ESA Council

Professor Jenny Gunton (President)

Affiliation: University of Sydney and Westmead Hospital

Professor Jenny Gunton is the Director of the Centre for Diabetes and Obesity Research at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research and is Chair of Medicine at Westmead Hospital, University of Sydney.

Jenny’s research interests include diabetes, obesity, and vitamin D. She is particularly interested in the intersection of transcription factors and their regulation by nutrients including iron and Vitamin D.

Dr Anna Story (President-elect)

Affiliation: Northern Sydney Endocrine Centre
MBBS FRACP CCPU

Anna is a clinical endocrinologist who specializes in thyroid disease. She has a particular focus on thyroid cancer and is a member of the Endocrine Tumour Multidisciplinary Team at Royal North Shore Hospital. Anna undertook her undergraduate medical training at the University of Queensland (1997). She completed physician’s training at Royal North Shore Hospital and advanced training in Endocrinology at both North Shore Hospital and Prince of Wales Hospitals, completing this in 2005. Anna works in private practice at the Northern Sydney Endocrine Centre, where she is the practice head. She is also an honorary visiting medical officer at Royal North Shore Hospital.  She has a passion for education and is a Senior Clinical Lecturer for the University of Sydney and is an ultrasound course provider for ASUM. Most recently she has completed the Australian Institute of Company Directors course (GAICD).

Professor Jun Yang (Honorary Secretary)

Affiliation: Hudson Institute of Medical Research and Monash Health

A/Professor Jun Yang is the Head of the Endocrine Hypertension Group at Hudson Institute of Medical Research, Consultant Endocrinologist at Monash Health and Senior Researcher in the Department of Medicine at Monash University, Victoria, Australia. Jun graduated from Monash University with a MBBS (Hon) in 2001, obtained the FRACP in 2010 and completed her PhD on tissue-selective coregulators of the mineralocorticoid receptor in 2013. She has continued basic and clinical research in the field of aldosterone-mediated hypertension. She established the Endocrine Hypertension Service in 2016 and co-leads the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Primary Aldosteronism. Jun is passionate about creating change through “bench-to-bedside” translational research and implementing research outcomes in clinical practice. Jun is also an active member of the endocrine community, serving as the ESA representative on the National Hypertension Taskforce, member of the ENDO Annual Meeting Steering Committee, member of the Endocrine Society Primary Aldosteronism Guideline Development Panel, and member of the Clinical Council of Hypertension Australia.

Associate Professor Mitchell Lawrence (Treasurer)

A/Prof Mitchell Lawrence leads the Genitourinary Cancer Laboratory in the Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology and Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Monash University. His research on prostate and penile cancer begins and ends with patients. Working with patient advocates, support groups, community organisations and clinicians, A/Prof Lawrence identifies critical clinical challenges facing patients. He tackles these challenges through multidisciplinary studies into tumour biology, pathology, and novel therapies. In collaboration with the Melbourne Urological Research Alliance, A/Prof Lawrence is using patient-derived models to uncover why some patients’ tumours are more aggressive than others and to identify how to treat these tumours more effectively. This is leading to changes in international clinical practice, concurrent clinical trials, and partnerships with industry.

Professor Roderick Clifton-Bligh

Affiliation: Head, Department of Endocrinology, Royal North Shore Hospital, St Leonards, Sydney
And Professor in Medicine, University of Sydney

Roderick Clifton-Bligh is Head of the Department of Endocrinology at Royal North Shore Hospital, and conjoint professor in Medicine at the University of Sydney. He trained in medicine at the University of Sydney before completing a PhD in the genetics of thyroid disorders at the University of Cambridge in 1998. He returned to Sydney to complete his FRACP in 2004 and was then appointed as Staff Specialist in Endocrinology at Royal North Shore Hospital. He is now senior staff specialist and Head of Department of Endocrinology at Royal North Shore Hospital and Professor (conjoint) at the University of Sydney. He heads the Cancer Genetics Laboratory at the Kolling Institute and direct twin research programs in Endocrine Neoplasia (Phaeochromocytoma/ paraganglioma syndromes, Thyroid Cancer, Adrenal Cancer, Pituitary Tumours) and Metabolic Bone Disease (calcium-sensing receptor function in health and disease, and FGF-23 regulation of vitamin D metabolism). He was admitted to Fellowship of Faculty of Science (The Royal College of Pathologists of Australia) in 2011. He has co-authored 198 publications in peer-reviewed journals with >6,000 citations. He has supervised 14 completed PhDs, including both basic science and clinical focused work; his students included the ESA Young Investigators in 2005, 2007, and 2010 and the ESA Bryan Hudson awardee in 2008. His work has been recognized by awards from NSW Cancer Institute (2013), Asia-Oceania Thyroid Association (2014) and the Endocrine Society of Australia Outstanding Clinical Practitioner Award (2021). His service to the Endocrine Society of Australia includes membership of the POC for its ASM in 2004-2006 and 2013-2015; and the ESA representative to the Specialist Advisory Committee in Endocrinology at the Royal Australasian College of Physicians from 2004-2012 (as chair, 2010-2012). He is passionate about scientific advancement in endocrinology through mentoring and training young physicians and scientists.

Associate Professor Carolyn Allan

Affiliation: Hudson Institute of Medical research and Monash Health

Associate Professor Carolyn Allan MBBS (Hons) PhD FRACP DRCOG (UK)

A/Prof Carolyn Allan is a Consultant Endocrinologist at Monash Health and Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor in the Hudson Centre for Endocrinology and Metabolism and School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health, Faculty of Medicine Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University. She is the Clinical Lead in the Andrology Service and the Head of the Endocrine Pregnancy Service at Monash Health. Carolyn completed her advanced training in endocrinology at Prince Henry's Hospital/Monash Medical Centre, Melbourne, and at St Bartholomew's in London.  She completed a Diploma in Obstetrics and Gynaecology whilst in the UK. Her PhD in Andrology was undertaken at Prince Henry's Institute (now the Hudson Institute of Medical Research) investigating the effect of ageing and body composition on androgens in the male. She maintains clinical and research interests in the field of male reproductive endocrinology. 

Carolyn also works in Private Practice and is the Director of the Victorian Diabetes Endocrine Network. She is the Chair of the Cabrini Hospital Endocrine Craft Group. 

Dr Liz Johnstone (Basic Science Representative)

Affiliation: Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research and University of Western Australia

Liz Johnstone obtained her PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Western Australia (UWA) in 2016. Since then she has been working as a postdoctoral researcher at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research/UWA Centre for Medical Research where she studies the molecular pharmacology of receptors. In 2017, she spent a year working part time as Senior Project Officer for Accelerating Australia, a consortium dedicated to promoting biomedical innovation and entrepreneurship. In 2021 she was appointed as a Pharmacology Lecturer in the UWA School of Biomedical Sciences, while she continues her research at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research. Liz was the inaugural Co-Chair (Science) of the ESA Early Career Committee from 2019-2022, and is also currently a member of the International Union of Pharmacology’s Early Career Committee.

Dr Brendan Nolan

Affiliation: Department of Diabetes and Endocrinology
Princess Alexandra Hospital | Metro South Health

Dr Brendan Nolan is a Staff Specialist Endocrinologist at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane and Research Fellow in the Trans Health Research Group (University of Melbourne). His PhD examined the safety and efficacy of gender affirming hormone therapy for transgender and gender-diverse individuals and he was awarded the Bryan Hudson Clinical Endocrinology Award at the 2022 ESA Annual Scientific Meeting. He continues postdoctoral research with funding from ESA-RACP, MRFF and NHMRC. Brendan is a member of the US Endocrine Society Transgender Research and Medicine Special Interest Group and is Co-Chair of the Australian Professional Association of Trans Health Education Committee.

Dr Stephanie Teasdale

Affiliation: Queensland Diabetes and Endocrine Centre

Dr Stephanie Teasdale is a Senior Staff Specialist and Endocrine Lead at the Queensland Diabetes and Endocrine Centre, Mater Hospital Brisbane. She runs specialist clinics in after cancer endocrinology, Turner syndrome, general endocrinology, young adult endocrinology and diabetes.

She is also a specialist Obstetric Medicine Physician at the Mater Mothers’ Hospital Brisbane.

She runs a busy private practice with a large portion of young adult patients.

She holds a doctorate in pyrometallurgical engineering, but her research focus is now in medicine. She has initiated many investigator-led research projects, and is a principal investigator in numerous sponsored trials.

Dr Lachlan Angus

Affiliation: Department of Endocrinology & Diabetes, Northern Adelaide Local Health Network

Dr Lachlan Angus is a Senior Staff Specialist Endocrinologist at the Northern Adelaide Local Health Network, Senior Clinical Lecturer at Adelaide University and Director of Flourish Medical Specialists. His clinical interests include andrology and transgender health. His PhD was completed in 2025 and examined the safety and efficacy of anti-androgens as part of gender affirming hormone therapy. His research was awarded the Bryan Hudson Clinical Endocrinology Award at the 2023 ESA Annual Scientific Meeting.

Nick Norris

Affiliation: The Westmead Institute for Medical Research

Nick Norris is a Postdoctoral Research Associate whose research focuses on pancreatic beta-cell biology and the development of therapeutic strategies for Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes.

Nick completed his PhD at the University of Sydney, where his thesis centred on the characterization of insulin secretory granules, their dynamics, and how metabolic stressors such as fatty acids impact granule composition and release. His work has combined advanced proteomics, imaging, and functional studies to uncover novel insulin granule proteins and mechanisms regulating insulin secretion and β-cell health.