NRHC 2005 Conference
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Keynote Speakers Alison Anderson Anthony G Capon Alison Anderson is from Tony Capon is currently the Papunya community Medical Officer of Health approximately 280 km with the Western Sydney north-west of Alice Springs. Area Health Service. He is a She calls herself a Foundation Fellow of the ‘community person’, Australasian Faculty of having spent most of her Public Health Medicine. He political life trying to completed his medical studies at the University improve the conditions of bush people. For 19 of Queensland in 1983. He subsequently years she worked as the Community Adviser at undertook doctoral research in molecular Papunya where she consistently challenged all parasitology at the Queensland Institute of levels of government about the lack of services Medical Research. He was then awarded an to Indigenous people. Alison also played a key NHMRC Australian Applied Health Sciences role in the Land Rights Movement and the Fellowship to do post-doctoral research in struggle for self-determination. Alison has communicable disease control at the Menzies served as an ATSIC Regional Councillor for nine School of Health Research in Darwin. Since years and served two terms as the ATSIC 1991, Tony has been working as a specialist Central Zone Commissioner. As the ATSIC public health physician in western Sydney. He Central Zone Commissioner, Alison has won has particular interests in the relationships respect across the political spectrum. She is between the environment (encompassing fluent in numerous Indigenous languages and is physical, social and economic aspects) and a talented artist, whose paintings are sought human health outcomes. after by collectors. Tony Gleeson Pat Anderson Tony Gleeson has been Pat Anderson is the involved in rural research, Executive Officer of the policy and political analysis Aboriginal Medical Services for 35 years. In 1990 he Alliance Northern Territory established Synapse (AMSANT), which is the Consulting (Aust) Pty Ltd, a peak Indigenous health Brisbane-based research organisation in the and consulting company specialising in policy Northern Territory. She is also the Chair of the analysis and strategy development. His work Co-operative Research Centre for Aboriginal calls for a fundamental reassessment of the role Health, an exciting collaboration of twelve of agriculture in the Australian psyche and member organisations representing research landscape. Tony has owned and managed users, research providers, policy makers and grazing properties in Queensland and northern service delivery agencies all working to improve New South Wales over the past 30 years. Most Aboriginal health. Pat was the CEO of Danila recently Tony has been involved in the Dilba, the Aboriginal community-controlled development of the Australian Landcare health service in Darwin and then the Chair of Management System (ALMS) and in studies on the National Aboriginal Community Controlled the performance and structure of the Health Organisation (NACCHO), the peak agricultural sector. These studies have been national Indigenous health organisation. Pat has informed by ongoing work investigating the spoken on issues to the United Nations working nature of creativity. group on Indigenous people. Pat is an Alyawaare woman and has extensive experience in all aspects of Indigenous health including community development, advocacy, policy formation and research ethics. She is also a prolific writer and has had many essays, papers and articles published. National Rural Health Central to Health: sustaining well-being in remote and rural Australia 1 Conference Dennis Gray involved in establishing the Health Care Evaluation Unit. Debra is a member of the Department of Health National Steering Group Associate Professor Dennis for Common Learning. Gray is Deputy Director of the National Drug Research Institute at Curtin University of Technology. Fay Johnston He is a medical anthropologist who has Dr Fay Johnston is a general worked in the area of Indigenous health for over practitioner and public twenty years. At the National Drug Research health physician. She had Institute he is leader of the Indigenous Research extensive experience in Program and has conducted extensive research providing health services in into the prevention of harmful alcohol and other remote Aboriginal drug use among Indigenous Australians. He is communities prior to the author of numerous papers on the issue and, obtaining a masters degree with Sherry Saggers, is the co-author of a in epidemiology and fellowship in public health comparative book on alcohol use among medicine. Her subsequent professional activities Indigenous peoples in Australia, New Zealand have included communicable disease control, and Canada. primary health care and environmental health research. She currently holds the position of research advisor for the Centre for Remote John Humphreys Health NT and co-ordinates the NT evidence and research interest network of primary health care practitioners. She has recently edited an John Humphreys is introductory guide to tropical health in Professor of Rural Health Australia for primary care practitioners. Research in the School of Rural Health at Monash University Bendigo. John is well known for his research Ruth McNair on health service provision, workforce recruitment and Ruth McNair worked as a retention, health policy and the evaluation of procedural rural GP during health programs in rural and remote areas. He the 1990s, providing has undertaken extensive fieldwork on rural obstetric, anaesthetic and health issues throughout Australia, and has family care services to her published widely in books and journals. John community. She is now a has worked in the Victorian and the general practitioner in an inner-urban general Commonwealth Departments of Health, where practice and Senior Lecturer at the Department he has taken a lead role in developing national of General Practice, University of Melbourne. rural health policies and has been a member of She was Director of Undergraduate Studies in several advisory committees. her Department from 2001 to 2004, being heavily involved in curriculum development, evaluation and quality assurance. She was Debra Humphris awarded the University of Melbourne staff Cultural Diversity award in recognition of her work in promoting rural, gender and sexuality Debra Humphris is issues among students and staff. She was the Professor of Health Care lead investigator of a pilot rural Development at the interprofessional education project (IPE) in University of Southampton Victoria from 2001 to 2003, which developed where she heads the Health curriculum and placements for undergraduate Care Innovation Unit medical, nursing, physiotherapy and pharmacy (www.hciu.soton.ac.uk) students. This project was highly successful and and leads the New Generation Project was incorporated into the work of the (www.commonlearning.net). Prior to taking the Department of Rural Health, Shepparton in post as Director of the New Generation Project 2004. In 2003, Ruth visited IPE programs in in November 2000 Debra spent two years at the Southampton, Sheffield and Norwich. Department of Health, South East Region as a member of the research and development team. This followed four years at St Georges Hospital Medical School, London, where she was National Rural Health Central to Health: sustaining well-being in remote and rural Australia 2 Conference Megan McNicholl Townsville, north to Coen and most places in between. Megan McNicholl is currently Chair of the It was during this time as an advisory Rural Education Forum teacher that Megan began to appreciate the Australia (REFA Inc) and diversity of rural and remote communities Immediate Past and the importance of supporting people at President of the Isolated a local level. She soon realised that there Children’s Parents’ was no such thing as a generic ‘rural’ Association (ICPA Aust). community. With husband Lee and family, she lives on It is as a result of these early experiences a cattle property in south-west Queensland. that Megan has become an active advocate Their three children Kate (25), Rebecca (23) for the families who live in rural and and Douglas (21) attended the local two- remote areas, attempting to ensure that teacher school, followed by boarding their needs are recognised and understood school in Toowoomba. Kate, an by those who plan and provide support to Environmental Engineer works for the the diversity of communities across rural Murray-Darling Basin Committee based in and remote Australia. Roma. Rebecca and Douglas are currently studying at University in Brisbane. Helen Milroy Megan grew up on a property in the Tenterfield district (northern NSW), Helen Milroy is a descendant of the Palyku receiving her primary education courtesy people of the Pilbara region of her mother and Blackfriars of Western Australia but Correspondence. In 1970 she graduated was born and educated in from the Brisbane Kindergarten Teachers Perth. She studied medicine College, Kelvin Grove and headed north to at the University of Western Darwin in search of adventure and Australia, graduating in 1983. Helen worked as a General Practitioner and Consultant in professional challenges. After two years Childhood Sexual Abuse at Princess Margaret teaching in the Territory she returned to Hospital for children for several years before Brisbane to take up the position of Director completing specialist training in psychiatry, of the first mobile pre-school for Aboriginal qualifying as a Consultant Child