Founders
Founder & Director of Research
Christian is a medical student, educator, and recognised leader with a multidisciplinary background in physiology, neuroscience, education, and health research. As the founder of RISE, he brings years of experience building high-performing teams, designing educational systems, and leading organisational reform across secondary and tertiary settings.
Alongside his medical studies, Christian has contributed to curriculum restructuring at both the University of Melbourne and the University of Sydney, and currently serves on the faculty working group designing Australia’s first part-time medical program. He is regularly invited to teach within the Sydney Medical Program, delivering lectures and tutorials and facilitating simulation-based training in acute medical and surgical emergencies. His earlier career as a secondary school teacher and education consultant continues to shape his systems-level approach to leadership.
Christian is an active researcher across surgery, emergency medicine, and medical education, with peer-reviewed publications in the ANZ Journal of Surgery and Cancers, and multiple ongoing projects spanning surgical outcomes, clinical trials, transplantation, emergency medicine, and educational innovation.
Christian founded RISE to create structured pathways for medical students to engage in surgical research, mentorship, and education. He is driven by a commitment to equity of opportunity in medicine, and believes that structured mentorship and educational design are what allow ambitious students, regardless of background, to build genuine academic and clinical careers.
Founder & Director of Research
Leonard is a medical student and clinician‑researcher with a multidisciplinary background spanning medicine, public health, and health economics. He holds ongoing appointments as Research Fellow at Griffith University, Associate Research Fellow at Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, and Clinical Research Lead at Bond University, working closely with nationally recognised surgical units to integrate research with clinical care.
Leonard’s work focuses on surgical oncology, health economics, and quality of life. He is the author of multiple peer‑reviewed publications and serves as a chief investigator on a Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) grant, reflecting a sustained commitment to evidence‑based, outcomes‑driven surgery and health policy.
Leonard founded RISE to create structured pathways for medical students to engage in surgical research, mentorship, and education, enabling students to contribute meaningfully to the surgical community. He also serves as President of the Sydney University Surgical Society (2026), highlighting his ongoing leadership in surgical education and student engagement.
Leonard is passionate about mentoring the next generation of clinician‑scientists and believes excellence in surgery requires equal investment in education, research, and leadership. Through RISE and his broader academic work, he aims to build collaborative environments where students can develop into future surgical leaders and help translate high‑quality evidence into clinical practice.
Directors
Director of Education
Mukund is an award-winning surgical researcher, anatomy educator, and student entrepreneur with a proven track record of building high-impact, student-led programs from the ground up. As co-founder of a national mentorship and curriculum platform that has supported over 1,000 aspiring medical students, Mukund brings a deep understanding of how to transform vision into structure, and structure into outcomes.
His academic experience spans teaching across anatomy, clinical skills, and data science, with research roles in surgical innovation, outcomes analysis, and precision medicine. As Director of Education, Mukund is driving the development of a rigorous, scalable education arm within RISE; one that empowers students, supports mentors, and cements RISE’s role as a leader in student-surgeon collaboration.
Director of Communications
Paloma is a founding RISE Scholar and a driving force behind the program’s growth, visibility, and voice. As an early member of the pilot cohort, she has shaped RISE from the inside out, and is deeply invested in building it into a nationally recognised, unmissable platform for surgical mentorship and student-led research.
With a track record of leading high-impact communications across multiple student organisations, Paloma brings creative vision, strategic execution, and a sharp eye for brand storytelling. As Director of Communications, she is focused on amplifying the achievements of RISE Scholars, forging a strong and unified public presence, and positioning RISE at the forefront of academic surgical engagement.