AMBA Board of Directors
The AMBA Board of Directors is a hybrid model of a typical board and an executive management team, known as a working board. AMBA's federated member-club model requires our board to take on all roles of providing leadership and strategy, setting and maintaining vision, mission and values and ensuring compliance with governing documents.
AMBA has more than the average number of directors due to our hybrid model and broad areas of responsibility. Directors make both strategic and operational decisions, with some directors focused purely on management activity such as communicating expectations to our member-clubs and volunteers; managing day-to-day operations and program implementation.
All AMBA Directors are members of their local club and are volunteers. The current Directors of the Board are Silje Anderson-Cooke (Chair), Hannah Jarman, Larissa Jordan, Laura Wilson, Joanne O'Keefe, Maria Critti-Schnaars, Jade McGrath, Megan Lee, Taylor Fraser, Elyse Flower and Cathryn Zischke.
Chairperson
Silje Andersen-Cooke | Director since 2022, Chairperson since 2024
Secretary
Hannah Jarman | Director since 2023, Secretary since 2024
Finance Director
Megan Lee | Director since 2024, Finance Director since 2025
Director
Larissa Jordan | Director since 2017, Chairperson 2021-2024
Maria Critti-Schnaars | Director since 2013
Cathryn Zischke | Director since 2015
Joanne O’Keefe | Director since 2019
Laura Wilson | Director since 2023
Jade McGrath | Director since 2024
Taylor Fraser | Director since 2025
Elyse Flower | Director since 2025
AMBA Patron - Professor Jeffrey M Craig
Professor Jeffrey Craig earned his genetics degrees in Manchester and Edinburgh, UK, and further honed his teaching skills at Deakin University. Since 2017, he has been a key researcher and educator at IMPACT, the Institute for Mental and Physical Health and Clinical Translation, at Deakin University's School of Medicine in Geelong, Victoria. Prior to this, he spent two decades at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne.
Dr. Craig's primary research interest is in identifying health markers through cellular and genetic studies. He specializes in epigenetics, which involves the molecular "dimmer switches" that activate or deactivate our genes. He is particularly intrigued by how early life experiences can influence long-term health via epigenetic changes.
In 2007, Dr. Craig was part of a trio that initiated a research project involving mothers pregnant with twins. The team followed these families until the twins reached 18 months, collecting a variety of biological samples along the way. He has since secured funding to revisit these twins at ages 6 and 11, focusing on areas like oral health, growth, obesity, and brain health.
Through his collaboration with former AMBA patron Mark Umstad, Dr. Craig gained valuable insights into the complexities of twin pregnancies. His research has revealed numerous ways twins can differ from each other, including at the epigenetic level.
Listening to twins and their parents has enriched Dr. Craig's research and ignited his passion for advocating for multiple-birth families. This has led to roles at Twins Research Australia, the International Society for Twin Studies, and most recently, AMBA.
Past AMBA Patron 2010 - 2023 Professor Mark P. Umstad AM
Professor Mark Umstad trained at the Royal Women’s Hospital, Melbourne and at the Queen Mother's Hospital in Glasgow where he completed his doctorate thesis (MD) in the area of intrapartum fetal monitoring.
In 1997 he established Australia's first Multiple Pregnancy Clinic at RWH.
He is currently the Director of Maternity Services at RWH, a Professor in the University of Melbourne, and the Patron of the Australian Multiple Birth Association.
He is on the Editorial Board of Twin Research and Human Genetics and has published widely in the area of multiple pregnancy. He has managed many sets of higher order multiple pregnancies and over 2,000 twin pregnancies.
In 2018 Mark was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to complex obstetrics as a clinician and academic.
