Kristi Jones (1984) has dedicated her medical career to improving outcomes for parents and children through her pioneering work on paediatric genetics. At The Children’s Hospital at Westmead she leads the Neuroscience (neurogenetics/neuromuscular) Centre Clinical Trials Unit, and is the Co-Head and Senior Staff Specialist of the Clinical Genetics department. Kristi is also a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Sydney in the disciplines of both Genetics and Paediatrics.

After MLC School, Kristi received her medical degree from the University of Sydney in 1990. She went on to complete her specialty training in both paediatrics and clinical genetics. Her post-graduate qualifications include Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, Clinical Geneticist (HGSA) and a PhD, which focused on the clinical and genetic diagnosis and therapeutic trials for genetic muscle disease.

Through the Neuroscience Centre Clinical Trials Unit, Kristi leads a team working on clinical trials across Australia and NZ as well as investigating gene therapy trials for the childhood disease of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, an inherited disorder of progressive muscular weakness.

Kristi is widely published and serves as a clinical teacher at the University of Sydney, nurturing the next generation of young doctors and inspiring them with her passion for her work in genetics and the potential of this innovative field of medicine to solve intractable medical conditions that affect children in Australia and worldwide.

She has lectured at paediatric conferences globally where her work is considered world-leading. Together with the Australasian Neuromuscular Network, she has worked to enable access to clinical gene therapy trials for all children in Australasia suffering muscular dystrophy and spinal muscular atrophy.

Kristi also donates her time to international teaching and humanitarian work, particularly in Vietnam, helping improve the health and quality of life of children living with non-communicable.

Kristi cares deeply about her patients and their families. While her clinical work progresses our medical understanding of clinical genetics, Kristi’s real impact is that every day she improves and brightens the lives of the children and their families. She does so with humour, compassion, humility and a genuine love for both her work and the families she serves.

Kristi’s service as a leader in her field has followed the path begun in 1984 when she served as the MLC School Captain. The qualities she showed then and that were nurtured by MLC School have shone through her medical career.