About the APNRN

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBER

Dr Hodge is a Senior Clinical Neuropsychologist at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, New South Wales, and clinical supervisor for post graduate students of neuropsychology and neuropsychology registrars. She has over 25 years clinical and research experience in public, private and university sectors.

Her clinical and research interests include autism spectrum disorder, specific learning disorder, telehealth assessments, and neuropsychological interventions; topics on which she has published in national and international peer reviewed journals.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBER

A/Prof Knight is a senior lecturer in the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences and an honorary manager/team leader in Neurodisability and Rehabilitation at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. She holds Honorary Principal Fellow position in the Department of Paediatrics at The University of Melbourne. Her research focuses on improving interdisciplinary, family-centred rehabilitation for children with a range of medical conditions, particularly acquired brain injury. She has a strong commitment to partnering with young people, families, and clinicians in research and uses integrated knowledge translation strategies to improve uptake of research findings into clinical practice.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBER

Dr Williams is a senior clinical neuropsychologist who works across the public and private sectors. She has worked clinically at Kids Rehab at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead for over 10 years, where she also provides clinical and research supervision to post graduate students. She completed her PhD in Clinical Neuropsychology/Cognitive Science at Macquarie University in 2012.

Her research focuses on investigating and ameliorating not only the cognitive, but also broader psychological and functional consequences of congenital and acquired brain disorders. She has been involved in recent research projects looking at remediating social skills, play skills, fatigue, and anxiety in brain injury. She also has a special research interest in rare autoimmune neurological disorders, leading a multi-site research project in the long-term outcomes following childhood autoimmune encephalitis.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBER

Mark Pertini is a Senior Clinical Neuropsychologist in the Department of Psychological Medicine at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Adelaide. He is former Head of Department and Chair of the College of Clinical Neuropsychologists in South Australia. His major interests are neurological disorders in children with a special interest in paediatric epilepsy and functional neurological disorder.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBER

Dr Gonzalez is a Clinical Neuropsychologist. She is currently the director of Matrix Neuropsychology, a large private clinic in Melbourne, and holds a sessional appointment at the Royal Children’s Hospital where she works in the Gatehouse Centre for the treatment of sexual abuse. She is also an honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Melbourne where she lectures in the post-graduate neuropsychology training program.

Dr Gonzalez has both research and clinical qualifications, and over 25 years experience. She has worked predominantly with children and young people throughout her career and has expertise in neurological and neurodevelopment disorders.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBER

Dr De Luca is the Psycho-oncology Team Leader and Clinical Trials Coordinator (Neuropsychology) at the Children’s Cancer Centre, Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH), Melbourne. She contributes to psycho-oncology research as a senior clinician and senior research fellow with the Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI). Within these roles, she oversees the neurocognitive and quality of life components of various international clinical trials and directs local research on neurocognitive late effects, brain imaging and genetic studies in brain tumour and leukaemia populations. Dr De Luca has a particular interest in early intervention and rehabilitation models to target neurocognitive late effects and quality of survivorship. In addition to her role in oncology, Dr De Luca contributes to several groups studying healthy cognitive and brain development and looking at both neural and genetic correlates to these processes.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBER

Dr Francis is child mental health researcher and holds a postdoctoral research fellow position at the Black Dog Institute and University of New South Wales. She is also an honorary postdoctoral research fellow at Macquarie University. Dr Francis was awarded her PhD in 2020 and holds a Master of Clinical Neuropsychology, Master of Research, and Bachelor of Psychology (Honours). Her research experience has involved development of a reading anxiety test to assess anxiety in children with reading difficulties, and development of a new treatment for this population. Her current research spans the fields of Clinical Psychology, Clinical Neuropsychology, and Cognitive Science. She is currently developing the world’s first digital treatment for children with anxiety and learning difficulties and is testing this in a clinical trial in partnership with Westmead Children’s Hospital and the Centre for Effective Reading. She is also a psychologist (clinical neuropsychology registrar) working in private practice.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBER

Dr Boulton is a Research Fellow at the University of Sydney, in the Clinic for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research. Her research interests are in paediatric neurodevelopment, with a specific focus on how digital technology can be used to uplift the capacity of clinical services and embed research into clinical practice. Dr Boulton conducts research with services across the Sydney Children's Hospital Network to integrate research with clinical practice and identify and respond to transdiagnostic needs in children and families accessing these services. This work has led to the establishment of the Australian Child Neurodevelopment Research Registry and the Sydney Child Neurodevelopment Research Registry, both of which have become cornerstones of research integrated clinical practice.

CHAIR OF THE APNRN

Associate Professor Jonathan Payne is Co-Lead of Brain and Mind Research at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI), a senior neuropsychologist at the Royal Children’s Hospital, and an Honorary Principal Fellow in the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Melbourne. His research focuses on the interface between genomics, brain development, and behaviour, aiming to uncover how genetic variants drive differences in brain development that manifest as complex neurodevelopmental differences. By integrating neurobehavioural phenotyping, neuroimaging, and advanced in vitro modelling using patient-derived stem cells, his work supports clinical trials targeting precision-based treatments for children.  

A/Prof Payne’s research centres on single-gene syndromes, with a special interest in the autosomal dominant condition, neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). He has published widely in leading journals across the fields of paediatrics, psychiatry, neuroscience, and neuropsychology. 

His vision for neuropsychological research centres on multidisciplinary collaboration to move beyond traditional approaches, paving the way for innovative assessments and treatments that can transform well-being and long-term outcomes for children and families.