Our Board

Pall (Palli) Thordarson is a Fellow of the RACI and joined the organisation during his PhD days at the University of Sydney in 1998, he is currently a Professor and the Director of the UNSW RNA Institute at UNSW Sydney. 

He has served as a NSW state representative on the board of the RACI Organic Chemistry Division from 2014-2018 and from 2019 treasurer of the RACI Supramolecular Chemistry Group and has been involved in many RACI events, including organising the first supramolecular symposia at a RACI Congress in Adelaide, 2014.

As a Professor and in his previous role as Deputy Head of School of Chemistry at UNSW he is actively involved in the continuous development of our chemistry syllabus and our research program. 

In his current role as the Director of the UNSW RNA Institute he has also been very active in promoting the role of science to government and brining University researchers, Government agencies and Industry together in collaborations.

He has also served on the ARC College of Experts 2016-2019 and he has been on the an Editorial Board Member of the Australian Journal of Chemistry since 2008.

Amanda Ellis is a Professor & Head of School, Chemical and Biomedical Engineering. She graduated with a Ph.D (Applied Chemistry) from the University of Technology, Sydney in 2003.
After two postdocs in the USA, and a NZ government research fellowship she commenced at Flinders University, South Australia as a teaching/research academic in Chemical and Physical Sciences (2006).

During this time she became a full professor (2013), an ARC Future Fellow (2014) and acting Associate Dean of Research for the Faculty of Science and Engineering (2016).

In May 2017 she joined the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Melbourne and was the Head of the Chemical Engineering Department (2019-2022).

She has been an ARC College of Experts for the MCPE panel (2017-2019) and Board member of the Royal Australia Chemical Institute (RACI) (2016-2019), now RACI President-Elect (2022-2024).

She has secured over $30 M in funding from the ARC and non-ARC sources on projects involving surface science and understanding the fundamentals of electronic and molecular interactions at interfaces for applications in DNA/RNA nanotechnology (DNA-polymer hybrids, non-enzymatic synthesis and reconfigurable electronic systems), energy storage (battery anodes) and energy harvesting (wearable devices).

Background

Danielle completed a PhD in 2000 from the Australian National University, followed by postdoctoral fellowships in natural products in Italy, carbohydrate chemistry in Germany and peptide chemistry in Sydney, before commencing her independent career at University of Wollongong (UOW) in 2006. Currently a Professor in Medicinal Chemistry and Associate Dean (Higher Degree Research) for the Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health, Danielle is also a Board Member of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) and National STEM Ambassador for Science and Technology Australia.

Danielle's research programs are:

1. developing new anti-cancer drugs for difficult-to-treat cancers and
2. creating bioinspired solutions for wound healing and bacterial infection.

Danielle is a passionate advocate for equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in STEM and received the RACI Margaret Sheil Leadership Award (2020) for promoting EDI in chemistry. In 2023, she was awarded a $1M Govt. to work together with industry to provide internships and entrepreneurship training for women in STEM in the Illawarra.

Background

Lidia Matesic completed a PhD in organic and medicinal chemistry at the University of Wollongong in 2011. She then commenced at ANSTO as a post-doctoral fellow and later on, as a radiochemist. During her research career she has focussed on the development of radiopharmaceuticals for cancer and neurological disorders. Currently, she is a Principal Radiochemist and the Radiopharmaceuticals Manager at ANSTO, leading a team of radiochemists researching the use of therapeutic radioisotopes to advance the development, manufacturing and translation of radiopharmaceuticals into preclinical and clinical studies.

Lidia became a member of RACI in 2007 and has contributed to NSW Branch as a Committee member (2012-2016) and Treasurer (2016-2020). She is also associated with the Radiochemistry and Medicinal Chemistry/Chemical Biology Divisions and has been the RACI Treasurer since 2020.

She is passionate about communicating chemistry to a wide audience and have participated in numerous outreach events including being the Nyholm Youth Lecturer, partaking in Careers Panels for University students and attending University Open days on behalf of the RACI.

Background

Sarah Cresswell is the Head of Chemistry and Forensic Science in the School of Environment and Science at Griffith University. She has taught forensic science for over 20 years, both in the UK and in Australia and has presented expert witness testimony in both jurisdictions too.

She is a Centenary Fellow of the RACI and a member since 2013 and is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (a member since 1990).  Sarah is passionate about championing chemistry to students of all ages and provides outreach activities and on-campus forensic science experience days high school students through Griffith’s Cutting-Edge Science Programs as well as encouraging schools to participate in the RACI Titration Competition. She has served on the Queensland Chemical Education Group since 2013.

In 2023 Sarah was awarded a National Teaching Excellence Award for Physical Sciences by the Australian Awards for University Teachers. As a teaching focussed academic, she teaches specialist forensic chemistry courses to later years students and first-year chemistry to science students across all science programs at Griffith which allows her to see students throughout their undergraduate programs. She was awarded the 2017 Griffith University Vice Chancellor’s Teacher of the Year Award in 2017 for innovative teaching.

Sarah supervises Honours and PhD students and works in collaboration with forensic chemistry laboratories across Australia and with colleagues at Griffith.

Background

• Keelie has a BSc and MSc in Chemistry from UNB, Canada. Since arriving in Australia in 2015, she has been using her Chemistry qualifications in the recruitment industry - a Scientist recruiting Scientists. Keelie has been a passionate supporter of the RACI, most recently as the President of the WA Branch before stepping down to join the Board in March 2024. She loves helping Chemists along their career journey, highlighting pathways available to suit the individual.

Board Direction

• As an appointed Director of the Board, she hopes to bring a different viewpoint to help bridge the gap between Academia and Industry. Industry engagement, as well as Careers & Mentoring activities, are areas that Keelie can add value based on her knowledge and experience.

Background

Sarah Chapman is the Founder of STEM Changemakers, with twenty years experience as a secondary science educator and Head of Department. She is also the Founder of the Townsville STEM Hub, Co-Chair of Women in STEMM Australia and a Board Member of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute. She is passionate about inspiring, engaging and empowering people through STEM. Sarah commits extensive portions of her own time lifting the profile of STEM education, by working with students, teachers and the broader community.  

In 2019, Sarah was awarded a Commonwealth Bank of Australia Teaching Award Fellowship. In 2018, Sarah was selected as one of ten national STEM Ambassadors by Science and Technology Australia, and was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute. She was awarded a Barbara Cail STEM Fellowship in 2016, which involved international travel to research best practice in engaging young people into STEM. Sarah was awarded the prestigious Prime Minister’s Secondary Science Teaching Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in 2013. In 2014 she was selected as a Queensland Government Science Champion. Sarah’s work has also been recognised with a prestigious Peter Doherty, Outstanding Teacher of Science Award in 2008 (Queensland Government) and an Australian Award for Teaching Excellence in 2009 (Teaching Australia).  

Sarah is an inspirational keynote speaker and workshop presenter at local, state, national and international STEM events. She is also regularly consulted by a range of institutions for the advice around vision and direction of STEM engagement and education. 

Board Direction

There are many challenges and barriers that exist for girls to engage in a Chemistry or STEM based profession, these include:

• Only 27% of the Australian STEM workforce are women.
• Only 21% of girls aspire to pursue STEM careers.
• Regional Australian female teenagers lag behind metropolitan-based students in STEM education by 1.5 years.
• Girls from regional Australia are least likely to choose STEM professions compared to low socioeconomic and culturally diverse groups.
• Parental perceptions of STEM form the greatest barrier for girls pursuing STEM careers.
• Sarah's vision is to advise and support RACI board and members to grow connections for girls with local STEM industries, so they can see the impact Chemistry has in their community. Leveraging the platform of RACI to enable girls to engage with role models, to provide a tangible perspective of STEM. Her vision is also to support and grow the teacher network within RACI, in order to support educators of Chemistry nationally, in particular those in regional and remote areas.

Dr Susan Northfield trained as a peptide and medicinal chemist. She completed her PhD in medicinal chemistry from Monash University in 2012, then spent two years in the laboratory of Professor David Craik at The University of Queensland, before returning to Melbourne to join the Drug Design Laboratory in the Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics (now Department of Biochemistry & Pharmacology) in the School of Biomedical Sciences in 2014. In 2017, Dr Northfield took over as Lab Head, supervising a peptide chemistry program focussed on developing multicyclic peptide mimetics. 

Dr Northfield’s research and career opportunities have allowed her to become an internationally recognised researcher in the peptide chemistry field. Susan has spent the last fifteen years working in the fields of medicinal chemistry, chemical biology and structural biology. Across the last five years she has focussed on the development of peptide mimetics of neurotrophins, including BDNF. Peptides made by her lab are mimetics of BDNF loops capable of selectively targeting receptors to replicate BDNF activity, making them useful tools to study receptor function and disease states, including multiple sclerosis.

In 2019, Dr Northfield took on a part-time role managing the ARC Training Centre for Personalised Therapeutics Technologies, while continuing to run her lab. She maintained both roles until March 2022, working with academics, industry and government for the roles. Since April 2022, Dr Northfield has been working full-time as Research Manager in the School of Biomedical Sciences at The University of Melbourne; and holds an honorary fellow position in the Department of Biochemistry & Pharmacology.  

Susan has been an active member of the RACI since 2015, initially as a member of Victoria’s Women in Chemistry (WinC) committee and Peptide Users Group (PUG) committee. She was later secretary (2017) and chair (2018) of WinC and treasurer of PUG (2018-2019). She joined the Victorian Branch Committee in 2017, stepping into the secretary role in 2018, and president-elect in 2019. She navigated the Branch through challenging times as president in 2020 – 2022, and in November 2022 took her experience with the RACI into her new role on the RACI National Board.

Background

John Leeder is the Managing Director of Leeder Analytical,  a private consulting laboratory providing contract research and forensic services to industry and government departments and training services in the area of sample preparation and use of analytical instrumentation,

• John has PhD in analytical chemistry and a MBA. He is a fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) and has been a member for over two decades. He is also a member of the American Chemical Institute (ACI).
• John has worked in the analytical chemistry field for over 25 years. He has worked as an analytical chemist in NATA accredited Government laboratories, private companies and for companies listed on the Australian stock exchange. He has presented to many boards in Australia and also presented expert evidence in a range of courts in both Australia and New Zealand.
• He has been a Technical Assessor in the field of chemical testing under ISO17025 since the late 1990’s and a Lead Auditor under ISO9001. John completed an MBA with his main focus on innovation/strategy and also Corporate Governance.
• For the past twenty years he has been employing Australian Scientist in his analytical chemistry laboratories. John is the managing director and company secretary for Leeder Analytical. My aim would be to help expand the RACI and ensure that the new aspiring chemistry students have a good understanding of the benefits of being an RACI member.