Meet Brad Roberts
PhD Candidate | Youth Mental Health | Pharmacogenetics | 2026 Western Australian Student Scientist of the Year
In March Meeting for Minds was lucky enough to have Brad speak on his first-hand experience of his research at UWA for Perron Institute and he stayed on to join a small panel to answer questions from many of those attending our magnificent Pub Yarn in Leederville.
If you’d like to see videos of his presentation and the Q&A, a detailed wrap up of the event is available here ⬇️
Brad’s recent Award win, in his words ⬇️
“ A whirlwind of a week might be an understatement! Last week started on an incredibly special note, being named the 2026 Western Australian Student Scientist of the Year. It is an enormous honour to receive this recognition, and I’m very grateful to the Department of Energy and Economic Diversification, WA Premier Roger Cook, Minister Stephen Dawson, and Orthocell Ltd, who sponsored the award. I’ve been overwhelmed by the number of messages and congratulations I’ve received since the announcement — thank you to everyone who has reached out, posted, and commented.
Then, quite literally the next morning, I packed my bags and left Perth for Canada, where I’m beginning my first postdoctoral position at the University of Calgary with Prof. Chad Bousman.
After a couple of days to just about start unpacking, it was back to the airport — this time bound for Chicago for the 2026 Pharmacogenomics Global Research Network (PGRN) meeting. I am grateful for the opportunity to present results from our GENE-YD Study during the poster sessions. It was particularly exciting to share this work with the broader PGx community after several years of developing and running the study. A huge thank you to all of the co-authors and collaborators who helped bring GENE-YD together, tagged below. The PGRN meeting was also a fantastic opportunity to meet some of the team I’ll be working alongside at UCalgary, as well as researchers and networks in PGx whose work I’ve been reading and following for years.
And now, finally, back to Calgary — time to properly unpack, settle in, and get ready for the years ahead. It’s difficult to imagine a more eventful way to close one chapter and begin another.
📍 Perth 🇦🇺 → Calgary 🇨🇦 → Chicago 🇺🇸 → Calgary 🇨🇦
Perron Institute | The University of Western Australia | Jennifer Rodger | P. Anthony Akkari | Sean Hood | Zahra Cooper | Aleksandra Miljevic | Susanne Stanley | Bernadette Majda | Khan Collins | Michael Kyron | Sarah Bates Woodland | Svetlana Baltic | Suzanna Lindsey-Temple “
