Australia's health 2008 conference speakers

How are we going? How do we know?

Monday 23 June 2008, Welcome Dinner, National Convention Centre, 27-31 Constitution Avenue, Canberra

Tuesday 24 June 2008, Conference, National Convention Centre, 27-31 Constitution Avenue, Canberra

Speakers

Christine Sturrock
Health Registers and Cancer Monitoring Unit , AIHW 

Christine has been involved a variety of roles within the health sector both in Australia and overseas. She has extensive clinical experience in nursing, particularly in the area of reproductive and sexual health. Christine is also an experienced educator in this area. Christine completed a Masters degree in Applied Epidemiology in 2007.

From 2002-2004 she spent more than two years establishing, managing and providing client care at a sexual and reproductive health clinic in Suva, Fiji. During this time Christine made significant breakthroughs and advances in the care of people living with HIV/AIDS. She also worked as a nurse educator at the Fiji School of Nursing. Other overseas work Christine has undertaken include the implementation of extensive surveys in HIV, sexually transmissible infections and risk behaviours in American Samoa.

Upon her return from Fiji, Christine took up the position of Manager of Clinical Services for Sexual Health and Family Planning ACT. In this role she also instigated development of an accredited education program for nurse pap test providers.
Christine is currently the program manager for breast and cervical cancer screening statistics at the AIHW.

David Crosbie
Chief Executive Office, Mental Health Council of Australia

As CEO of the Mental Health Council of Australia, David Crosbie leads an organisation that is driving mental health reform across Australia and actively advocating the interests of a broad range of stakeholders, including professional groups, consumers, carers, and service providers.

David is a member of several key advisory groups, including the Prime Minister's Australian National Council on Drugs, and a Board Director of key organisations such as Nonprofit Australia and the Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation.

For the seven years prior to his current appointment, David was the CEO of Odyssey House Victoria, one of Australia's leading drug treatment agencies, employing over 100 staff. For most of the 1990s David was CEO of the Alcohol and Other Drugs Council of Australia, the national peak body for alcohol and other drugs issues.

In the last 10 years David has written over 100 articles, presented more than 100 papers, and conducted over 500 media interviews.

Professor David Currow
Chief Executive Officer, Cancer Australia

Professor David Currow is Chief Executive Officer of Cancer Australia-the Australian Government agency established to reduce the impact of cancer across the country. The agency, established in 2006, is working to reduce disparities in cancer outcomes across the community.

Professor Currow is a medical oncologist who holds the Chair of Palliative and Supportive Services at Flinders University, Adelaide and is the director of Southern Adelaide Palliative Services. He has been president of Palliative Care Australia and president of the Clinical Oncological Society of Australia, the peak national body representing cancer health professionals.

Through engaging consumers of cancer services, clinicians and service planners, Cancer Australia is working in partnership to improve cancer care. David is a former president of Palliative Care Australia and a former president of the Clinical Oncological Society of Australia. He retains the Chair of Palliative and Supportive Services at Flinders University.

Professor Eli Schwarz
Dean, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Sydney

Professor Eli Schwarz presently holds the position of Dean at the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Sydney. He took up his position in October 2004 after professional positions in the USA (Executive Director of the International and American Associations for Dental Research); in Hong Kong (Professor of Public Health Dentistry and Dean, University of Hong Kong); and in Denmark (Chief Dental Officer, National Board of Health, and Associate Professor, University of Copenhagen).

Professor Schwarz's alma mater is the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, from which he obtained a Doctor of Dental Surgery, and his PhD. He received a Master of Public Health from Hadassah Medical School, University of Jerusalem. He is also a Founding Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine and Hong Kong College of Dental Surgeons and is a Fellow of the American College of Dentists.

In 1987, he received the Royal Order, Knight of the Order of Dannebrog, by Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. His main research interests are in oral health services, epidemiology, and preventive dentistry.

Dr Fadwa Al-Yaman
Head, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and Welfare Unit, AIHW

Fadwa Al-Yaman currently heads the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and Welfare Unit (ATSIHWU) at the AIHW. She holds an honours degree in zoology, a PhD in Immunology, and a Master of Population Studies from the Research School of Social Sciences at the ANU.

Before joining the AIHW in 2000, Fadwa worked as an immunologist at the ANU and as a Research Fellow at the Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research-where she spent four years setting up the immunological side of the first major trial of a blood stage malaria vaccine for children.

Fadwa was recently awarded the prestigious Public Service Medal in the 2008 Australia Day Honours List.  She was recognised for outstanding public service in improving the accuracy and reliability of data on Indigenous Australians contained in information collections for health, housing and community services.

Gary Hanson
Head, Mental Health Services Unit, AIHW

As a registered psychologist in the ACT, Gary Hanson brings to the AIHW a wealth of experience from his 22 years as a military psychologist and a further eight years in a civilian position as Senior Research Manager at the Directorate of Strategic Personnel and Planning with the Department of Defence.

Mr Hanson has extensive experience in survey design and analysis, project management, optical scanning and text recognition, web surveying, text and data mining, applied personnel research, and quantitative and qualitative analysis.

As Head of the Mental Health Services Unit at the AIHW, Mr Hanson is responsible for the three National Minimum Datasets (NMDS)-Mental Health Establishments, Residential Mental Health Care and Community Mental Health Care. Gary's Unit publishes the annual Mental Health Services in Australia report.

Gordon Gregory
Executive Director, National Rural Health Alliance

Gordon Gregory has been Executive Director of the National Rural Health Alliance (NRHA) since August 1993. The NRHA is the peak non-government body working to improve the health of people throughout rural and remote Australia, organiser of the biennial National Rural Health Conference, and owner of the Australian Journal of Rural Health.

Before 1993 Gordon worked at the Rural Development Centre at the University of New England, and for nearly eight years on the staff of a Federal Minister as an adviser on rural affairs, fisheries and horticulture. He is a 'lapsed economist' who has had a long-standing interest in policies and services for rural and remote communities in Australia.

Dr Helen Zorbas
Director, National Breast & Ovarian Cancer Centre

Dr Helen Zorbas is Director of National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre. She has been responsible for directing a number of key national projects and programs in evidence-based practice, clinical guidelines, monitoring, service improvement and psychosocial support to improve cancer care.

Her current appointments include: member of the National Health Committee of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC); member of the Cancer Screen NSW Advisory Committee; member of the Cancer Institute NSW Board; and Chair of the BreastScreen Australia Evaluation Advisory Committee.

Helen's previous appointments include: member of the Commonwealth Government's National Cancer Strategies Group; member of the Australian Screening Advisory Committee; Chair of the Australian Statistics Advisory Council's Quality Improvement and Workforce Working Party; and member of the Health Advisory Committee of the NHMRC.

Helen is also a practising breast physician and has a staff specialist appointment at the Rachel Foster Breast Clinic, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney

Jenny Hargreaves
Group Head, Economics and Health Services Group, AIHW  

Jenny Hargreaves leads the AIHW's Economics and Health Services Group, responsible for developing, compiling and disseminating statistical information on Australia's health and community services expenditure, hospitals, mental health services, safety and quality of health care, and the health and community services workforces.

Jenny joined the AIHW in 1996 and was initially responsible for the institute's work to develop, collate, analyse and disseminate statistical information on Australia's hospitals and mental health services.

Before to joining the AIHW, Ms Hargreaves held professional and research positions in communicable disease surveillance at the Department of Health and Ageing, in the Therapeutic Goods Administration and at the Australian National University.

Mr John Goss
Head, Expenditure & Economics Unit, AIHW

John is Principal Economist and Head of the Expenditure and Economics Unit at the AIHW. He joined the Institute in 1986. He has held a series of research and executive positions in the area of health and welfare expenditure, and assessment and economic analysis

John has undertaken analyses on a wide range of topics including the growth and structure of the medical workforce, costs of promoting physical activity, the implications of increasing the excise on tobacco, health expenditure in Australia in comparison with other countries, projection of health expenditure, health system performance assessment, public and private hospital costs, Indigenous health expenditure and the costs and burden of dementia and incontinence.

John Harding
Head, Health Registers and Cancer Monitoring Unit, AIHW

John Harding has been the Head of the Health Registers and Cancer Monitoring Unit at the AIHW for the last 8 years. He manages the National Cancer Statistics Clearing House at the Institute in collaboration with the state and territory cancer registries. He also is responsible for the National Death Index. Linkage between the Clearing House and the Death Index enabled the analyses of survival and prevalence in this presentation to be undertaken.

Professor John Spencer
Dental Statistics and Research Unit, AIHW 

John Spencer is Professor of Social and Preventive Dentistry at the University of Adelaide. He is Co-Director of the Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health, a University of Adelaide research centre which incorporates the AIHW's Dental Statistics and Research Unit. In this latter role John has been a major contributor to information relevant to national oral health and dental services policy.

John is recognised as a leading researcher in oral epidemiology and dental health services. He is editor of Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology, international adviser to Community Dental Health and a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Australian Dental Journal.

Professor Spencer received an International Association for Dental Research Distinguished Scientist Award in 2002. He received the H Trendley Dean Memorial Award for research in prevention and oral epidemiology. In 2003, he was Supervisor of the Year at the University of Adelaide. In 2005 he received the Alan Docking International Association for Dental Research (IADR) Science Award for his achievement in dental research from the Australian and New Zealand division of the IADR.

John has been an invited presenter at numerous international research meetings.

Lynelle Moon
Head, Cardiovascular, Diabetes and Kidney Unit, AIHW

Lynelle has been the Head of the AIHW's Cardiovascular, Diabetes and Kidney Unit since 2003, and has been at the Institute since 1995. The Unit has three National Monitoring Centres-one for each of the diseases it covers-as well as running the National Diabetes Register. The Unit undertakes a wide range of analytical projects, covering the epidemiology of these diseases, their associated health services and impact. The latest stream of work is breaking new ground analysing the connections and overlap among the three diseases.

Lynelle has extensive experience in many aspects of health statistics. She also spent two years with the OECD in Paris, working on a cross-country project comparing policies and treatments for a number of important diseases, and the effect of these differing approaches on costs and health outcomes. She has academic qualifications in mathematics, statistics, and population health, and is now undertaking her PhD in epidemiology.

Mark Cooper-Stanbury
Head, Population Health Unit, AIHW

Mark has held research and executive positions at the Institute since 1993, and currently heads the AIHW's Population Health cluster. Before to his current appointment he ran the Institute's outposted Unit at the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing. In his current role, Mark is responsible for the Institute's general work in chronic diseases and associated risk factors.

Mark has prepared or contributed to around 40 of the Institute's major publications, as well as to reports for the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision, and the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing. He has also co-authored many journal articles, and presented at national and international conferences.

Melissa Goodwin
Health Registers and Cancer Monitoring Unit, AIHW

Melissa joined the Health Registers and Cancer Monitoring Unit at the AIHW in 2006 as the program manager for monitoring statistics for the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program, and co-ordinated the first annual report of this new initiative in cancer screening.

Before her appointment to the AIHW Melissa held a variety of positions in data management in the public sector, with 5 years as Data Manager at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, ANU where she played key roles in the coordination and analysis of population health datasets and have considerable experience in data development, collection and analysis for epidemiological studies.

Melissa holds a Bachelor of Science majoring in mathematics and statistics from the ANU and a Graduate Diploma in Secondary Education (Mathematics) from Charles Sturt University. She is currently completing a Masters degree in Public Health at Sydney University.

Professor Mike Daube
Health Policy in Faculty of Health, Curtin University

Professor Mike Daube is Professor of Health Policy at Curtin University and Director of the Public Health Advocacy Institute of Western Australia.
Before moving to Curtin in January 2005, he was Director General of Health for Western Australia and Chair of the Australian National Public Health Partnership. He has played a leading role in public health in Australia, the UK and internationally since 1973. He has been a consultant and adviser over many years on tobacco control, health promotion, public education and advocacy for the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Union against Cancer, governments and non-government organisations in some 30 countries. He has also written or co-written major international reports on tobacco control.

Mike is president of the Public Health Association of Australia, the Australian Council on Smoking and Health,and the WA Heart Foundation. He is Board Chair of the Alcohol and Drug Authority, and a member of many other committees. He has recently been appointed to the Australian Government's new Taskforce on Preventative Health Care and the NHMRC's Public Health Research Review Advisory Committee.

He has received awards for his work from organisations such as the WHO, the Australian Medical Association, the National Heart Foundation, the Public Health Association of Australia, Healthway, the Australian Council on Smoking and Health, Curtin University and the Australian Red Cross.

Professor Nicholas Glasgow
Dean, College of medicine and Health Sciences and Medical School, ANU

Nicholas Glasgow is Dean of the College of Medicine and Health Science, and Dean of the Medical School at the Australian National University.

His clinical disciplines are general practice and palliative medicine. He has held appointments with the University of Auckland, the University of the United Arab Emirates, the University of Sydney and the Australian National University. His doctoral thesis examined the interface between primary and secondary care in a rapidly developing country. His research interests include asthma and respiratory health, drug and alcohol issues, and the scholarship of teaching and learning.

Before taking up the Dean's role in 2008, Nicholas was the Foundation Professor and Director of the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute at the Australian National University. The research agenda of the Institute focused on health services research and the nexus between research evidence and policy formulation. The Institute addresses health system issues of national importance including workforce and chronic disease.

Professor Glasgow serves on a number of Australian Government committees including the Australian Drug Evaluation Committee, the Australian Health Information Council, and the Asthma Expert Advisory Committee. He is a member of the Australian Lung Foundation's Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Evaluation Committee, the Australian System for Asthma Monitoring Advisory Committee and the National Asthma Council General Practice Reference Group.

Richard Eckersley
National Centre for Epidemiology & Population Health, ANU

Richard Eckersley is a founding director of Australia 21- a non-profit, public-interest, research company-and a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University. His research explores progress and wellbeing, and includes: measures of national progress; the relationships between economic growth, quality of life and sustainability; the social and cultural determinants of health and happiness; visions of the future; and young people and their world.

Richard's work has been published in leading international scientific journals, books and major Australian newspapers, and has been brought together in a book, 'Well & Good' (Text, 2004, 2005). He has held senior positions with the CSIRO, the Commission for the Future and the Australian Government.

Sally Bullock
Population Health Unit, AIHW

Sally joined the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) in 2004 and has worked on a range of projects relating to functioning and disability, and population health. She has played key roles in the coordination and analysis of national administrative data sets and has considerable skills in data development, collection, analysis and reporting for program and policy analysis.

Sally has a Bachelor of Science degree from Melbourne University, a postgraduate diploma in International Health, and is currently completing a Masters degree in Public Health. For the last year, Sally has been managing the Institute's rural health work program.

Since 1998, the AIHW has made significant contributions to the rural health field, including the development of a Rural Health Information Framework, regular monitoring of mortality and health indicators, and guidance on the use of Australia's remoteness classifications. 

Sarah Tennant
Public Health Information Development Unit, AIHW  

Sarah Tennant is a senior research officer at the Public Health Information Development Unit (PHIDU) at the University of Adelaide. She is an honours graduate in health science. PHIDU supports the work of the Population Health Division of the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing through provision of data and analyses relevant to strengthening the focus on prevention and health promotion, and management of chronic disease. PHIDU also has a collaborative arrangement with the AIHW.

The major focus of Sarah's work is the collection, compilation, analysis and reporting of spatially referenced data describing the social determinants of health and health outcomes of the Australian population at a local, regional and national level. She has been involved as a principal author and co-author of many of the Unit's publications, including the Social Health Atlases of Australia.

Sarah's most recent work has included the addition of recent and time series datasets to the PHIDU website, www.publichealth.gov.au, which provides small area data through publications, data files and an interactive mapping facility.

Dr Stephen Duckett
Executive Director, Reform and Development Division Queensland Health

Stephen Duckett, an economist, heads the Queensland Health Reform Team. He was Secretary of the Commonwealth Health Department from 1994-1996 and has held leadership positions in the Victorian Health Department, at La Trobe University and as Chair of the Boards governing The Alfred Hospital and the Brotherhood of St Laurence. He is a member of the National Hospitals and Health Reform Commission.

Stephen was recognised by his peers in 2004 for his academic excellence when he was elected as a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and in 2006 by the University of New South Wales by award of a higher doctorate, the Doctor of Science, on the basis of his published works. He is also a Fellow of the Australian College of Health Services Executives and of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Professor Stephen Leeder, AO
Director, Australian Health Policy Institute, University of Sydney

Stephen Leeder is Professor of Public Health and Community Medicine at the University of Sydney and Director of the Australian Health Policy Institute. The Institute is the Australasian base of the Oxford Health Alliance (OxHA) and hosted the 2008 OxHA Summit.

Professor Leeder is also co-director of the Menzies Centre for Health Policy, a joint enterprise with the Australian National University. He has a long history of involvement in public health research, educational development and policy. His research interests as a clinical epidemiologist have been mainly in asthma and cardiovascular disease.

In 2003-04, Professor Leeder worked at Columbia University, New York, in the Earth Institute and Mailman School of Public Health, developing a substantial report based on research data and scientific interpretation of the economic consequences of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in developing economies.

Susan Killion
Group Head, Health and Functioning Group, AIHW  

Susan is Head of the Health and Functioning Group in the AIHW. This group develops and reports national health data for population groups including rural and remote populations. It also monitors national trends on priority conditions such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, asthma and chronic disease determinants. The Group is responsible for multiple national data bases and disease registers, and also develops and analyses key indicators of welfare services for people with disabilities and treatment services for those with alcohol and other drug use problems. The Groups conducts the three - yearly National Drug Strategy Household Survey on drug and alcohol use.

The Group is also responsible for the production of the AIHW's biennial flagship publication, Australia's health.

Associate Professor Ted Wilkes
Professorial Fellow in Aboriginal Health, Curtin University

Associate Professor Wilkes is a Nyungar man from Western Australia whose professional background includes working for the Western Australia Museum, the Centre for Aboriginal Studies at Curtin University of Technology, and 16 years as the Director of the Derbarl Yerrigan Health Service. He is currently employed in the Indigenous Research Program at the National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University of Technology.

Professor Wilkes is a member of the Australian National Council on Drugs and is the Chair of the National Indigenous Drug and Alcohol Council. He provides advice and expertise to various other state, national and international committees. As an Aboriginal leader, Professor Wilkes has endeavoured to facilitate positive health and social outcomes for the Aboriginal community, as well as the community generally.

Associate Professor Tim Mathew
Medical Director, Kidney Health Australia

Dr Mathew graduated from Melbourne University in 1961. He began his nephrological career at Royal Melbourne Hospital in 1963 and trained in nephrology in Washington DC.

In 1977 he was appointed Director of the Renal Unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Adelaide. He was Chair of Adverse Drug Reactions Advisory Committee between 1993 and 2001, and a core member of Australian Drug Evaluation Committee during that time. He was appointed Medical Director of Kidney Health Australia in May 2002.

Tim's current interests include reduction of the burden of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and the issues around implementing national programs to achieve this. He was recently appointed Chair of the CKD Monitoring Advisory Committee at the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.