Paediatric Asthma Working Party
Associate Professor Shivanthan Shanthikumar is a paediatric respiratory physician and researcher specializing in childhood asthma. He is the lead of the Complex Asthma service at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne and head of the Respiratory group at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. Associate Professor Shanthikumar is passionate about bridging the gap between scientific discovery and clinical practice, ensuring that new insights translate into tangible benefits for patients. He has published widely in peer-reviewed journals, authored to paediatric asthma guidelines through the Paediatric Improvement Collaborative, assessed quality of asthma care in Victoria, and served as a clinical lead of the SaferCare Victoria Improving Childhood Asthma Management program. He regularly delivers education to clinicians regarding childhood asthma. He also works closely with consumers via multiple collaborations with Asthma Australia. Through his clinical care, research, education, and advocacy, Associate Professor Shanthikumar hopes to significantly reduce the burden associated with childhood asthma.
Prof Simon Craig is a Paediatric Emergency Physician at Monash Children’s Hospital, Adjunct Clinical Professor, Dept. of Paediatrics, Monash University and Honorary Research Fellow at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. In addition to his emergency qualifications, he holds postgraduate qualifications in Medical Education and Public Health.
Prof Craig has authored over 150 publications and has been awarded over $40 million no major research grants. He has diverse research interests across paediatric critical illness, acute respiratory illnesses including asthma and bronchiolitis, clinical trials and observational studies.
Prof Craig is currently chair of the Paediatric Research in Emergency Departments International Collaborative (PREDICT) network. He has authored a number of Paediatric Emergency Medicine textbooks, and developed the Monash Children’s Paediatric Emergency Medication Book, which has been adapted for use internationally.
Dr Mike Forrester is a paediatric clinician-researcher with 25 years acute and ambulatory experience, and a general paediatric consultant at University Hospital Geelong.
Dr Forrester is a Snr Research Fellow with Deakin’s Institute for Health Transformation, and a nationally recognised leader in high-value, environmentally-sustainable healthcare research and implementation, recently leading the National Sustainable Asthma Care Roadmap. Recommendations arising from these roundtables, which engaged 50 organisations and sector leaders, are being progressed by the National Implementation-Committee for Quality and Sustainable Asthma Care (NICQSAR), which he co-chairs. This asthma sector coalition’s aim is to make asthma care better, safer, easier, more equitable, and environmentally sustainable for 2.8 million Australians.
Dr Forrester is a Chief Investigator (CIB) on a grant application for an NHMRC-funded pilot RCT evaluating anti-inflammatory reliever therapy (budesonide–formoterol) for adolescents presenting to emergency departments, and an AI on a 2026 CRE application in Acute Paediatric respiratory Illness.
Dr Charmaine Gray is a Paediatric Emergency Physician and Director of Research at Flinders Medical Centre Emergency Department (Adelaide). She also holds a Senior Lecturer position at Flinders University. Dr Gray is a long standing member of the Paediatric Research in Emergency Departments International Collaborative (PREDICT) network and has recently been awarded her PhD which investigated the utility of asthma scores in shaping future practice in acute exacerbations of asthma. She is passionate about creating an evidence base for our care of children with asthma and incorporating the consumer voice in research. She has published widely in peer-reviewed journals and has co-authored textbook chapters on acute asthma.
