Professor George Patton (Chair)
VicHealth Professor of Adolescent Health Research
George Patton is VicHealth Professor/Director of Adolescent Health Research at the Centre for Adolescent Health. The Centre is prominently involved in adolescent health research, service delivery to young people, youth development and education of professionals working with young people. Professor Patton is psychiatrist with extensive experience of the common health, emotional and behavioural problems of young people. He and the team at the Centre have been extensively involved in studying the factors underlying these problems in adolescence as well as developing and testing the effectiveness of prevention strategies. Much of this work has taken place in the settings in which young people live and work (school, local neighbourhoods and families). As well as chairing this committee he also sits on the National Expert Advisory Committee on Illicit Drugs.
Dr John Ainley
Deputy CEO (Research)
Australian Council of Educational Research
Dr John Ainley is Deputy CEO (Research) of the Australian Council for Educational Research and Research Director of the National and International Surveys Program. Since joining ACER in 1978, Dr Ainley has undertaken policy-oriented research studies for Commonwealth and State education authorities and has chaired the steering committees for Commonwealth funded research projects conducted at ACER and other institutions. Dr Ainley is currently managing major projects on national assessments in schools. These include the PMRT National Assessment of ICT Literacy 2005 and 2008, the PMRT National Assessment of Civics and Citizenship and the IEA International Civics and Citizenship Education Study.
Dr Fadwa Al-Yaman
Head
Social and Indigenous Group, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
Dr Judy Cashmore
Associate Professor
Faculty of Law, University of Sydney
Judy Cashmore has a PhD in developmental psychology and a Masters degree in education, and over 25 years experience in research and publications related to children's involvement in family law and criminal proceedings, and other non-legal processes such as family group conferences, child protection, out-of-home care and leaving care. The special focus of this research has been on children's perceptions of the process and the implications for social policy. She is, or has been, involved in a number of government and non-government committees concerning child protection, child death reviews and the review of child protection legislation as well as the research advisory committees for both the NSW Department of Community Services and the Queensland Department of Child Safety. She is a member of the NSW Judicial Commission and President of Defence for Children International (Australia).
Ms Paula Chevalier
Office of Early Childhood Education and Child Care, Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations
Dr Sharon Goldfeld
Senior Medical Advisor
Office for Children, Victorian Department of Human Services
Sharon Goldfeld is Senior Medical Advisor in child health in the Office for Children in the Victorian Department of Human Services and leads the national effort on headline indicators for children. She is also a consultant community paediatrician, specialising in developmental and behavioural paediatrics, and Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Community Child Health in Melbourne. Dr Goldfeld has a particular interest in children's health services research, data and policy. She is a member of several national and state committees that focus on children's issues. In both her policy and academic roles, she has spoken about the various facets of early childhood to many varied audiences in an effort to advocate for the importance of children.
Dr Matthew Gray
Deputy Director
Australian Institute of Family Studies
Dr Gray was appointed Deputy Director of the Australian Institute of Family Studies in 2005. He is also the Executive Project Manager of Growing Up in Australia: the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Dr Gray has published widely on economic and social policy issues, including the determinants of labour force status, welfare reform in the United States, economic consequences of divorce, work and family, and changes in living arrangements of Australian children since 1946. He has also worked on economic and social policy issues related to Indigenous Australians. Dr Gray was a member of the Ministerial Taskforce on Child Support.
Associate Professor James E Harrison
Director
AIHW National Injury Surveillance Unit
James Harrison is an injury epidemiologist and public health physician who directs the Research Centre for Injury Studies at Flinders University, in South Australia. He is an Associate Professor in the School of Medicine at the university. The Research Centre operates the National Injury Surveillance Unit (NISU) of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, which he also directs. Dr Harrison holds a degree in medicine from Melbourne University, a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Sydney, and is a Fellow of the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine. His main areas of research interest are injury prevention and control, and methods and infrastructure for public health surveillance and evaluation, including classifications and indicators. Current collaborative projects include an ARC Linkage project to evaluate the quality of ICD external cause coding of hospitalised injury cases in Australia, a telephone survey of self-harm, a project to model falls prevention programs and membership of the WHO committee responsible for developing the next revision of the International Classification of Diseases.
Professor Richard John Head
Director
Preventative Health Flagship, CSIRO
Dr Diana Hetzel
Senior Researcher
Public Health Information Development Unit, University of Adelaide
Dr Hetzel is the Senior Researcher in the Public Health Information Development Unit (PHIDU) at the University of Adelaide. She has a clinical medical background in child health; and over twenty years' experience in the health and welfare sectors, including public health research, program planning and evaluation, and policy development. Her current research interests are in the areas of health inequalities; the socioeconomic determinants of population health; impact of disadvantage and violence on the health of infants, children and young people; ethics of research with children and young people; improving the link between research, policy and practice; and the uses of data linkage to support population health research and health system improvement. Dr Hetzel is co-author of the publication, A Social Health Atlas of Young South Australians, and a number of other publications on health inequalities. She is a member of the Australian Health Information Council (AHIC), a former Board Director of the Children, Youth and Women's Health Service (SA), and a member of the SA Council for the Care of Children and the SA Child Death and Serious Injury Review Committee.
Ms Andriana Koukari
Assistant Secretary
Population Health Programs Branch, Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing
Ms Anne Lowagie
Project Officer
Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth
Ms Sushma Mathur
Head
Children, Youth and Families Unit, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
Mr Daniel McAullay
Senior Research Officer
Telethon Institute for Child Health Research/Indigenous representative
Mr Bob McColl
Assistant Statistician
Social Conditions Branch, Australian Bureau of Statistics
Mr Simon Schrapel
Australian Families and Children Council
From May 1999 Mr Schrapel has held the position of Executive Manager, Family and Community Development, at Anglicare SA, where he is responsible for a broad range of services from Child Care to Out of Home Care, Supported Accommodation, Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation, Refugee settlement services, Emergency Relief, Community Development, Community Legal Services, Family Relationship Services and Family Support. Mr Schrapel has worked in a range of policy, planning and management positions, principally focused on the funding and delivery of services by the non-government community services sector. Mr Schrapel has been a member of the South Australian Council of Social Services (SACOSS) Policy Council since 2000 and the Chairperson since July 2002. He has also been the Chair of the Child and Family Welfare Association of Australia since 2001. Other Board and Committee representation includes past membership of the Stronger Families and Communities Partnership, and Australian Council for Children and Parenting, Director of Foodbank SA, a member of the South Australian Government Adult Community Education Advisory Board, a Board member of Anglicare Willochra and the Adelaide Anglican Diocese Professional Standards Committee and a member of the South Australian Ministerial Council for the Care of Children. Mr Schrapel was appointed Acting Chief Executive Anglicare SA on 7 September 2007.
Dr Elizabeth Sullivan
Director
AIHW National Perinatal Epidemiology and Statistics Unit
Elizabeth Sullivan is Director of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare National Perinatal Epidemiology and Statistics Unit (NPSU). Dr Sullivan graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine in 1985 and also holds a Masters of Medicine and Masters of Population Health from the University of Sydney. Elizabeth's research interests lie in the area of pregnancy-related morbidity and mortality, the application of population based data for monitoring and evaluation, and pregnancy and reproductive health outcomes. She also has experience in the development of surveillance systems in sexual, reproductive and perinatal health with a special interest in implementation of second generation HIV surveillance systems in the Pacific region.
Professor Graham Vimpani
Clinical Chair
Kaleidoscope in Greater Newcastle, Hunter Children's Health Network
A graduate of the Universities of Adelaide and Edinburgh, Graham Vimpani has a background in community paediatrics and a longstanding interest in promoting child development through social justice strategies and early intervention programs that address the support needs of families with young children. As well as being a member of several national paediatric committees, he is Chairman of the Board of NIFTeY Australia (the National Investment for the Early Years)--a cross-sectoral advocacy body designed to promote greater awareness of the importance of the early years of life, and a member of the Ministerial Partnership for the Stronger Families and Communities Strategy. He is also a member of the Steering Committee of the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth.