Council

Peter Simm

President

A/Prof Peter Simm is a Paediatric Endocrinologist from the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, Australia. He has clinical and research interests in Bone and Mineral medicine, having founded the bone health clinic at RCH as well as leading the clinical densitometry service. Peter is the Chair of the Australia and New Zealand Society for Paediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes (ANZSPED, formerly APEG)’s Bone and mineral working group.

He is a member of the Australia and New Zealand Bone and Mineral Society (ANZBMS) therapeutics committee, and recent co-chair of the ANZBMS program organizing committee. He is also a member of the POC for the international conference of children’s Bone health (ICCBH) 2024. Peter’s research interests include the effect of epilepsy and its therapies on the developing skeleton, X linked hypophosphatemia, iron infusions and bone health, management of osteogenesis imperfecta especially around transition and the negative sequelae of spinal cord injury on lower limb bone strength.

Louise Conwell

Immediate Past President

Louise Conwell is a Senior Staff Specialist (Eminent) in Paediatric Endocrinology at the Queensland Children’s Hospital, Brisbane (Children’s Health Queensland) and Associate Professor, Head of Children’s Health Queensland Clinical Unit, School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland.

Louise is a graduate of the University of Queensland and trained in paediatrics at the Mater Children’s Hospital, Brisbane. She then trained in paediatric endocrinology and diabetes at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Brisbane while completing a PhD at the University of Queensland. She undertook a post-specialty Clinical Fellowship at the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She has also completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Medical Education (University of Dundee, Scotland). Louise has expertise in Congenital Hyperinsulinism and other beta-cell disorders including Type 1 and Monogenic Diabetes. Her other clinical interest areas include Disorders of Sexual Differentiation and endocrine oncology. She is a supervisor of basic and advanced paediatric trainees of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. Other roles include Supervisor, Reader and Examiner for Postgraduate Higher Degree Research students of the University of Queensland and other academic institutions in Australia.

Louise has served on the APEG Diabetes, Scientific Organising, Differences of Sexual Development and Research Grant Subcommittees. Louise was a convenor of the APEG Fellows Meeting from 2008-2011 and chaired the APEG Research Grant Subcommittee 2020-2021. Louise has served on Council since 2017, with past roles as Secretary and President. She is currently a member of the DSD/CAH, Registry, and Thyroid Subcommittees. A/Prof Conwell is the immediate past co-chair of the Intersociety Clinical Guidelines Committee of the International Consortium of Paediatric Endocrinology. She is member of the Collaborative Research Network, Congenital Hyperinsulinism. She has engagement with stakeholder groups, particularly Congenital Hyperinsulinism International. Louise enjoys reading, travel, photography and playing the violin in the Queensland Medical Orchestra.

Carmel Smart

Treasurer

Dr Carmel Smart is a Specialist Endocrinology Dietician at the John Hunter Children’s Hospital, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. She was awarded a Clinical Research Fellowship by Hunter New England Health and is a conjoint senior lecturer at the University of Newcastle. Carmel has led national and international clinical practice guidelines in the dietary management of diabetes and is the only Australian representative on the International Preschool guidelines in diabetes (2017) and the new Ramadan guidelines for paediatric diabetes. She has served on the Organising Committee for the American Diabetes Association (ADA) Scientific Sessions and is an author of the ADA Medical Nutrition Therapy Handbook. Her commitment to the translation of research into clinical practice has seen her regularly an invited plenary speaker across Australia and internationally to front-line clinicians. She is an invited member of the expert faculty of the Arabic Society Paediatric Endocrinology Diabetes academy. Carmel’s primary research interests are in the effect of macronutrients on postprandial glycaemia and developing an effective dosing strategy for these. She loves bush walking with her husband and three sons in remote areas with no internet access.

Tony Huynh

Secretary and President Elect

Dr Tony Huynh is the Director of Endocrinology & Diabetes at the Queensland Children’s Hospital, Chemical Pathologist at Mater Pathology in Brisbane, and Associate Professor in the School of Clinical Medicine within the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Queensland. He completed his PhD at the Children’s National Hospital in Washington DC investigating glucocorticoid receptor signalling in dystrophic muscle. He is co-chair of the APEG Laboratory & Newborn Screening Subcommittee. His interests include neonatal endocrinology, T1D immunity, and laboratory medicine.

Ben Albert

Council Member

Ben Albert is a Paediatric Endocrinologist at Starship Children’s Health in Auckland New Zealand and a scientist at the Liggins Institute, University of Auckland. He completed his Paediatric Endocrine training in Auckland, as well as a PhD exploring the metabolic effects of omega-3 fatty acids. His research interests include finding novel ways to prevent obesity-related metabolic dysfunction, including treatments in pregnancy that might reduce obesity and metabolic risk in children. Ben is also a member of the ANZSPED Grant Committee.

Jenny Harrington

Council Member

Jenny Harrington is a Pediatric Endocrinologist at the Adelaide Women’s and Children’s Hospital. She undertook her Pediatric Endocrinology Fellowship training in Adelaide, during which her she completed a PhD which focused on the monitoring of vascular health in children at risk for accelerated atherosclerosis. Following this, she completed an additional clinical Pediatric Endocrinology Fellowship at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada, joining the faculty as a Staff Pediatric Endocrinologist in 2015. Her clinical and research interests include the management of children with disorders of calcium homeostasis and bone fragility, hyperinsulinism as well as quality improvement. She returned to Adelaide in 2021 and is the Clinical Lead in Endocrinology in the Department.

Jenny is a member of the APEG Training Committee, Bone and Mineral Working Group and Grants Committee.

Outside of work Jenny is kept busy keeping up with her young son and spending lots of time in the outdoors.

Aris Siafarikas

Council Member

Dr Aris Siafarikas is Consultant Paediatric Endocrinologist at Perth Children’s Hospital, WA. He holds appointments at the University of Western Australia, the Health Research Institute at the University of Notre Dame, the Exercise Medicine Research Institute, Edith Cowan University, and the Telethon Kids Institute, WA. He completed his specialist training in Berlin, Germany, before coming to Australia. Aris is a founding member and the clinical lead of the Western Australian Bone Research Collaboration (WABRC), which explores bone health and disease over the life span in a cross-institutional and multi-disciplinary environment with academics and clinicians. His current research is focusing on ways to identify children and adolescents at risk of osteoporosis and on the prevention of osteoporosis.

Aris has been a member of the Growth Hormone Advisory Committee and APEG grant committee and also participates in the APEG committee for Child and Adolescent Growth and the APEG Bone and Mineral Working Group.

Shubha Srinivasan

Council Member

Clinical Associate Professor Shubha Srinivasan is a paediatric endocrinologist in The Sydney Children’s Hospital Network. She is co-head of department of the Institute of Endocrinology and Diabetes at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead and Clinical Associate Professor in the Discipline of Child and Adolescent Health in the Faculty of Medicine at The University of Sydney. Shubha trained in general paediatrics in the UK and in paediatric endocrinology Sydney including her PhD on body composition and insulin resistance in children. Her clinical areas of expertise and research include lipid disorders, DSD and a broad range of Endocrinology and diabetes. She has been an active member and chair of various APEG subcommittees including DSD, training and education and the APEG patient registry. She has also represented APEG on the International iDSD steering committee and  is the Paediatric member on the National Familial Hypercholesterolaemia Registry Board, whose activities include developing and implementing guidelines for multidisciplinary whole of life care for people with FH.

Shubha supervises many of the paediatric endocrine trainees at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead and is the APEG member on the Royal Australasian College of Physicians Endocrinology Advanced Training Committee.