Dr Katie Allen (MBBS, BMedSc, FRACP, PhD, FAHMS) was Federal Member for Higgins in the Coalition Government 2019-2022. She is currently an Enterprise Professor at the University of Melbourne, Genomics Commercialisation consultant at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and is on the board of the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute. She is a founding Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Science.

Prior to that she was Division Head of Population Head at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Professor at both the University of Melbourne and the University of Manchester, UK and a consultant paediatrician. She led the Australian Centre of Food and Allergy Research (CFAR) which has now become the National Allergy Centre of Excellence and has authored more than 400 scientific publications.

Dr Allen has been on the Board of Cabrini Health, was Chair of Melbourne Girls Grammar School Council and on the advisory board of several MedTech start-ups.

As Member for Higgins she helped initiate inquiries into Recycling and Waste, post-COVID recovery for the Arts and facilitating improved Clinical Trials investment in Australia. She was a founding member of the National COVID Health and Research Advisory Committee that met weekly throughout the pandemic and succeeded in securing significant Federal funding for the National Allergy Council.