Brainwave was founded in 1994 to provide practical support and care to children impacted by neurological conditions and their families.
Paul Bird, CEO
With leadership roles with business and not-profits in Australia and around the world, Paul has a life-long passion for social justice and enabling sustainable outcomes for children, families and communities with multi-sector partnershipsl.
Our Board
Kenny Stewart
Melissa Webster
Natasha Carr
Fran Ereira
Fiona Russo
Josephine Nicholls, Founder
In 1993, a little six-year-old boy named Nicholas was diagnosed with a brain tumour. He was the eldest son of Josephine Nicholls. Jo’s mind was quickly filled with never-ending questions. What does this mean? Will he survive? Why him? How could this happen to her happy, seemingly healthy little boy? Her life became consumed with medical consultations, surgery, diagnoses, follow up appointments, and an overwhelming determination to make sure that Nicholas survived.
Finally, after many years, he received the ‘all clear,’ but that wasn’t before another tumour scare when he was nine and a further round of operations, appointments, pathology, hospital stays and a high state of anxiety – not least of all for Nicholas who by this stage was conscious of what was going on around him. Being the parent of a seriously ill child in the hospital is very humbling, and Jo became aware of the anguish that families go through, with outcomes that were not always as positive as hers.
The more time spent in waiting rooms, the more Jo could see how this experience impacted not only the child but their parents, siblings, grandparents – everyone. Jo was lucky. She had resources, friends, and family that supported her, but for many families, this was not the case. With a passion for making a difference in people’s lives, Jo founded Brainwave in support of young people and their families living with a neurological condition
Michael Klim is one of Australia’s greatest swimmers, rising to prominence in 1997 when he set a world record at the Australian Championships for the 100m Butterfly – a record Michael held for 6 years. That same year Michael was voted World Swimmer of the Year.
As one of the most successful and popular Australian swimmers since then, Michael made a triumphant return to competition in the 2003 World Meet in Melbourne. He qualified fastest in the 50m freestyle and finished second in the final.
Prior to heading to the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004, Michael became a national patron of Brainwave. He is also founder of the highly successful skincare company Milk & Co. Michael is dedicated to promoting the Brainwave Australia brand nationally and continues to be a generous and committed supporter of the cause.
Michael Klim, Ambassador
Rae Anderson is an Australian Paralympian and Para Matilda. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Summer Paralympics in athletics and at the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympics in alpine skiing, becoming the seventh Australian Paralympic athlete and only second female to represent Australia at a Summer and Winter Paralympics. A month after Beijing, Rae followed this achievement by being selected in the Australian Para Matildas squad placing Runners Up at the Inaugural Female Football World Cup.
At age one she was diagnosed with Left Hemiplegic Dystonic and Spastic Cerebral Palsy, not being expected to walk unassisted. This was followed by ongoing physiotherapy, several multilevel surgeries and rehabilitation. "I competed for my primary school in able-bodied sports including soccer, hockey, oz tag, futsal and athletics; with the goal of one day competing for Australia in soccer - having cerebral palsy and learning about the Paralympics made that goal a possibility”.
In 2018 she took a year-long break from elite sport to focus on her studies. She moved to Indonesia for six months to pursue a degree in cultural studies at the Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, where all her units were in Indonesian.
She has worked as Co-Director at University Bridge Project, a cultural exchanges initiative between Australian and Indonesian university students. In January 2021, she began working part-time as Project Coordinator at Disability Sports Australia whilst also working for Cerebral Palsy Sporting and Recreation Association in a similar role since May 2017.
Rae Anderson, Ambassador
“My personal goal has and always will be to become the best person I can be regardless of my abilities and disabilities. ”
Melanie Dimmitt is a freelance journalist. Since launching her debut book, Special: antidotes to the obsessions that come with a child’s disability, Melanie has written, spoken, podcasted and advocated far and wide for parents travelling not-so-typical paths.
In 2021, Melanie created and launched The Blend magazine - an annual resource for people new to tube-feeding.
She currently heads up news and features at disability support organisation, Hireup, and hosts the NDIS Know-how podcast.
Melanie Dimmitt, Ambassador
Jelena Dokic is a much-loved Australian and tennis legend, appearing regularly on our screens commentating on tennis tournaments, currently with Channel Nine.
As a former tennis player, she became the number one junior in the world in 1998 and rose to reach no. 4 in the world by August 2002. A grand slam finalist
Jelena published her best-selling autobiography ‘Unbreakable’ in 2017, which details her challenges of being a refugee, dealing with poverty, racism, bullying, and discrimination.
Brainwave Australia has had the pleasure of Jelena being an Ambassador for a number of years and we love working together to help support Brainwave.
Jelena Dokic, Ambassador
Luke Breust is a brilliant small forward, two-time All-Australia and three-time premiership player with the AFL Hawthorn Football Club.
Growing up in Temora, New South Wales, Breust played both rugby league and AFL as a junior, turning his sole focus to AFL at the age of 14. Fast forward to 2022 and Luke recently celebrated 250 AFL games and was the club’s leading goal-kicker in 2018, 2019 and 2021 and is well on the way to 500 career goals.
Luke Breust has been a proud ambassador for Brainwave Australia for a number of years and is committed to the work we do supporting our Brainwave families.
