I am currently an Australian Research Council Future Fellow jointly appointed between the Drug Delivery, Disposition and Dynamics Theme at Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Department of Chemical Engineering. Prior to my current role I held appointments as Dean of Residents, New College Village UNSW, and as a Technical Assistant at a major Australian firm of patent and trade mark attorneys. My initial scientific training was conducted at UNSW in the discipline of Industrial Chemistry, and I obtained my PhD from the same university in 2003. I then conducted postdoctoral work in the laboratory of Prof. Frank Caruso at the University of Melbourne (2003-2004), and was an Australian Postdoctoral Fellow in the same group from 2005-2007.

The rational design of new materials promises to create exciting new opportunities for pharmaceutical science. In particular, the development of new excipients that can potentially offset the side-effects and disadvantages of underutilized drugs offers obvious benefits for the health sciences. My research is focused in this area and can be broadly categorized into (i) materials capable of augmenting / interrupting cell signalling pathways; (ii) new methodologies for functionalising biomolecules with polymers; and (iii) new materials for improving the oral delivery of poorly water soluble drugs. To achieve these goals I employ polymer synthesis techniques such as reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization and Cu(0)-mediated living radical polymerization. I also employ analytical techniques from surface chemistry such as quartz crystal microgravimetry (QCM) to probe the interactions between specifically designed polymers and biomolecules. 

I am a member of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (MRACI CChem) and the Institution of Engineers, Australia (MIEAust). I currently serve as the secretary of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute's Victorian Polymer Group and co-convene the annual PolymerVic symposium.