Board of Directors
Professor Robyn Cosford
Chair of the Board
Professor Robyn Cosford was a functional medicine practitioner of over 35 years. As a mother of five, she is passionate about the health of children and the mother- small child relationship in particular.
Robyn was grandfathered into Australasian College on Nutritional and Environmental Medicine ( ACNEM) by Professor Ian Brighthope in 1996 and was a researcher with University of Newcastle into the metabolic and stool microbiotica patterns in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Autism and ADHD. It was at this time that she began researching and treating abnormalities in gut microbiome in various disease patterns and patterns of hidden infections. A senior lecturer for ACNEM over many years, Robyn has presented at numerous conferences to medical and non-medical audiences alike across Australia and abroad, including the Defeat Autism Now Conference in the USA.
In 2021 she retired her medical license as a result of the Covid situation and has since been speaking in interviews, at rallies, public forums and conferences, whilst continuing to provide integral care by empowering people to take back control of their own health as a Lifestyle and Wellness Consultant.
Robyn has long been working in the field of vaccine injured children, with special interest in children’s neurodevelopmental disorders, and Autism in particular. Naturally, as a result, she has been following Children’s Health Defense for many years and is excited and honoured to be Chair and a Director on the board of the new Australian Chapter.
Professor Ramesh Thakur
Director
Ramesh Thakur Ph.D. is Emeritus Professor in the Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University, where he was Director of the Centre for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament. He was formerly Senior Vice Rector of the United Nations University and Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations. Educated in India and Canada, he has held full-time academic appointments in Fiji, New Zealand, Canada, and Australia and been a consultant to the Australian, New Zealand and Norwegian governments on arms control, disarmament and international security issues.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Professor Thakur has become one of the leading critics of the Australian government’s actions amid the hasty formation of ‘policy’ as a part of its pandemic response, with numerous articles published in The Spectator and The Brownstone Institute. Now a grandfather, Ramesh has decided to expand and continue his efforts in exposing inefficient and ineffective governance, and pursue a new path with Children’s Health Defense Australia. He is passionate about working to protect the health and well-being of children, by applying his knowledge and professional expertise to this important cause. Professor Thakur is an author of numerous books, hundreds of published journal essays and is a proud founder of Australians for Science and Freedom.
Julian Gillespie
Director
Julian Gillespie, LLB BJuris, is a lawyer and former barrister, who wrote the legal opinions and prepared the briefs for proceedings (together with Peter Fam and Katie Ashby-Koppens) before the Federal Court and High Court of Australia, seeking those Courts rule the decisions to extend the ‘vaccines’ to babies 6 months to under 6 years, and to children 6-11 year olds as always being invalid at law, as the Secretary of Health lacked the legal power to make those decisions. This is a new and controversial area of Australian law that Australian courts are still learning how to deal with appropriately.
Julian has also been assisting with many other cases particularly those involving Employer Mandates for Employees to be vaccinated, and assisting in Family Court matters where one parent seeks to resist another parent who wishes to have their child vaccinated with a Covid-19 injectable.
Julian researches extensively on all matters connected to Australia’s response to SARS-CoV-2, sharing publicly his findings concerning the legislative framework for how the Commonwealth and States and Territory governments centrally organised the response to SARS-CoV-2 from Canberra, drawing attention to the fact Australian governments collectively jettisoned years of scientific research amassed for correctly responding to a pandemic, to instead follow unscientific WHO recommendations which favoured big pharmaceutical interests.
His other ongoing research also includes the failings of AHPRA and National Boards and Health Professionals coerced and gagged by AHPRA, which investigations are now providing victims of Covid-19 ‘vaccines’ new avenues for legal redress for their injuries, and legal pathways for those families who lost loved ones to the Covid-19 injectables.
Dr Astrid Lefringhausen
Director
Dr Astrid Lefringhausen studied biology at University Kiel in Germany, finishing with a Diploma in Microbiology, Doctorate in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at University Kiel in 1996. During this time she was also working as a nurse in Radiology, teaching medicinal microbiology to nurse students at the German Red Cross and work in the Biotechnology research facility of Bayer.
Astrid worked from 1996 to 2004 for Qiagen (a Molecular Biology start up at the time), first as a Technical Sales Representative then Export Manager for the Asia Pacific Region. From 2004 to 2012 she worked for Miltenyi Biotec (German Cell therapy and Immunology company) as Export manager for Eastern Europe, Africa and South and Middle America, overseeing installing, teaching and monitoring stem and immune cell therapy for terminal cancer patients across hospitals in her territory. She moved to Australia in 2006 while employed by Miltenyi Biotec and took over Sales and Technical Support for AU/NZ in the molecular area, for Immunology in multiple states. Since 2015 Astrid has been working in the diagnostics industry with Pathologies and Universities across Australia and New Zealand in the area of cell chemistry, immunohaematology.
Along with Dr Conny Turni, Astrid published “COVID-19 vaccines – an Australian review” in the peer-reviewed Journal of Clinical and Experimental Immunology, exploring COVID-19 vaccines in Australia; the promises and predictions originally made versus the actual facts, and evaluating the safety and efficacy by way of reviewing the literature and the data from government agencies over the pandemic.
Peter Fam
Director
Peter Fam is the Principal lawyer at Maat’s Method, the only non-Government funded human rights law firm in Australia. Peter’s goal is to defend and advocate for universal law; the inherent dignity and rights every man and woman hold by virtue of their humanity. Peter initially worked in private practice predominantly representing survivors of child sexual, physical and psychological abuse, as well as working in civil litigation generally. Peter also spent two years working in the “Human Rights Specialist” team at LegalAID NSW, focussing on intentional torts, administrative law, privacy law, discrimination law and other related human rights areas. When it became clear that both the major law firms and the public sector weren’t aligned enough with Peter’s values for him to operate completely from a place of integrity and truth, he chose to start his own firm which he has been running for two years. During that time Peter has worked on some of the biggest cases in the country in Australia’s highest courts, focussing on bodily autonomy and informed consent, discrimination on the basis of medical status, censorship and free speech and challenging the legality of Government decisions in the context of Covid-19.
Peter is working with Children’s Health Defense because of their long history of effective advocacy for the rights and wellbeing of our children. As a human rights lawyer, and as a father, Peter is committed to doing whatever possible to defend and advocate for the health and spirit of our kids.
Kara Thomas
Director
Kara Thomas is a Registered Nurse, approved Foster Carer, volunteer researcher, a regular contributor to the Spectator Australia and currently holds the role of Secretary of the Australian Medical professionals’ Society. Kara undertook specialty study in perioperative nursing early in her career and went on to pursue a Masters of Community and International development driven by her mission to enhance the lives of children through evidence based policy reform. Kara has researched and written extensively, making submissions to nearly all levels of government on topics encompassing child protection, adoption, medical and religious freedom and other social policy matters.
Cloi Geddes
Director & National Chapter Coordinator
Cloi Geddes is a practicing multidisciplinary artist and mother-of-one residing in Western Australia. She has been an advocate of medical freedom for over a decade.
As a mother, Cloi understands the importance of protecting the health and well-being of our children, and has made it her mission to promote not only informed consent and individual choice when it comes to medical decisions but the importance of building foundational health in Australian families through food, healthy homes, supportive communities and connection.
Through her work within the arts, Cloi also sees the power in creativity and freedom of expression to challenge the status quo, promote alternative perspectives, and spark conversations about important social issues. Harnessing her creative skillset as well as a sharp and keen ability to organise and engage, she hopes to create a strong and committed Australian Chapter of Children’s Health Defense.
