on the eastern seaboard of Australia, with offices in Sydney and Melbourne. Her client base was in the private and public sectors and included Telstra, Lend Lease Corporation, Amcor, Pacific Medical Centres, NRMA Insurance, China Light and Power, the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing, NSW Health, the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission, Department of Defence, Minerals Council of Australia, and various state government authorities for health, education, transport, mining, workers compensation and occupational health and safety.  During this period her company, NE&A Pty Ltd, was selected as a model small business for providing services to the Commonwealth government by the then Minister for small business, and Niki was appointed to the Commonwealth Procurement Board representing small enterprises. She was also nominated for the Telstra business woman of the year award.

Prior to her career as a consultant, Niki worked in government positions.  After completing her medical resident years in 1980 she became medical officer in the Tasmanian Division of Public Health. Highlights of her work there were co-ordinating the development of Tasmania's initial response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and strategies to deal with repetition strain injury (RSI) as the epidemic emerged in Australia in the 1980s.

From 1985 to 1990 she was Director of the RSI National Strategy and then Head, Preventive Strategies at the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission.

Niki was the President of the Australasian College of Occupational Medicine from 1990 to 1992 and became the Inaugural President of the Australasian Faculty of Occupational Medicine, when it moved into the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) in 1994. She was awarded the College Medal by the RACP in May 2004 and in 1997 the Queensland Motor Accident Insurance research fellowship, by the RACP Foundation.

Her publications include a textbook, Work and Health: Management in Australia and New Zealand, which was commissioned and published (Nov 2001) by Oxford University Press. For nine years she wrote a column for the leading Australian trade publication in occupational health - in all 46 articles. She also edited a column in occupational medicine for Australian Doctor Weekly. 

In 2008 a four part television series on occupational stress was shown for the first time on the ABC. In this show interventions which aim to reduce occupational stressors by changing the way work is organized or the way people are managed are demonstrated in four different workplaces. Niki was the co-developer of the concept, and the presenter of the shows.

In 2010 she was made an honorary fellow by the Safety Institute of Australia.  Niki has been a commissioner on the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission since 2008.

Vicki Hamilton - CEO/Secretary of Gippsland Asbestos Related Diseases Support Inc. commonly known as GARDS, which is situated in Gippsland, Victoria.

Vicki is a member of the Community Advisory Committee for the Latrobe Regional Hospital and also member of the Latrobe Regional Hospital Foundation. She is a community representative on the WorkSafe Victoria Asbestos Stakeholder Reference Group. She is married with one adult daughter. Vicki is a qualified integration aide with a background in disabilities such as Autism, Asperger's Syndrome, Hearing impairment, Epilepsy etc...