RESEARCHER PROFILE
Associate Professor Johan Verjans
(Filmed in Adelaide, South Australia, May 2024)
SAHMRI – Platform AI
Deputy Director, Medical Machine Learning, Australian Institute for Machine Learning
Platform Leader AI, SAHMRI
Consultant Cardiologist, Royal Adelaide Hospital / Jones Radiology
Associate Professor Johan Verjans is a clinician-scientist with a strong focus on cross-disciplinary translational research. In his role as Deputy Director at the Australian Institute for Machine Learning (AIML)—one of the world’s premier machine learning institutes, with over 200 researchers—and as Group Leader of Artificial Intelligence at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), he integrates his expertise in molecular medicine, clinical research, and advanced imaging with machine learning applications. This unique combination enables him to drive the translation of cutting-edge AI research into practical medical applications. He works with global teams from multinationals on AI problems.
Johan Verjans graduated in medicine from Maastricht University through the prestigious MD-PhD track, during which he was awarded the DiPalma Fellowship. This fellowship allowed him to work with renowned Professor Narula at institutions such as UC Irvine and in Philadelphia. He further honed his skills in cardiology and research through a postdoctoral fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, supported by the prestigious Dutch Science Foundation’s Rubicon Fellowship. He later completed his cardiology training at the University Medical Centre Utrecht, where he was awarded a clinician-scientist fellowship.
In 2017, he was recruited by the University of Adelaide and SAHMRI, and he established the Medical Machine Learning group at AIML. Since then, the multidisciplinary team has expanded to over 40 members and includes clinicians, biomedical researchers, and computer scientists. Their goal is to position the University of Adelaide as a global leader in AI-driven healthcare by leveraging AIML’s world-class expertise in machine learning. He currently is the Future Industry Fellow at the University of Adelaide.
Prof. Verjans has made significant contributions to the field of cardiology and molecular diagnostics with his research published in high-impact journals, including Circulation (IF 23.6), JACC (IF 20.6), Nature Reviews Cardiology (IF 20.3), and Basic Research in Cardiology (IF 12.6). Additionally, he has published six articles in the top-ranked imaging journal JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging (IF 12.7) and other prestigious outlets such as Light: Science and Applications (IF 15) and IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging (IF 13.94).
His team of computer scientists has published last year in leading AI conferences such as CVPR (ranked second on Google’s h5 index), MICCAI, and ICCV. Notably, his group pioneered advancements in Medical Visual Question Answering (VQA), winning the first global challenge on the subject organized by the NIH—a remarkable achievement in one of the most challenging areas of machine learning.
Beyond his academic work, Prof. Verjans is actively involved in applying AI to digital health and pushing solutions into the clinical realm. He has initiatives using the Caremappr platform to generate actionable insights for mental health, automate pharmacy review, enhance adherence to cardiology guidelines, and helping SA Health with novel solutions. His group created the algorithm for a world’s first cluster-randomised controlled trial, using AI in the Emergency Department for Chest pain, which was presented as late breaking clinical trial in 2024 at the largest cardiology conference ESC.
Through collaborations with industry his work continues to push the boundaries of AI in healthcare, driving both scientific discovery and practical medical innovations.
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Cellular interactions responsible for development, maintenance, and strength of the skeleton
Professor Sims directs the Bone Cell Biology and Disease Unit at St. Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research and is a Professorial Fellow at The University of Melbourne and Australian Catholic University.
She leads a team who studies the cellular interactions responsible for development, maintenance, and strength of the skeleton. She completed her PhD at the University of Adelaide, followed by postdoctoral work at the Garvan Institute in Sydney then at Yale School of Medicine, in New Haven, Connecticut, where she studied the role of the estrogen receptor in regulating bone structure.
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Investigating the benefits of donor human milk for preterm infants
Together, SAHMRI and Lifeblood are leading a consortium to revolutionise the way human milk, and novel products made from human milk, are used as nutritional and medical interventions to improve health outcomes in vulnerable infants, but with potential application for a diverse range of medical indications.
Currently, babies who are born early preterm – before 32 weeks – are given donor milk when their own mother’s milk is not available or in short supply. Whether donor milk is beneficial for babies born just a few weeks early is unclear, as very little research has been undertaken with these babies.
The GIFT Trial will soon commence as an investigation between SAHMRI, the University of Adelaide, the Red Cross Lifeblood Milk Bank conducted at five sites across three states in Australia.
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Elite athlete physical and mental health impact performance
Understanding the interaction between genes and lifestyle factors in response to stress can lead to potential therapeutic interventions for stress-related disorders. This research is crucial for promoting health and well-being.
Professor Divya Mehta works as a Principal Research Fellow at the Stress Genomics Laboratory, in Queensland University of Technology in Australia, specialising in stress genomics and mental health. Her education started in the UK with undergraduate and Masters, followed by her PhD in Germany. 11 years ago Professor Mehta moved to Australia.
