Suzanne Orchard is a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine and the Director of the ASPREE Extension (ASPREE-XT) study since 2021.  The ASPREE (ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly) trial, the largest primary prevention aspirin study ever conducted in older Australians, commenced in 2010 and completed the intervention phase in 2017, after which it entered an extension or observational phase. Dr Orchard first joined the ASPREE study as manager of the ASPREE Healthy Ageing Biobank (2011) before moving to Senior Study Manager for the ASPREE trial (2013) and then Australian Operations manager (2015). Dr Orchard’s research focus is cancer epidemiology, public health and ageing.

Dr Orchard has a BSc (Biological Sciences; Hons, 1989) from La Trobe University, Melbourne, where she was awarded 'Young Women in Science' scholarship and later an Australian Postgraduate Award to undertake her PhD. Her thesis focussed on the interaction between fatty acyl-CoA synthetase enzymes and halogenated substrate derivatives, incorporating enzyme kinetics and inhibitor studies.

In 1998, Suzanne commenced work at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR), researching the role of the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor in healthy and disease states, focussing on its expression, ligand binding properties and dimerization upon activation. During her decade at LICR, she developed expertise in the fields of molecular biology and cell signalling, biomarker research and small molecule inhibitor trials and collaborated with diverse research groups, internationally as well as local.