Catherine Chamberlain

Professor Catherine Chamberlain is a Palawa woman of the Trawlwoolway clan (Tasmania), a National Health and Medical Research Council Career Development Fellow and Professor of Indigenous Health at the Centre for Heath Equity, The University of Melbourne. A Registered Midwife and Public Health researcher with over 25 years’ experience in maternal health, she has worked in remote, rural and urban settings across health service, government and university sectors. Her research aims to identify perinatal opportunities to improve health equity across the lifecourse. She is currently Principal Investigator for large multi-disciplinary projects – Healing the Past by Nurturing the Future; and Replanting the Birthing Trees – which aim to co-design and foster culturally responsive trauma-integrated perinatal care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents.

Jamie Newman

Jamie Newman, a proud Wiradjuri descendent has been the CEO of Orange Aboriginal Medical Service since 2005. He has been a past Director of the Aboriginal Health & Medical Research Council of NSW, Chairperson of the Bila Muuji Regional Aboriginal Health Service in Western NSW, a previous Board member of the Western Primary Health Network and a recently retired Council Member of Charles Sturt University. Jamie has over twenty years extensive experience working with and for Aboriginal communities at both a Government and Non-Government level.

“Being Aboriginal is a reason to succeed, rather than an excuse not to”

Rhonda Marriott

A senior and highly respected Aboriginal researcher and academic Professor Rhonda Marriott AM is the Inaugural Pro Vice Chancellor of the Ngangk Yira Institute for Change at Murdoch University. With 30+ years academic experience, 50+ years in the nursing profession and 30+ years in midwifery, she provides strong cultural and scientific leadership to the Ngangk Yira Research Centre’s translation of maternal, early childhood and youth research outcomes into policy and practice with a focus “Aboriginal Families, Healthy and Resilient”. Possessing a strong vision for Aboriginal research that is translational, Professor Marriott has drawn together a passionate and highly regarded team of Aboriginal and non-indigenous researchers who have extensive professional and academic networks both nationally and internationally. She has developed long-lasting, meaningful partnerships with Elders and members of the Noongar community in Perth (Whadjuk Boodjar) and, together, they ensure community translation of research findings particularly focussed on Aboriginal maternal and early childhood health outcomes. Born in Derby, Western Australia, Prof Marriott is matrilineally descended from Nyikina people of the Kimberley and patrilineally, is Scottish and Irish. She has achieved three significant ‘firsts’ in her career: first known Aboriginal Head of a University School of Nursing in Australia when she became the inaugural Head of the School of Nursing at Murdoch University in 2003; first in her family to have been awarded a PhD in 2005; and was the first known Aboriginal nurse in Australia to achieve a PhD level of qualification in clinical education.