DEVELOPMENT JOURNEY TO REPLACE NEURONS LOST TO ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE WITH NEURAL PRECURSOR CELLS DERIVED FROM SKIN CELLS
With
Professor Michael Valenzuela,
Founder and Chief Scientific Officer,
Skin2Neuron
PEOPLE IN HEALTH CARE SEGMENT
Filmed in Sydney | June 2026
Professor Michael Valenzuela is a science opinion leader, innovator and creative thinker with a career-long commitment to the prevention and treatment of dementia.
He studied psychology at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) before completing a PhD on Cognitive Reserve. This work was recognised by one of the nation’s top awards, the Australian Museum Eureka Prize for Medical Research.
Following that he completed graduate medicine and medical training at the Prince of Wales Hospital. In 2012, he established the Regenerative Neuroscience Group at the University of Sydney, and in 2017 became the university’s first Professor of Regenerative Medicine.
Professor Valenzuela’s group discovered a new cell type with potential for regenerative medicine, a rare neural precursor cell found deep within the human hair follicle. He is the main inventor on several related patents and is the Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Skin2Neuron – a biotech company developing the first neurorestorative cell therapy for Alzheimer’s disease based on this work.
Between 2019-2021 he was employed as a senior advisor to the WHO in one of its flagship Decade of Healthy Ageing initiatives. He also joined the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing at UNSW as Visiting Professor and played a leading role in the design and successful completion of the Maintain Your Brain – the world’s largest dementia prevention trial that found it is possible to delay cognitive decline in older at-risk people by about 1-year.
Professor Valenzuela is a frequent media commentator and author of the popular science book Maintain Your Brain.
Source: Supplied
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Lived experience & human-centred design in healthcare
Recognised as one of the Top 100 Women of Influence by The Australian Financial Review, Melanie Tran is a visionary leader whose work lies at the intersection of design, technology, health, disability, and education. With a focus on human-centred design, digital strategy, and service design, she leads transformative initiatives as a Manager in Design, Digital and Data at Nous Group, a global consulting firm. Her work is driven by a deep passion for using creativity and technology to solve complex social challenges.
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Clinical entrepreneur addresses needle-phobia
Australian entrepreneur, Lauren Barber, turned her nursing background into the role of an inventor and launched a medical device into the Australian healthcare industry.
No journey is linear for an entrepreneur, but Lauren has travelled considerable distance from a nursing student to a successful entrepreneur illustration her determination and passion to help those with needle phobias. Lauren’s work with NeedleCalm is making a positive impact in the healthcare industry and improving the experiences of patients and clinicians alike.
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25 years of non-indexation of nuclear medicine impeding access & affordability
The President of the Australasian Association of Nuclear Medicine Specialists (AANMS), Associate Professor Sze Ting Lee spoke with Australian Health Journal about the following:
Usual levels of nuclear medicine services in Australia each year
Current levels of nuclear medicine services in Australia
How changing demographics in people moving to regional areas has impacted access to nuclear medicine services
The nuclear medicine workforce including trainees
The key recommendations from the pre-budget submissionIn the lead up to the Australian Federal Budget in May 2023, Australian Health Journal reached out to peak health industry bodies to hear about their priorities, either noted in pre-budget submissions lodged with Federal Government in January 2023 or in recent forums such as the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce.
