Students meet their ‘future selves’ and a world of opportunity at the Careers Breakfast with alumni
Past graduates of the Bachelor of Biomedicine generously shared their time and stories with current students to show the diverse pathways the degree can lead to.
Over 120 students signed up for the chance to meet their possible future selves at the School of Biomedical Sciences’ annual Careers Breakfast on Wednesday 22 April 2026.
From public health research to speech pathology to law, engineering, dentistry and optometry, the diversity of the alumni who chatted with students showed what’s possible. Head of School, Professor Jennifer Wilkinson-Berka said it was a great chance for Bachelor of Biomedicine students, especially third years, to start thinking about their next steps.
“It opens the students’ minds to the breadth of opportunities,” she said. “It’s not just one or two, it’s dozens and that’s amazing.”
Each special guest sat down for roundtable discussions with students, rotating around the tables periodically and responding to everyone’s questions.
Physician and public health researcher Josh Ginnane spoke about his journey since graduating from the Bachelor of Biomedicine in 2011, initially training then working as a doctor in hospitals across the country before specialty training in public health medicine and a Master of Business Administration in Spain. He now works at the Burnet Institute in the Global Women’s and Newborn’s Health group.
“I was always interested in public health,” said Josh, who recalled how this focus was sharpened as a student volunteer at the Nossal Institute for Global Health.
“It’s good to ask people who are well established in their careers about their day-to-day,” he told students.
Alumni, including Mariana Lauretta, spoke about how the skills they developed during their undergraduate and post graduate studies subsequently proved invaluable.
“Now, as a genetic counsellor, I get to use my speech pathologist skills in new ways.”
Students said they loved the chance to meet alumni, who in turn said they wished there had been a similar opportunity to interact with graduates when they’d been on campus.
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Biomedicine Program Director Associate Professor James Ziogas said he heard some consistent advice from the alumni.
“The message I got from many of the people who came in today was to do what you’re interested in. Then you’ll do well and it will take you places – through self-discovery or people you work with seeing something in you that perhaps even you didn’t recognise. The challenge is to stay curious.”
This was certainly true for graduate Clare Thomas, who graduated from the Bachelor of Biomedicine with a major in Bioengineering Systems in 2014. She tried out the Master of Biomedical Engineering before transferring to Electrical Engineering because she “enjoyed all the electrical subjects the most!”
Associate Professor Ziogas added it was fascinating to see alumni making a difference to people’s health, “whether it is interacting one on-one-clinically with patients … or more globally”.
For example, Public Health Strategist Natalie Molino’s biomedicine studies preceded several years overseas working in global health policy in Norway with organisations connected to the WHO and broader UN system before she returned to Australia and helped establish the Sandro Demaio Foundation, leading initiatives to strengthen the food and public health environment.
Our sincere thanks to the alumni who shared their time, experiences and expertise so generously:
- Akshita Sundaresh – Physiotherapist
- Chaewon Baik – Clinical Optometrist
- Clare Thomas – Engineer
- Declan McGavin – Medical Negligence Lawyer
- Franjesca Cercarelli – Speech Pathologist
- Josh Ginnane – Physician and Public Health Researcher
- Mariana Lauretta – Research Associate, Associate Genetic Counsellor, Speech Pathologist
- Natalie Molino – Entrepreneur and Public Health Strategist
- Safinah Hambali – Dentist
- Stella Italiano – Obstetrician and Gynacologist
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