Date/Time
Date(s) - Mon 13 October
18:00 - 21:00
In 2025, AMRF proudly marks 70 years of funding groundbreaking medical research and the awarding of over $100,000,000 to dedicated medical and health science researchers.
In the final public event of their 70th anniversary year, they host these two outstanding researchers. Register now to join them!
Professor Donna Rose Addis, a New Zealand-born cognitive neuroscientist, renowned for her work in neuroimaging and neuropsychology, linked to memory and aging, and is the first Samoan neuroscientist in history.
The Aging Brain: Memory and Imagination
Professor Donna Rose Addis grew up in South Auckland and is the first Samoan neuroscientist in history, specialising in neuroimaging, and has been living and working in Canada since 2018.
In 2016, Donna Rose was made the youngest-ever Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. She has been recognised for her pioneering work in the use of functional brain imaging to study how the brain stores and retrieves memories in healthy people and those suffering from neurological disorders.
Donna Rose’s work focuses on understanding the relationship between memory and imagination; the ways in which future imagination differs with age, mood and mood disorders, such as depression, and memory loss as a result of amnesia or aging.
Professor Robert Gourdie, a NZ-educated scientist and internationally acclaimed cell biologist specialising in cardiovascular and biotech innovations.
How does milk help treat heart disease and cancer?
Professor Robert Gourdie is a New Zealand–educated cardiovascular scientist who has worked in the United States since the late 1980s. His research spans from fundamental cell biology to therapies moving toward the clinic. His lab has led to promising treatments for wound healing, heart protection and cancer. Robert and his team have pioneered technology turning milk exosomes into an almost ideal oral drug delivery system. Robert is now studying his own alphaCT1 peptide for heart attack protection and as a radiation-mitigating drug for cancer patients.
Robert completed his undergraduate and graduate studies in Aotearoa before doing his post-doctoral research at University College London. He is the Heywood Fralin Professor at Virginia Tech and Director of the Center for Vascular and Heart Research at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virgina Tech. He also co-founded Xequel Bio Inc (a $120m+ clinical stage biotech company) and is the founder of The Tiny Cargo Company, which is undertaking clinical translation of milk exosomes based therapeutics.
Donna Rose and Robert are being brought back to New Zealand by the Auckland Medical Research Foundation – New Zealand’s largest independent funder of medical research – as part of its 70th anniversary commemorations. This speaker event was made possible by the Ted & Mollie Carr Medical Travel Fund.