DR GABRIEL SHANNON AM CONSULTANT PHYSICIAN,
CENTRAL WESTERN NSW

Gabriel has been a Consultant Physician with more than 35 years’ experience in Orange and Central Western NSW. In the early 1980’s he helped establish renal dialysis services in the Central West of NSW and the first fully rural diabetic education centre in NSW. More recently Gabriel has helped to establish a revised model of inpatient medical care in Orange using Structured Interdisciplinary Bedside Rounds with the help of the Clinical Excellence Commission, a model which has since spread to many metropolitan and rural hospitals as a CEC project.

Throughout the years Gabriel has been a Board Member of both the Clinical Excellence Commission and Agency for Clinical Innovation, and the Deputy Head of the School of Rural Health at the University of Sydney.

Gabriel was awarded the RACP Medal for Clinical Service in Rural and Remote Areas in 2014 and received the Inaugural Collaborative Leader of the Year award at the NSW Health Innovation Awards in 2013.

JILL LUDFORD, CHIEF EXECUTIVE
MURRUMBIDGEE LOCAL HEALTH DISTRICT

Passionate about rural health, Jill was appointed Chief Executive of the Murrumbidgee Local Health District where she leads healthcare delivery in over 33 health facilities and more than 3,500 staff across 125,500 square kilometres. Jill recognises the critical role technology can play in improving access to timely assessment and care in rural and remote communities and is a strong advocate for NSW Health’s integrated electronic clinical programs, including the electronic medical record (eMR) system. She is Chair of the Rural eHealth Governance Group, a member of the NSW eHealth Executive Council and an Adjunct Lecturer at Charles Sturt University.

Jill’s achievements are many, and include: establishing clinical grade Wi-Fi for every clinician; new models of patient-centred care; working with clinicians to redesign hospital functions to improve the patient experience; and playing a major role in planning the $282M Wagga Wagga Rural Referral Hospital which has embraced technology in providing innovative care in a state-of-the-art environment.

Another of Jill’s passions is staff engagement, working to create a flexible and dynamic working environment introducing staff wellbeing programs and recognition awards and implemented strategies to recruit and retain medical and nursing workforce.

JANINE SHEPHERD

Janine’s story reads like a Hollywood movie - a champion skier in training for the Olympics, hit by a truck, suffering multiple life-threatening injuries. Doctors warned that if she lived she would never walk again. After major spinal surgery, and months immobilised in a hospital bed, she came home.

Janine faced a daunting recovery and an uncertain future. Struggling to rehabilitate with permanent disabilities, she somehow rekindled her defiant spirit. Seeing a small plane fly overhead one day, she declared, “That’s it! If I can’t walk, I’ll fly!” Janine became a commercial pilot and flight instructor and also attained her University degree, raised three children and authored “Never Tell Me Never” that went on to become a feature length film.

Today, Janine is an internationally renowned speaker whose achievements include an inspiring TED talk, “A Broken Body Isn’t a Broken Person” garnering over 1.5 million views, she is an ambassador for Spinal Cure Australia and Red Bull’s "Wings for Life”. She has also been recognised with an Order of Australia, for her service to the community, her inspiration, and her work in raising awareness of spinal cord research.

DOCTOR LUKE VAN DER LAAN, DIRECTOR OF PROFESSIONAL STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND

Luke is the Director of Professional Studies at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. He holds a PhD in Leadership, Foresight and Strategic Thinking, and has been regularly published across these areas as well as innovation, health futures and sustainability.

He has a special interest in community capacity building in regional and remote Australia, and international research collaboration, all topics on which he has presented seminars and keynote addresses throughout the Asia Pacific region.

With extensive board-level experience as a CEO, non-executive director and trustee – along with principal, membership and Honorary Professorship roles at many Australian and international institutes and organisations – he describes himself as a ‘pracademic’ integrating both practice and scholarly insights in his efforts to de-mystify strategy, foresight and futures research. His work includes a strong focus on the development of leaders and organisational capabilities associated with creativity, design and strategic thinking.

PAUL CALLAGHAN

Paul belongs to the land of the Worimi people, located just north of Newcastle, NSW. He has qualifications spanning surveying and drafting, accounting and economics, training, executive leadership, emotional intelligence, company boards and executive/organisational coaching. He has also held a number of senior executive roles including Institute Director, New England TAFE with responsibility for 23,000 students and 1,200 staff. However, he asserts his most important learning has come from “going bush with Elders”.

Paul has worked across a range of industry areas including Aboriginal community services, culture and heritage, home care, health, social housing, custodial services, disability services, education, employment, mining, wellbeing and youth services.

Through his business Callaghan Cultural Consultancy, Paul provides services including strategy development and training workshops. He is an Aboriginal story teller, an Aboriginal dancer and has recently published a book entitled "iridescence: Finding Your Colours and Living Your Story" that provides insights into improved wellbeing using Aboriginal culture and philosophy.

PROFESSOR LOUISE HARMS, DEPUTY HEAD, DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL WORK, AND ASSOCIATE DEAN (EQUITY, DIVERSITY AND STAFF DEVELOPMENT), FACULTY OF MEDICINE, DENTISTRY AND HEALTH SCIENCES, THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

Louise is Professor and Deputy Head in the Department of Social Work, and Associate Dean (Equity, Diversity and Staff Development) in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at The University of Melbourne.

Louise is also the Director of the Trauma Recovery and Resilience Research Program. She worked as a social worker in direct practice for nine years - in hospital and education settings - before moving fully into social work teaching and research in 2001. Her research interests are particularly in the areas of trauma, loss and resilience experiences across the lifespan, primarily in relation to health crises and adaptation, and post-disaster recovery.

Louise is the author and co-author of ten books, and many publications relating to these areas of interest. Her most recent book is "Understanding Human Development: A Multidimensional Approach".

VIC MCEWAN, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, THE CAD FACTORY

Vic McEwan is the Artistic Director of The Cad Factory, an innovative arts organisation based in regional NSW. He explores experimental and contemporary arts practice in partnership with diverse sectors.

Vic was the 2015 Artist in Residence at the National Museum of Australia and the recipient of the Inagural Arts NSW Regional Fellowship 2014/16. Vic’s practice involves working with sound, video, installation and performance, with a particular interest in site-specific work. He is interested in creating new dynamics by working with diverse partners and exploring difficult themes within the lived experience of communities and localities.

Vic aims to use his work to contribute to and enrich broader conversations about the role that the arts sector can play within our communities. He sits on the NSW/ACT Arts andHealth State Leadership Group and is a board member of Music NSW.

DOCTOR ANDREW JAMIESON, CLINCIAL LEAD, SOUTHERN INLAND HEALTH INITIATIVE, WA COUNTRY HEALTH SERVICE

Andrew is a FACRRM awarded Rural Medical Practitioner who has lived and worked in remote Northern Territory communities as well as Northern and Midwest Western Australia. He now works across country WA in the role of rural medical administrator.

With a background of tropical medicine and remote medical service provision to the corporate sector in Africa, he is committed to meaningful reform to health care delivery for rural and remote patients.

Andrew Jamieson is currently the Clinical Lead for the Southern Inland Health Initiative program within WA Country Health Services.

                     

CHRIS POINTON, #HELLO MY NAME IS .....

Chris the Global Campaign Ambassador, husband of Dr Kate Granger MBE and co-founder of the inspiring #hellomynameis campaign.

Chris is one half of the duo that is ‘Chris & Kate’, a husband and wife team whose lives were turned upside down when Kate, a Doctor, was diagnosed with a terminal illness.

As a patient, Kate made the shocking observation that many staff did not introduce themselves before delivering her care. So Chris and Kate decided to start a campaign to encourage and remind healthcare staff about the importance of introductions in healthcare – to make a human connection between one human being who is vulnerable and another human being who wishes to help. A step toward providing truly person-centred, compassionate care.

The campaign, #hellomynameis, is now a global phenomenon and Kate’s legacy lives on.

BILLIE TOWNSEND, HONOURS STUDENT, UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG

Billie graduated with a Bachelor of International Studies and Bachelor of Arts (History) from the University of Wollongong in 2015. She then went on to complete various research internships, before taking up her most recent role as a volunteer research assistant with the University of Sydney School of Rural Health in Dubbo.

During this volunteer placement, Billie has co-authored two academic contributions; ‘Engaging Aboriginal people in research: Taking a decolonizing gaze’ and ‘Theory that explains an Aboriginal perspective of learning to understand and manage diabetes’. She is now completing her honours thesis in History with the University of Wollongong and is employed as a Casual Research Assistant with the University of Sydney School of Rural Health.

Billie’s honours thesis focuses on the memorialisation of Australian war nurses from 1915-2017, incorporating her interests of Australian history, rural communities and health. As a Dubbo local and proud rural community member, Billie aspires to a career in research that combines her passion for rural health and education, community policy and Indigenous studies.

LOUIS CHRISTIE, PALLIATIVE CARE SERVICE MEDICAL OFFICER, WESTERN NSW LHD

Louis Christie has been working in Central West New South Wales since he first arrived in Orange as an RDN Rural Cadet in 1994. Dr Christie has worked in emergency and retrieval medicine, and was involved in the evolution of modern Emergency Medicine in the region, out of a system of "casualty departments".

Dr Christie became the Director of Medical Services in Orange in late 2006, a position he held through the development of the new general hospital complex until 2012 when he resigned the post to return to clinical medicine.

After a brief stint in general practice, he has worked full-time as the palliative care service medical officer in the LHD's eastern sector. He has an intense dislike of administrative medicine, and a strong preference for clinical medicine; which drives him to be as efficient as possible in his administrative duties.