Directors
Justin Hogg
Justin is an accountant and Company Secretary. He runs his own business, Right Source, which specialises in not-for-profits. Justin is currently the Company Secretary for 5 not-for-profits.
Justin’s passion and the driving force in his career are people. Through multiple leadership positions and business experience, Justin has gained a unique ability to communicate and relate with people of all walks of life.
Justin Hogg is a Member of CPA Australia and a Fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia.
R. Rachel Makepeace
Rachel has lived with very severe ME for about 20 years. Despite her determined efforts, she found that obtaining an accurate diagnosis, appropriate healthcare and adequate support for everyday life took her an extremely long time. Her lived experience inspired her to initiate change and work towards the provision of clinical care for people living with ME.
Prior to studying business at Griffith University, she had fulfilled office management responsibilities and assisted projects. When she got very ill with severe ME, she was an associate member of CPA Australia and held a Client Manager position at a small accounting firm.
Angela Richardson
Angela is Masters qualified Director with over 18 years’ experience in human resources in both Australia and USA and over 5 years’ experience on not-for-profit boards. She has strong board experience in strategic planning, risk and compliance management, and board effectiveness and composition.
She is also a Founder and Managing Director at Eucalypt Consulting.
Advisors
Knowledge Translation and Research Advisor to the Board
Dr Maria Alejandra Pinero de Plaza
Alejandra is a scientist committed to facilitating healthy living and better public health services through knowledge translation and health research. She is a Research Fellow at Flinders University and the National Health and Medical Research Council, Centre of Research Excellence in Frailty and Healthy Ageing. Her studies are focusing on the design, implementation, and evaluation of interventions regarding behaviour change, high-tech solutions, and partnering with end-users to ensure better access, care, equity, safety, and quality services to improve health and wellbeing outcomes.
MRI and Neuroimaging Research Advisor to the Board
Dr Kiran Thapaliya
Kiran is a Research Fellow working at National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases (NCNED), Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, Gold Coast campus. His research interest lies in developing new neuroimaging methods for the direct in vivo mapping of tissue microstructure like myelin/iron in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). His research focuses on understanding the relationship between tissue microstructure and clinical as well as autonomic measures that potentially lead to identifying biomarkers for ME/CFS.
Team Members
Michael Corcoran – Corporate Governance Partner
Michel is a Corporate Governance Partner at Right Source. His background is in the financial services sector, in industry superannuation funds. Most recently, his roles have involved providing secretariat services to Boards of superannuation funds.
Michael has a great interest in equality, social justice and impact investing. He aims to use skills and experience gained from years in financial services to help not-for-profit organisations to reach their goals.
Stanley Du Preez – Community Coordinator
Stanley is a junior doctor with the Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service and PhD candidate with the National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases (NCNED), Griffith University. He is an aspiring physician that aims to support ME and Post COVID-19 Condition/Long Covid patients through clinical medicine, research, and advocacy. Additionally, he hopes to improve the understanding and involvement of other clinicians to achieve greater health and social outcomes for people with ME and Post COVID-19 Condition/Long Covid.
Honorary Clinical and Research Advisor to the Board
Professor Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik
Sonya is an Immunologist and Director at The National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases (NCNED), Griffith University.
She is also Myalgic encephalomyelitis: International Consensus Criteria (ME-ICC) Co-author and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis International Consensus Primer for Medical Practitioners (ICP) Panel.
NCNED is a world-class research facility focusing on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME).
Their research is world-leading in the area of identification of the pathology, development of a screen/diagnostic test and drug treatments for ME patients. Their aim is to translate their research to improve ME patient outcomes in the area of preventative medicine, social and clinical care, and public health.