The Directors

Al was instrumental in the formation of the Foundation.

Having established a close personal and working relationship with Mrs Cooper, he played a large part in encouraging Mrs Cooper to establish a medical research foundation in her name. This came to fruition on 13 January 1984 (co-incidentally his 59th birthday) and on her death, some three months later, he and Kevin Cahill became the executors of Mrs Cooper’s estate which she had bequeathed to the Foundation.  The rest, as they say, is history.

Having grown the income of the Foundation from less than $80,000 per annum to a multi-million dollar figure today, he was awarded an OAM in the Australia Day Honours list in 2008.

Tom is a Consultant Endocrinologist and is a Visiting Medical  Officer at St Vincents Hospital and Concord Hospital in Sydney.  His interests are in diabetes, erectile dysfunction and thyroid disease.  Tom is one of the founding directors of the Foundation.

Ross, now retired, was a practising general practitioner with his surgery located at Maroubra, in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney.

Since retirement, Ross has diligently attended directors meetings and contributed in scoring the annual grant applications together with the other board members.

Appointed to the Board of Directors on 30 October 2000

BSc(Med), MBBS(Hons), PhD, FRCPA, FRACP - Professor Rasko is a Haematologist who directs Cell and Molecular Therapies at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and heads the Gene and Stem Cell Therapy Program at the Centenary Institute, University of Sydney. His was the first formal appointment in clinical gene therapy in Australia.

Professor Rasko is the immediate past President of the Australasian Gene Therapy Society, serves on the International Committee of the American Society of Gene Therapy (2004-10) and is the regional Vice President - Australasia of the International Society for Cell Therapy.  He chairs the Gene Technology Technical Advisory Committee of the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator for the Australian government.

Professor Rasko has a productive track record with over one hundred papers published in genetics and gene therapy, experimental haematology and cell biology. His research has been successful in uncovering new mechanisms of leukemia, clinical trials of new biological therapies for cancer and bleeding disorders, hemopoietic stem cell mobilisation and transplantation.

Appointed to the Board of Directors 18 December 2008

HND App. Biol., MSc., PhD., FSB, CBiol - Professor Brian Dean is a biochemist and is currently an NHMRC Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Rebecca L. Cooper Research Laboratories at the Mental Health Research Institute in Melbourne. Professor Dean is a Councillor, Member if the Education Committee and Pacific Asia Committee member of Collegium Internationale Neuro-Psychopharmacologium which is a worldwide organisation focussed on the study of treatments for brain disorders. More locally, Professor Dean is currently the President of the Melbourne Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience. This Society focuses on understanding how the brain functions.

Professor Dean has published more than 170 papers on the pathology of major psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorders and the mechanisms by which drugs act to lessen the symptoms of those disorders. Recent findings from this research have identified a potential biomarker for a sub-set of subjects with schizophrenia and evidence to suggest that inflammatory pathways may be involved in causing symptoms of depression.

Appointed to the Board of Directors on 2 November 2009

Patrick is a partner with Harris & Company, solicitors, and has acted as the Foundation's commercial and litigation lawyer for a number of years.

Patrick has wide experience in a number of legal disciplines.  He has practised continuously as a solicitor in private practice since 1983 and is the principal of his firm's Planning and Environment Practice Group.

Appointed to the Board of Directors on 19 March 2011 and Company Secretary on 13 August 2011.