SBS Career Roundtable Breakfast is back!
Give your career a head start with firsthand insights from our esteemed Bachelor of Biomedicine alumni as part of the University's Employability Week initiatives.
Whether you're driven to become a doctor, medical researcher, surgeon, biomedical engineer, physiotherapist, dentist - or another type of healthcare professional – or whether you aren’t quite sure what lies ahead for you just yet…this networking breakfast should not be missed.
We've gathered diverse Bachelor of Biomedicine graduates to share their journey, lessons learned and the things they underestimated when embarking on thinking about and working to their own career paths.
As part of the University of Melbourne's Employability Week initiatives, the School of Biomedical Sciences Careers Breakfast will give Bachelor of Biomedicine students the chance to learn what helped along the way, what keeps our alumni motivated, how they have navigated any early career hurdles and what a typical work day may involve.
There's no doubt, planning the next steps into full-time work or further study can be both exciting and intimidating after your commitment to studying Biomedicine. What’s next? What’s possible? Here's how to arm yourself with knowledge from people who have walked the path before you.
An opportunity to ask them questions directly and in-person, not to mention an opportunity to catch up with your cohort on campus over a free breakfast!
EVENT DETAILS
- Life Beyond Biomedicine: Where will your career take you?
- Wednesday 23 March 2022
- 7:45-9:30am
- The Woodward Centre, Level 10, 185 Pelham St, Carlton VIC 3053 (Melbourne Law School)
- This is a free event which includes breakfast and the opportunity to catch up with your cohort on campus
You will hear from and have the opportunity to talk with:
 | Akshita SundareshSenior Physiotherapist, Royal Children's Hospital Akshita completed her Bachelor of Biomedicine in 2011, majoring in Human Structure and Function and went on to complete the Doctor of Physiotherapy with Distinction. Akshita started her graduate year at St Vincent's Hospital in 2015, rotating through cardiorespiratory, orthopaedic and neurological areas. She became a Senior Orthopaedic Physiotherapist in 2017 and moved to The Royal Children's Hospital in 2021 as a Senior Spinal Surgery Physiotherapist. She further assists with the care co-ordination of COVID positive patients in the community across adults and paediatrics. Akshita has a keen interest in the management of patients following limb salvage surgery and has held lead physiotherapy advisory roles within the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre. Akshita is also involved in sarcoma research and education with The Australian and New Zealand Sarcoma Association. |
| Boglarka RopolyiBiomedical Engineer, Eastern Health After completing a Bachelor of Biomedicine at the University of Melbourne in 2015, majoring in Bioengineering Systems, Boglarka enrolled in a Master of Engineering (Biomedical), which she completed in 2018. Boglarker has been working as a biomedical engineer for Eastern Health for the past two years. She is passionate about helping people and previously volunteered for many years, including two years for St Vincent de Paul. Being a biomedical engineer allows her to follow her passion, while using her own talents and skills. |
 | Edwin KwongResearch Fellow, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health; Research Assistant, Burnet Institute In 2016, Edwin graduated from the Bachelor of Biomedicine at the University of Melbourne. He completed the Master of Public Health at the University in 2019, with a primary focus on global health and non-communicable diseases. Edwin is currently a Research Fellow in the Child and Community Wellbeing Unit at the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, and a Research Assistant at the Burnet Institute. He is also a consultant at the WHO/Europe NCD Office in Moscow, Russia, where he has previously completed an internship. Edwin is involved in the movement to decolonise global public health, and he is also interested in addressing the commercial and social determinants of health, in order to promote greater equity in public health, and not be a part of the reproduction of unjust power structures. |
 | Jing WuOptometry Jing completed her Bachelor of Biomedicine at the University of Melbourne in 2014 and then went on to study a Doctor of Optometry, graduating in 2018. Currently working as an optometrist at Specsavers in the Greater Geelong region, Jing has a keen interest in paediatric optometry, watching how patients grow and seeing improvements to their eye health over time. Jing works with patients as young as 1 to many in their 90s, helping them to achieve their best vision through glasses and contact lenses, looking after their eye health needs by treating and managing ocular pathologies, and co-managing with ophthalmologists and GPs. She further assists with a retail team of optical dispensers to help fit patients with best glasses for them. When she's not working, Jing enjoys running, spending time with her dog and watching footy. |
 | Nicholas GherardinPostdoctoral Research Fellow, Godfrey Laboratory, Peter Doherty Institute After completing a Bachelor of Biomedicine at the University of Melbourne in 2010, majoring in Immunology and Pathology, Nick enrolled in an Honours year. Here, Nick developed a passion for lab-based research, and subsequently undertook a PhD between the University and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. Nick’s PhD studies focussed on human T cell immunology, including the fundamental biology of a family of ‘unconventional T cells’, and their role in cancer. During these studies Nick built on the solid foundational knowledge gained during his undergraduate studies in Biomedicine to attain a diverse skillset in translational immunology, cellular immunology, biochemistry and molecular biology. Nick currently runs his own research program as a postdoctoral fellow within the Godfrey Lab at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity. Nick’s work focuses on the fundamental biology of unconventional T cells. During Melbourne’s lockdowns in 2020, Nick shifted his work to join the global scientific effort of combatting COVID-19. Among several projects, he engineered a protein subunit vaccine, which has been further developed in collaboration with a number of Australian research institutes and industry partners. A phase 1 clinical trial is now underway. |
| Sakshi SinghDoctor Sakshi completed her Bachelor of Biomedicine and Doctor of Medicine at the University of Melbourne. She continued her studies and training at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and has worked at various health services across Victoria. Sakshi has always had a strong interest in mental health and commenced her training in psychiatry and is currently a Royal College trainee. She is also studying her Masters at the University of Melbourne and currently works as a psychiatry registrar. Outside of her medical career, Sakshi has a keen interest in arts. She aims to raise awareness about mental health, by combining her knowledge in psychiatry with her interest in arts and performance. |
 | Tal MamanIntellectual Property Lawyer, Ashurst In 2016, Tal graduated from the Bachelor of Biomedicine with a major in Immunology. Having sampled from several legal breadth subjects in his undergraduate degree, Tal developed a passion for the law. In 2019, Tal completed the Juris Doctor at the University of Melbourne, and he now works as an intellectual property lawyer at international top tier law firm, Ashurst. In the course of his work, Tal services the legal needs of many global high-profile clients, collaborating with his colleagues to pursue and defend their legal disputes in Australia and abroad. Relevantly, the intersection between science and the law has always intrigued Tal. In practice, his knowledge about the immune system and its fight against pathogens becomes very useful when his firm represents pharmaceutical and life science companies in disputes concerning their, or a competitor's, medical inventions. Specifically, a portion of Tal's work includes assisting his firm's client's protect their patents for the invention of novel drugs, vaccines and technology, or challenging the validity of a competitor's patent. This involves interviewing medical experts, preparing evidence and engaging in court proceedings. Tal acknowledges that it is particularly empowering to be one of the few in the large firm with specialist biomedical expertise that could be applied to the fascinating legal issues surrounding the protection of medical discoveries. |
 | Viet BuiMaster Research Candidate / Mental Health Nurse (Australian Catholic University / NorthWestern Mental Health)After completing a Bachelor of Biomedicine (Honours) at the University of Melbourne in 2014, Viet enrolled in the Master of Nursing Science at the University. He graduated as a Registered Nurse in 2016. Viet secured a graduate medical/surgical nursing position with the Royal Melbourne Hospital in 2017. Between 2018 and 2019, he undertook a two-year mental health nursing training program at NorthWestern Mental Health and a Graduate Diploma in Mental Health Nursing Practice at the University of Melbourne. From 2020 to June 2021, Viet joined the multiple sclerosis research team at Alfred Health as a research nurse and worked on pharmaceutical clinical trials. Bringing together experience from clinical research and mental health nursing, Viet is currently enrolled in a Master of Philosophy degree with Australian Catholic University and NorthWestern Mental Health to investigate support for mental health nurses working in high acuity environments. |
Read more about some of our inspiring alumni in our 'Meet our Talent' series.
This event will be hosted by Head of School Professor Jennifer Wilkinson-Berka and Biomedicine Program Director A/Professor James Ziogas.
 | Professor Jenny Wilkinson-Berka | Head of School, Professor Wilkinson-Berka is a world authority on diabetic retinopathy and oxygen-induced retinopathy. Her pre-clinical research led to a discovery that the blockade of the hormone angiotensin II reduces retinal vascular disease, and this research contributed to the world’s largest clinical trial evaluating angiotensin II inhibition in diabetic retinopathy. Learn more |
 | A/Professor James Ziogas | Biomedicine Program Director, Associate Professor Ziogas helps oversee research in molecular, cellular and tissue actions of drugs and utilising animal models of disease that can lead to clinical studies. He helps ensure students learn both theoretical and practical pharmacological principles essential for drug discovery and development. |