NHMRC has established the Gender Guidelines Governance Committee to advise NHMRC and the Gender Guidelines Development Committee on governance matters related to the development of national clinical practice guidelines for the care of trans and gender diverse people under 18 with gender dysphoria (Gender Guidelines).

Terms of Reference

The Gender Guidelines Governance Committee will work in collaboration with the Gender Guideline Development Committee, and any experts contracted by NHMRC to support the guideline development process.

The Gender Guidelines Governance Committee will:

  1. Review the declared interests of individuals shortlisted by NHMRC to determine any potential, perceived or actual conflicts of interest related to the work of the Gender Guidelines Development Committee, aligning with the 2019 Policy on the Disclosure of Interests Requirements for Prospective and Appointed NHMRC Committee Members.
  2. Advise on management strategies for conflicts of interest on a case-by-case basis.
  3. Advise on strategies to ensure a balance of views is represented in the guideline development process.
  4. Advise on strategies to manage potential bias related to conflicts of interest in the evidence review.
  5. Attend Gender Guidelines Development Committee meetings, if necessary, to provide support and advice in relation to managing conflicts of interest and bias in the evidence.

The Gender Guidelines Governance Committee will be effective for the period 30 June 2025 to 30 June 2028 and will report to the Chief Executive Officer of NHMRC, through the Gender Guidelines project team.

Member selection and appointment process

Since commencing this work, NHMRC has consulted widely with clinicians, researchers, medical colleges, young people who have sought care, including those who are trans and gender diverse, support organisations, and government agencies.

It was decided that a Governance Committee should be established to help advise NHMRC on governance issues and management of conflicts of interest. NHMRC invited experts in bioethics, health law, and systematic reviews to join the Governance Committee.

Committee membership

Prior to appointment to the Gender Guidelines Governance Committee, candidates were required to provide information on their interests and complete a Disclosure of Interest form.

Committee members are required to disclose their interests on an ongoing basis and consider both perceived and actual interests.

A summary of the interests disclosed by each member is available below.

Chair,
Associate Professor
Bernadette
Richards

  • BA, LLB (Hons), PhD
  • Associate Professor of Ethics and Professionalism, Director of Higher Degree Research, Medical School, University of Queensland
  • Past President of the Australasian Association of Bioethics and Health Law (AABHL) (2013–2021)
  • Past Member of NHMRC’s Australian Health Ethics Committee (2018–2024), the Embryo Research Licensing Committee (2015-2024) and Member Dietary Guidelines Governance Committee (2021–2027)
  • Previously employed at the University of Adelaide Law School for many years and spent a short period of time researching responsible data governance at the Singapore ETH Centre, Future Health Technologies Project
  • Experienced in ethics advice and research relating to data governance, organ donation, consent to treatment and legal issues around innovative surgery
  • Co-authored book ‘Technology, Healthcare and the Law: An evolving relationship’ published in early 2022 and has published over 100 journal articles, book chapters and books.
Declaration
  • NHMRC Ideas Grant, AP1181960
  • MRFF Grant MRFF2015531
  • Adjunct Associate Professor, Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Queensland University of Technology
  • Past President and Board Member, Lifetime Member, Australasian Association of Bioethics and Health Law (AABHL) (2014–November 2023)
  • Australasian Association of Bioethics and Health Law, Stream Lead – Teaching Health Law and Ethics, appointed January 2024
  • Royalties from publication of textbooks relating to health law, ethics and tort law
  • Publications relating to ethics and health law. All were published in her capacity as an independent academic researcher and scholar and not in her role as a committee member
  • Family trust investment in share portfolio
  • Employed by University of Queensland Medical School, considering issues of Ethics and Professionalism
  • Past member of 2 NHMRC Principle Committees: Australian Health Ethics Committee, Embryo Research Licensing Committee
  • Member of NHMRC Dietary Governance Guidelines Committee
  • Various academic presentations and publications relating to mitochondrial donation.

Professor
Virginia
Barbour

  • Editor in Chief, Medical Journal of Australia
  • Adjunct Professor, Queensland University of Technology (QUT)
  • Co-Chair of the Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA)
  • Formerly co-lead of the Office for Scholarly Communication, Queensland University of Technology
  • Formerly Director of Open Access Australasia
  • Formerly Chair of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)
  • Past member of NHMRC Research Quality Steering Committee and current member of NHMRC-MRFF Public Health and Health Systems Committee.
Declaration
  • Current Editor in Chief, Medical Journal of Australia
  • Previously received royalty for QUT Ethics course
  • Director of Open Access Australasia (2015–2024)
  • Involved in drafting submissions and responses to government proposals about open access, open science and research assessment
  • Applied for NHMRC grant funding
  • Has been actively involved in numerous Open Access publishing, reporting, and ethics initiatives, all undertaken on a voluntary basis. Served as Chair of COPE (2012 to 2017), an unpaid role with travel expenses reimbursed
  • Contributor to the design of QUT’s Research Integrity Online Program
  • Speak regularly on open access, and transparency in research
  • Reimbursed for travel if invited to speak
  • Regularly write on open access, transparency and related topics
  • Husband has previously received grants from NHMRC unrelated to this topic.

Doctor
Hilda
Bastian

  • Founding member and held multiple roles at the Cochrane Collaboration
  • Formerly a senior clinical research scientist at the United States National Institutes of Health, in its National Centre for Biotechnology Information
  • Headed the Health Information Department at the National Institute of Quality and Efficiency in Health Care in Germany
  • Former Chair of the Consumers’ Health Forum of Australia
  • Research interest in factors affecting the validity of systematic reviews.
Declaration
  • Formerly on the Editorial Board for Drugs and Therapeutics Bulletin (2019–2021)
  • Freelance paid and unpaid writing for commercial and non-commercial outlets, including PLOS, BMJ, and The Atlantic
  • Cochrane Collaboration, Leader of Independent Advisory Groups for Stakeholder engagement in high-profile reviews
  • Speaker and travel, Evidence-Based Healthcare Conference, Sicily (2023)
  • Speaker and travel, Royal Society, The promises and pitfalls of preregistration, London (2024)
  • Wrote about feminism and transphobia on a personal blog/newsletter in August 2024
  • Dean's Scholarship (fee waiver) for the PhD program at Bond University (2010–2020).

Professor
Ian
Olver
AM

  • Medical oncologist and cancer researcher who established and led multiple oncology clinics across Australia
  • CEO of Cancer Council Australia (2006 to 2014)
  • Accepted the position of Professorial Research Fellow, School of Psychology, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Adelaide in 2020 and is now an Adjunct Professor at Adelaide University and the University of Notre Dame Australia
  • Published over 400 articles in journals, 35 book chapters and 4 books
  • Served on the Australian Health Ethics Committee of the NHMRC for 9 years and was chair for 6 years until 2018, receiving the biennial NHMRC Ethics Award in 2021
  • Served on the NHMRC Council for 6 years
  • Served on the Cancer Monitoring Advisory Group of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
  • Chaired the Board for the Sax Institute in Sydney
  • Chaired the Adolescent and Young Adult Advisory Board to Canteen
  • Awarded Membership of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2011 'for service to medical oncology as a clinician, researcher, administrator and mentor, and to the community through leadership roles with cancer control organisations'.
Declaration
  • Board Chair, Sax Institute (2019 to 31 Dec 2024)
  • Consulting for Bellberry Ethics Committee (May 2020–May 2023)
  • University of Notre Dame (June 2021–December 2023)
  • Professorial Research Fellow, University of Adelaide (January 2020–31 December 2022)
  • Past member of Australian Research Council Medical Research Advisory Group
  • Past member of VieCure Clinical Advisory Committee
  • Past member of Aucentra Therapeutics Pty Ltd, Advisory Board
  • Cancer Lecture via videoconference to China, Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals Co, Ltd. (May 2023)
  • Various NHMRC grants related to cancer research, medical oncology, end of life
  • ARC Discovery Project grant related to alcohol and cancer risk
  • Shares including those held in self-managed superannuation.