INVITATION TO ATTEND

'RESEARCH FOR A BETTER FUTURE'

Thursday 5 and Friday 6 May 2011

Welcome to Australia’s only conference specifically about Aboriginal health research where we showcase significant new findings from studies conducted in partnership with Aboriginal communities.

Under the theme: Research for a Better Future, delegates will hear from leading Australian and international speakers about important new research findings for Aboriginal health. Panel sessions will consider building partnerships between researchers and Aboriginal communities, capacity building and the implications of research for policy and practice.

Our keynote presenters include:

Professor Ezra Susser
Professor of Psychiatry and Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University

Ezra S. Susser, MD, DrPH, focuses on examining the role of early life experience in health and disease throughout the life course.

He heads the Imprints Center for Genetic and Environmental Lifecourse Studies, which fosters collaborative research and intellectual exchange among investigators studying developmental origins in birth cohorts across the globe. As one example, the findings from a series of studies have suggested that exposure to famine in early gestation is associated with increased schizophrenia among offspring.

Much of Dr. Susser's early work focused on the course of schizophrenia and especially on social outcomes. He conducted studies of homelessness and its prevention among patients with schizophrenia. This work included the development and testing of the initial version of Critical Time Intervention (CTI) for prevention of recurrent homelessness.

Dr. Susser is associate editor of the International Journal of Epidemiology, and former chair of the Department of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health (1999-2008).

Ms Pat Anderson
Chairperson, The Lowitja Institute

Ms Pat Anderson is an Alyawarre woman known nationally and internationally as a powerful advocate for disadvantaged people, with a particular focus on the health of Australia's First Peoples. She has extensive experience in all aspects of Aboriginal health, including community development, advocacy, policy formation and research ethics. Ms Anderson has spoken before the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous People, and was the Chair of the CRC for Aboriginal Health from 2003 to 2009. Pat holds the position of the Chairperson on the Lowitja Institute Board which incorporates the Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health. She has also been the CEO of Danila Dilba Health Service in Darwin, Chair of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, Executive Officer of the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory (AMSANT), and most recently she served as the interim Chair of The Lowitja Institute. Ms Anderson has had many essays, papers and articles published, including Little Children Are Sacred, a report on the abuse of Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory. In 2007 she was awarded the Public Health Association of Australia's Sidney Sax Public Health Medal in recognition of her achievements.

Professor Sandra Eades
Head, Indigenous Maternal and Child Health and Associate Head, Preventative Health Research, Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute

Professor Sandra Eades is a Nyungar woman from Mount Barker, Western Australia. She completed her medical degree in 1990 and after working as a general practitioner, started her career in health research at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research where her focus was on the epidemiology of Indigenous child health in Australia. In 2003 Professor Eades became Australia’s first Aboriginal medical doctor to be awarded a Doctorate of Philosophy. Her PhD investigated the causal pathways and determinants of health among Aboriginal infants in the first year of life.

Professor Eades was named NSW Woman of the Year 2006 in recognition of her research contributions to Aboriginal communities. She also received a ‘Deadly Award’ (National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Awards) for Outstanding Achievement in Health. Over the past decade she has made substantial contributions to the area of Aboriginal health and has provided leadership at a national level in Aboriginal research. Both Indigenous and non-Indigenous colleagues acknowledge Professor Eades as a leader and role model in Indigenous health research

Professor Kerin O'Dea
Director, Sansom Institute, University of South Australia

Professor O'Dea leads the Sansom Institute for Health Research in the next phase of its growth into a dynamic multidisciplinary health research institute which will span the full spectrum of research, from basic molecular science and physiology, clinical and health services/ health systems research and population health.

Prior to joining UniSA she held a number of senior academic and research leadership positions. From 2006-2009, she was a Professorial Fellow, University of Melbourne, Department of Medicine, St Vincent’s Hospital. Prior to this (2000-2005), Kerin was Director, Menzies School of Health Research, Darwin, Northern Territory. From 1998 – May 2000, she was Professor and Head of the Centre for Population Health and Nutrition, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia.

She has been an active part of numerous national committees over many years advising government on health and medical research, Indigenous health, nutrition, and diabetes.

Kerin has recently been appointed a Council member of NHMRC and inaugural Chair of the new Prevention and Community Health Committee. She received the Order of Australia in 2004 for "service in the areas of medical and nutrition research, to the development of public health policy, and to the community, particularly Indigenous Australians through research into chronic disease and prevention methods".

Professor Jonathan Craig
Chair in Clinical Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Sydney

Professor Jonathan Craig is a Paediatric Nephrologist at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead and holds a personal Chair in Clinical Epidemiology in the School of Public Health at the University of Sydney.

His research is focused on improving the evidence-base underpinning the prevention and treatment of kidney disease in children and adults, and child health more generally. He has sought to achieve this by facilitating the development of a clean and comprehensive register of all randomised controlled trials in kidney disease, systematically evaluating and synthesising these trials into systematic reviews, and then integrating these systematic reviews into evidence-based guidelines. He has also conducted a variety of large scale clinical and population health research projects. Examples include studies designed to prevent the development of kidney disease in Aboriginal children, to prevent urinary tract infection in children, and more effective detection and treatment of people with kidney disease and cancer.

He has published over 200 papers in peer-reviewed journals including the New England Journal of Medicine and Lancet, including editorials in these journals. He is on the editorial board for the American Journal of Kidney Disease, Nephrology and Evidence-Based Child Health. He has recently co-edited the textbook ‘Evidence Based Nephrology’.

Jonathan is the Coordinating Editor of the Cochrane Renal Group and is the Co-Chair of the Cochrane Collaboration. He recently received the TJ Neill award for outstanding contribution to science in nephrology in Australia and New Zealand and the International Distinguished Medal of the National Kidney Foundation of the United States. He is one of the chief investigators of SEARCH.

Ms Sandra Bailey
Chief Executive Officer, Aboriginal Health & Medical Research Council of NSW

Sandra Bailey is the Chief Executive Officer, Aboriginal Health & Medical Research Council of NSW (AH&MRC); Co-Chair of the NSW Aboriginal Health Partnership (between the Aboriginal community and the NSW Department of Health); Co-Chair, Aboriginal Health Priority Taskforce and a member of the NSW Health Care Advisory Council.

Sandra is a member of the Yorta Yorta nation with a background in law and Aboriginal health and a strong involvement in the Aboriginal community sector. She has been involved in a number of Aboriginal community organisations at local, regional, state and national levels, including the Medical Service at Cummerangunja in southern NSW. She has lectured in legal studies in Aboriginal community colleges and cultural awareness programs. Sandra also worked as a solicitor with the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service and was head of the Victorian Aboriginal Issues Unit of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.

This conference is a unique forum for Aboriginal communities to come together with health researchers and  policymakers to explore ways for research to improve Aboriginal health. We encourage anyone who is interested in Aboriginal health research to register.

The 3rd Aboriginal Health Research Conference is convened by the Coalition for Research to Improve Aboriginal Health (CRIAH) a partnership between the Sax Institute and the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council to bring together Aboriginal communities represented by Aboriginal Medical Services and health researchers.

We look forward to welcoming you!