Vivian is the Executive Associate Dean in LKS Faculty of Medicine. She is concurrently Professor of Public Health Practice. She was the Former Director of Health System in the World Health Organization (Western Pacific Regional Office). She has more than 30 years of experience in public health, with a variety of leading roles in policy and programme development, health services planning, research and teaching, and senior administration in complex organisations. This included Chair of Public Health at Latrobe University from 2000 to 2013, founding executive officer of the National Public Health Partnership and Policy Convenor at the Public Health Association of Australia in her early career.

Dr Cadence Kaumoana is the Chief Executive Officer of the Public Health Association of New Zealand (PHANZ). She is a dedicated advocate for equitable and inclusive health outcomes across Aotearoa. With a strong background in public health, Māori wellbeing, and strategic leadership, Dr Kaumoana brings over two decades of experience in education, iwi development, and the health and community sectors. She has been instrumental in championing the integration of Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles into public health policy and practice, emphasising culturally grounded, community-led approaches to addressing health inequities.

At the 2024 National PHAA Conference in Perth, Dr Kaumoana will share insights on Indigenous leadership and governance to support Māori health outcomes. Her vision is to create sustainable, healthy futures for all through collaborative, evidence-based approaches.

Patrick Salmon is a husband and father of six who is committed to achieving the positive aspirations of wellbeing for Māori.

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He is an advocate and public voice for ways to share and uphold the well-being of Māori in modern-day society. He uses his creative skills and innovative thinking to develop solutions that support the oranga aspirations of a person's life journey.

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With an ongoing commitment to learning, Patrick is currently completing a PHD in Māori Development and Advancement at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiarangi and he holds a Master's degree in Applied Indigenous knowledge from Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, with years of experience and support in the governance space for tribal and mainstream entities along with a multitude of different community groups that support the wellbeing of Māori.

Patrick is a steering committee member of Power To Protect (shaken baby prevention) and has a passion for pairing ancestral knowledge and recent research with different technologies to create a more responsive health experience for whānau.

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Patrick is acknowledged as one of the 100 Māori Leaders acknowledgement program 2023-2024 from Te Rau Ora for his work in leading KAIRUA, an online movement dedicated to creating positive change within communities across Aotearoa and the globe through his Indigenous Innovation work. Patrick has accumulated an online community consisting of thousands of indigenous innovators and creators who tune in, interact and share content daily across multiple social media platforms.

Adam Bourne is Professor of Public Health and Director of the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University. He leads a large program of research relating to the health and wellbeing of LGBTIQ+ communities, with a particular emphasis on mental health, alcohol and other drug use and intimate partner violence.

Associate Professor Jaithri Ananthapavan leads the Economics of Obesity team within Deakin Health Economics (DHE) and the Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition (GLOBE) at Deakin University. She is an experienced health economist with over 15 years of experience in both health economics consulting and academia. Jaithri’s research interest is the economic evaluation of preventive health interventions and policies, economic modelling, priority setting and in methods to better assist decision-makers use economic evidence in resource allocation decisions.

Kathryn Backholer is a Professor of public health policy and Co-Director of the Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition, within the Institute for Health Transformation at Deakin University.  She holds a National Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellowship and is a Fellow of the Public Health Association of Australia. Her research is focused on building the evidence to support the design, adoption and implementation of healthy and equitable policies that address the social, cultural and commercial determinants of health. She regularly works with UN organisations, particularly UNICEF and WHO, across the Asia region where she supports governments to accelerate food policy actions. Her research has a key focus on harmful marketing and food price and affordability.

Dr Renee Carey is a postdoctoral research fellow with a particular interest in lifestyle causes of cancer. She has a PhD in Psychology from Murdoch University. Renee was previously the project coordinator of a large-scale epidemiological survey investigating current occupational exposure to carcinogens, the Australian Work Exposures Study (AWES). Her current research looks at the future burden of cancer resulting from current occupational and lifestyle exposures. 

Fran Bernhardt is the Commercial Determinants Coordinator at UK charity, Sustain, where she specialises in supporting governments to implement Healthier Food Advertising Policies. In 2018, she was seconded into the Mayor of London’s team, and advised with writing and implementing the policy across the Transport for London network. Since then she has supported 17 English local authorities to successfully get policies over the line and written Sustain’s Healthier Food Advertising Policy Toolkit. She now runs a working party of 150 UK local governments to advise them on implementing this policy and has also been consulted by several international governments.

Liam was re-elected as Assistant Secretary at the ACTU Congress in June 2024.

Before joining the ACTU Liam was the Victorian Assistant Secretary and National Vice-President of the Australian Workers’ Union (AWU). It was there where he fought for the rights of workers across the diverse range of industries that the AWU represents. As a national official he led the AWU’s work in the aluminium, aviation, glass and construction sectors.

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As ACTU Assistant Secretary Liam is responsible for leading the movements policy, industrial and campaigning work on work health and safety and workers’ compensation matters. Liam is passionate about the rights of all workers to have safe, healthy and decent work, and is a member of Safe Work Australia (SWA) and the Asbestos and Silica Safety and Eradication Council (ASSEC).

Liam is also responsible for the skills and VET portfolio at the ACTU, and is a member of the Jobs and Skills Australia Ministerial Advisory Board.

He also holds a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Politics, Philosophy and Economics, with a major in Economics.

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He is the proud father of two kids and lives in Melbourne’s west.

Professor Dantas is the Dean International and Dean, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging in the Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of International Health in the School of Population Health at Curtin University. She has 36 years’ experience working in India, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Australia and has undertaken research in several other countries. Her research uses participatory, community base approaches to understanding health equity, focusing on resilience among migrant populations. She has been a delegate to the Commission on the Status of Women at the UN and is on the Committee of Women in Global Health, Australia, Australian Graduation Women and International Health SIG of PHAA.

Shakara Liddelow-Hunt is a Wajarri Yamatji who grew up on Noongar country. They are a Research Assistant in the Youth Mental Health Team at the Telethon Kids Institute and PhD student at the University of Western Australia, focused on the mental health and social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTQA+ young people.

Professor Ashleigh Lin (she/her) is a Senior Principal Research Fellow at the School of Population and Global Health at the University of Western Australia. Ashleigh's research focuses on the mental health of young people.

Kelli Owen is a Kaurna, Narungga & Ngarrindjeri sovereign woman who holds a Bachelor of Education (Edith Cowan University) and a Masters of Indigenous Languages Education (University of Sydney). She is the National Community Engagement Coordinator for the National Indigenous Kidney Transplantation Taskforce (NIKTT), a member of NIKTT Secretariat, Cultural Advisor with SA Health overseeing the Kanggawodli renal project with CNARTS (Central Northern Adelaide Renal & Transplantation Service), is a CI and member of AKction (Aboriginal Kidney Care Improving Outcomes Now) with the University of Adelaide, a newly appointment member of Australian Organ Transplant Authority (AOTA) advisory committee and is leading the SAHMRI (South Australian Health Medical Research Institute) project COMPASS (Connecting Our Mob Patient navigators As Sustainable Supports).

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One of Kelli’s current projects is coordinating the interstate patient navigator project across four sites to streamline the kidney model of care and journey across states. She is collaborating with renal teams to adapt health education resources to increase health literacy to meet the needs of her people. In her current role, she yarns up with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities across Australia, focusing on their kidney journeys, local issues, and culturally appropriate solutions to increase equity and access to kidney transplantation. Kelli is familiar with Indigenous Governance and Data Sovereignty methods, harnessing the voices of Indigenous people to raise awareness of equity issues and health system barriers to address. Kelli prides herself as an information sharer, helping to grow kidney care knowledge to assist her people to make informed decisions. Kelli’s passion to share knowledge and to bridge knowledge systems of understanding to design innovative models of kidney care is a vital skill Kelli brings to the projects to ensure its success.

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Kelli is a mother of 5 and Mutha (nanna) of four. Kelli has lived with CKD knowing ESKD would eventuate. Her lived experience of the journey, from diagnosis, pre-dialysis, Peritoneal Dialysis, Haemodialysis, transplant workup and assessment, transplantation leading to her current situation of post-transplant care management makes her an invaluable contributor. The challenges Kelli has experienced living in a regional town in South Australia has instilled her with an appreciation of the difficulties faced by rural and remote patients accessing essential health services. Issues pertaining to accessing treatment, transport, health language used, knowledge translation, genuine informed consent, medications, allied services and feeling culturally safe in hospital settings are areas she passionately advocates for.

Tracey is the Immediate Past President of the Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists®, the peak body for the professionals who conduct exposure assessments in workplaces across the country. Tracey has a master’s degree in Occupational Hygiene and Toxicology, is a Certified Occupational Hygienist ®, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienist and AIOH Media Ambassador. Her working life includes practical, technical and leadership roles in Australia and the US – all focused uniquely on the important mission to daylight the unseen burden of occupational disease and advocate for the protection of worker health.
Her experience over several decades includes construction safety, mining and minerals processing, mineral, oil and gas exploration, the safe operations, maintenance and decommissioning of major hazard facilities. Tracey understands how workplace exposure to carcinogens occurs and what needs to change in order to get better health outcomes for Australian workers and their communities.

Michelle Isles serves as CEO of the Climate and Health Alliance, Director of the Global Climate Alliance, member of Healthcare Without Harm’s Global Coordination Council and member of the National Health and Climate Strategy Advisory Group chaired by The Hon Ged Kearney. Trained as a journalist, in public policy and law, Michelle has worked at the nexus of climate action, sustainable development and health in a career spanning 20 years across Asia-Pacific. Michelle has brought health evidence to and shaped policy on energy, urban planning, housing and transport, and led innovation and strategy to address climate risk and resilience within cities and health systems. As a General Manager in public health, Michelle led community response during COVID, transformed regional models of care, spearheaded First People’s governance and championed resource efficient and climate adaptation measures.