Monash University

Yuming Guo is Professor of Global Environmental Health and Biostatistics & Head of the Monash Climate, Air Quality Research (CARE) Unit. His research group focuses on environmental epidemiology, biostatistics, global environmental change, air pollution, climate change, urban design, residential environment, remote sensing modelling, and infectious disease modelling.

Michael Abramson is Principal Investigator for the Hazelwood Health Study, a ten-year study of the long term health effects of the Hazelwood mine fire event in 2014. He previously held the appointment of Deputy Head of School, School of Public Health & Preventive Medicine, Monash University (formerly Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine) from 1993 until 2019. Michael was a Visiting Medical Officer in Allergy, Immunology and Respiratory Medicine at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne (1995-2015), and was appointed Honorary Medical Officer in Allergy, Immunology & Respiratory Medicine at the Alfred Hospital upon his retirement from clinical practice. His current research program covers the epidemiology of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, including genetic and environmental risk factors such as air pollution and occupation, and the role of spirometry in managing these conditions.

Martine Dennekamp is the Deputy Chief Environmental Scientist - Environmental Public Health at EPA Victoria. She is an environmental epidemiologist with extensive experience in relation to health impacts from pollution and waste. Prior to joining EPA she was working at Monash University and her environmental health research portfolio includes topics related to air quality and health, and in particular the association between health effects and smoke exposure from planned burns and bushfires, and the association between ambient air pollution and respiratory and cardiovascular health effects. At EPA she is a senior scientific advisor, responsible for leading the Environmental Public Health Branch in providing high quality environmental public health advice, information, publications, and programs, including the environmental health tracking network.

Dr. Gongbo Chen is a research fellow at Monash University’s Climate, Air Quality Research Unit. During his PhD (2015–2018), he developed a satellite-based machine learning method for air quality prediction, applying it in epidemiological studies on air pollution’s health effects. From 2019 to 2023, he worked at Wuhan University and Sun Yat-sen University for four years. In 2023, he returned to Monash to continue his research. Dr. Chen was awarded the Monash Early Career Postdoctoral Fellowship, NHMRC Centre for Safe Air Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, and subsequently ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA). Dr Chen's research achievements significantly surpass the typical expectations for ECRs. Since 2017, He has published > 200 peer-reviewed papers, with 60 for which he was first/corresponding-author and 94% published in JCR Q1 journals, such as Lancet Planetary Health, JAMA Pediatrics, and Nature Communications. He is ranked among top 2% scientists worldwide 2022 (Stanford/Elsevier), with 7,158 citations and an h-index of 47 (Google Scholar). Dr. Chen has secured 6 grants as CIA with nearly $1 million in funding and won the Monash FMNHS Dean's Award for Excellence in Research - Team Award and Vice Chancellor Excellence Award for Research Team of the Year 2024.