About Us

We'd love to learn about your brain

Our Role

Our team consists of highly skilled and experienced professionals who are dedicated to leveraging MRI technology to track and predict the brain health of athletes. Together, BrainCast is committed to advancing the field of sports medicine and helping athletes achieve their full potential while prioritising their brain health.

Our Mission

We provide innovative technology for athletes to track and predict their neurologic health - before it's too late.

Core Values

We believe in the following values that guide our work

Cutting-Edge

We are committed to using cutting-edge MRI technology to push the boundaries of what is possible in the field of brain health research. We believe that our innovative approach will lead to breakthroughs in understanding the effects of sports-related injuries on the brain.

Research-Driven

Our work is grounded in the highest standards of scientific rigor. We rely on evidence-based research to inform our methods and ensure that our findings are accurate and reliable.

Athlete-Focused

We are dedicated to putting the needs of our athletes first. We understand that athletes who have suffered brain injuries need personalised care that takes into account their unique circumstances and goals.

High-Impact

We are driven by a desire to make a positive impact on the lives of athletes. Our goal is to use our research to develop new approaches to treating and preventing brain injuries so that athletes can stay healthy and continue to excel in their sports.

Team Work
Makes The Dream Work

Our expert team comprises scientists, clinicians, doctors, engineers and former leaders of professional sporting bodies. We are passionate about pushing the boundaries of modern technology, to benefit athletes in collision sports. Collectively, we have appeared in more than 100 scientific publications over the past decade by collaborating with leading medical and research institutions from around the world.

Medical and sporting institutions are increasingly turning toward AI-based solutions to identify and track individual health data. Moving forward, such personalized monitoring provides a strong foundation to identify pathology early and improve prognostic outcomes. Together we tackle concussion in sport head-on.

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Dr. Nicholas Parsons
Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Parsons is a renowned neuroscientist specialising in advanced multimodal neuroimaging. His extensive research in neuroimaging encompasses various areas, including pediatric autism spectrum disorder, juvenile epilepsy, obesity in both pediatric and adult populations, traumatic brain injury in both pediatric and adult patients, sleep disorders, addiction disorders, as well as the effects of COVID-19 and long-COVID.

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Research
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Dr. Govinda Poudel
Chief Technical Officer

Dr. Poudel is a computational imaging scientist with more than 13 years of experience in Australia, New Zealand, Nepal, and USA.  He has developed software systems, analytical solutions, and artificial intelligence technologies for analysing brain imaging data. He has published more than 70 research papers in international journals and conference proceedings.
Research
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Geoff Walsh
Chief Strategic Officer

Geoff is a veteran football administrator and brings over 30 years’ experience in AFL from his roles as General Manager at North Melbourne FC, Collingwood FC, and St. Kilda FC. During his time in the AFL industry, he has been involved in four premierships, 10 Grand Final appearances and 25 finals series. He was awarded AFL life membership in 2016.
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Peter Sidwell
Chairman

Peter has a diverse business background covering many industry sectors. Over the last 30 years Peter has created, developed, managed and advised a wide range of companies in the software, manufacturing, hospitality and agricultural industries. Peter’s experience generates critical perspectives on strategic and tactical executions.
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Dr. Fiore D'Aprano
Chief Clinical Officer

Fiore is a clinical neuropsychologist in the field of neurology and neurosurgery. She has diagnostic and therapeutic experience working with epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, functional neurological disorder, stroke, brain tumours, and long-COVID. Her research has focused on neuroimaging, language, and post-operative cognitive outcomes.
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Thomas Mort
Executive Director

Thomas brings his commercial expertise from roles as Non Executive Director of Aje, Intelligence Bank, and Presagen, and in his role as Executive Director of Jungle Capital. Thomas is a board member of My Room, Million Dollar Lunch and Chairman of Caitlin’s Retreat.
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Stuart Grimshaw
Non-Executive Director

Stuart brings his leadership experience from his previous roles as Chief Executive Officer of EzCorp Inc., Chief Executive Officer of Bank of Queensland, and Chief Financial Officer of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
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Dr. Harry Unglik
Medical Advisor
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Dr. Unglik is the former Chief Medical Officer of the AFL and was recently appointed to the board of North Melbourne Football club. Harry was awarded Life Membership of the AFL in 2014.
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Dr. Joga Chaganti
Medical Advisor
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Dr. Chaganti is a senior neuroradiologist, and former head of MRI at St. Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney. He has studied in France, Germany, Great Britain and the United States and worked for 20 years in the Indian public hospital system, directing imaging for Bangalore’s 1000-bed Manipal Hospital.
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Associate Professor Sergiy Shelyag
Scientific Advisor
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Associate Professor Shelyag has broad research interests in computational and applied mathematics, computational fluid dynamics and astrophysical magneto-hydrodynamics, machine learning, neuroscience, applications of mathematical, computational and machine learning methods in health, sport science and defence. He is a fellow of Australian Mathematical Society (AustMS) and Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA).
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Kade Aytekin
Finance Officer
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Kade is an Associate at Carbine Funds Management and Jungle Capital. Kade has extensive experience across the private market with particular focus on advising early-stage companies through traditional roadblocks on their path to hyper-growth.
Jagannath Aryal
Associate Professor Jagannath Aryal
Scientific Advisor
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Associate Professor Aryal’s contributions to digital infrastructure engineering solutions stem from his extensive experience at prestigious international educational institutions and professional bodies. His research collaborations in Earth Observation, geospatial engineering, and spatial analysis include renowned UK/European universities such as University of Cambridge, CNRS (France), University of Salzburg, and University of Twente.