From Margins to Mainstream has a rich and varied program with over 370 speakers representing over 25 countries. Speakers come from a wide range of sectors, including health, education, arts, physical activity, justice, planning, technology, community, not-for-profit, human rights, corporate, and local, state and federal governments. These presenters are practitioners, policy-makers or researchers who are at the cutting edge of their field, and whose work is moving mental health promotion from the margins of the health debate into the mainstream. Some of the conference’s key invited speakers are listed below.
Ian Anderson
Professor Ian Anderson is the foundation Chair in Indigenous Health at The University of Melbourne. His family are Palawa Trouwunna: Plaimairrerenner and Trawlwoolway clans.
Professor Anderson is currently the Deputy Head of the School of Population Health and the Director of the Centre for Health and Society and the Onemda VicHealth Koori Health Unit. He has been a full-time research academic since 1998 when he established the Onemda VicHealth Koori Health Unit with external funding from the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation and the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing. Professor Anderson is also currently the Research Director for the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Aboriginal Health (CRCAH). He completed a medical degree at The University of Melbourne in 1989 and has a PhD in sociology and anthropology from LaTrobe University.
Paris Aristotle AM
Paris Aristotle AM is the Director of the Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture (also known as Foundation House), a position he has held since the organisation’s establishment in 1987.
In 2002 Paris was appointed as a part time Commissioner of the Victorian Law Reform Commission. Paris has also held several positions on state and federal government and international advisory bodies in the settlement and human service fields over the past 20 years. He currently holds positions on the Australian Government’s Refugee Resettlement Advisory Council and the Immigration Detention Advisory Group. Paris has also been a member of a number of official delegations to the UNHCR Executive Committee meetings and was a member of the UNHCR Executive Task Force on Resettlement and Integration.
In 2002 Paris was made a Member of the Order of Australia and in 2003 was awarded an Australian Centenary Medal – both honours recognising his longstanding work with refugees, in particular survivors of torture.
Prof Hurriyet Babacan
Hurriyet is Professor of Social and Cultural Development at Victoria University. Hurriyet has over 20 years of experience as an academic, public servant, community worker, researcher and trainer in the government, community and university sectors. Hurriyet was the former Executive Director, Multicultural Affairs, in the Department of Premier and Cabinet (Qld), Associate Director, Centre for Multicultural and Community Development (University of the Sunshine Coast), Commissioner with the inaugural Ethnic Affairs Commission in Victoria and was Victorian Manager, Office of Multicultural Affairs in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Hurriyet has published on the issues of multiculturalism, immigration, identity, social policy, gender, racism, settlement, child protection, asylum, globalisation and community development, including two publications for UNESCO. She is currently leading a number of research and development projects in Australia, Europe, Asia and the Pacific Islands.
She is co-author of the Victorian Government’s recent discussion paper on the future of multicultural policy and is a member of two working parties of the Council of Europe and OECD on Indicators of Social Cohesion and Intercultural Competence.
Prof Margaret Barry
Margaret is Professor of Health Promotion and Public Health and Director of the Health Promotion Research Centre at the Department of Health Promotion, National University of Ireland, Galway.
Professor Barry has published widely in the field of mental health promotion and has worked closely with policymakers and practitioners on the development, implementation and evaluation of mental health promotion interventions and policies at national and international level. Elected as Global Vice President for Capacity Building, Education and Training by the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) in 2007, she is a Board member of the Clifford Beers Foundation and temporary adviser to the WHO.
Prof Fran Baum
Fran is Head of Department and Professor of Public Health at Flinders University, Foundation Director of the South Australian Community Health Research Unit and the Co-Chair of the Global Steering Council of the People's Health Movement – a global network of health activists. She is a Commissioner for the Commission on the Social Determinants of Health, established by the World Health Organisation in 2005 which will report in August 2008. She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Science and the National Health Promotion Association.
She has written widely on social and economic determinants of health, including Aboriginal people’s health, health inequities, research and evaluation in community health and primary health care, theories of health promotion, Healthy Cities, social capital and health promotion, and the political economy of health.
Dr Morton Beiser
Morton is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, and founding Director of the Toronto Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement (CERIS). He was a member of the Canadian Multiculturalism Advisory Committee and Chair of the Canadian Task Force on Mental Health, Issues Affecting Immigrants and Refugees.
Dr Beiser led key Canadian studies addressing the health of First Nations people, and immigration and resettlement, including a longitudinal investigation into the health of immigrant and refugee children. Among his 175 publications is the book Strangers at the Gate and a co-edited volume Immigration, Ethnicity and Health. He has also developed a radio series about immigration and curricula designed to combat discrimination which is in use in schools across Canada. In 2004, Dr Beiser was awarded the Order of Canada in recognition of his research and contributions to policy and resettlement practice.
Dr Elena Berger
Elena is the Director of the World Federation for Mental Health’s Office for the Promotion of Mental Health and Prevention of Mental Disorders. She is the secretariat coordinator for the Global Consortium for the Advancement of Mental Health and Prevention of Mental Disorders, and a member of the program committee for the Melbourne conference.
Elena has had various roles for past conferences in this series, including program committee liaison for the conference in Oslo (2006) and editor of the proceedings of the conferences in London (2002) and New Zealand (2004). Previously, she was research director of an international economics consulting firm in Washington, D.C. She has a doctorate in social studies from Oxford University.
Mark Bin Bakar
Mark is Western Australia’s Australian of the year and the National Indigenous Person of the Year for 2007/2008. In 2007 Mark received a High Commendation for the HREOC Human Rights Medal.
He has also received local NAIDOC awards, a number of Deadlies awards and the Amnesty Australia Human Rights award. All of this recognition comes because of his consistent commitment and dedication to making a difference for his people locally, state-wide and nationally.
Mark comes from the Kimberley and is a descendent of the Kitja Tribe. His mother is a Stolen Generation woman, hence Mark’s genuine compassion for the Stolen Generations. Mark now continues making a difference through his alter ego Mary G, the flamboyant black woman of national TV, radio and stage. Mary G uses humour as a healing element, as well as bringing many positive empowerment and health messages to the Indigenous community. This is especially powerful in the area of mental health, where Mary G attempts to educate and remove stigma through wit and humour.
Darryl Bishop
Darryl is the National Programme Leader for the New Zealand programme to counter stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness, Like Minds Like Mine.
Previously, Darryl worked as a manager with the Public Health Directorate of New Zealand Ministry of Health, with issues leadership around Mental Health Promotion and Problem Gambling.
He has qualifications in Psychology and Mental Health Nursing, and worked in Early Intervention services in UK and New Zealand for 10 years. More recently he managed services for a large New Zealand based NGO, aimed at youth at risk of poor health and social outcomes, before joining the Ministry of Health in 2005.
Darryl was born in North West England, but has called New Zealand home for 9 years, he also has a 3 year old son with a strong Auckland accent.
Bruce Bonyhady
Bruce has been on the Council of Philanthropy Australia since July 2006 and President since January 2007. In this period he has led a major strategic review and consultation with Members developing the Vision, Mission and Strategic Plan for 2007- 2011.
Since 2000, Mr Bonyhady has been a Director and Chairman of ANZ Trustees Limited, the largest manager of charitable foundations in Australia. He represents the Company as a Trustee of the William Buckland Foundation and the Sylvia and Charles Viertel Charitable Foundation and is a Member of the Felton Bequests' Committee. Other community positions held by Mr Bonyhady are: Chairman of Yooralla, Director of Housing Choices Australia and Chairman of the Advisory Panel to Solve! at the RCH.
He is currently a Member of the Commonwealth Government’s Disability Investment Group and put forward the idea of a National Disability Insurance Scheme to the 2020 Summit, held in Canberra in April 2008.
Dr Thomas Bornemann
Thomas became the Director of the Mental Health Program at The Carter Center in 2002. Prior to that, he served as Senior Adviser for Mental Health in the Department of Mental Health and Substance Dependence of the World Health Organization. While at the World Health Organization, Dr Bornemann worked on the development of the World Health Report which focused on Mental Health.
Thomas has spent his entire career in public mental health working in all aspects including clinical practice, research, research management, policy development and administration at the national level. His roles have included service design at the National Institute of Mental Health, Chief of Refugee Health Programs at the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of International Health, and Deputy Director of the Federal Center for Mental Health Services in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Thomas has expertise in humanitarian assistance in refugee and disaster situations and has published and lectured extensively in these areas. He has an overarching interest in overcoming the barriers to the application of research findings to practice settings and the integration of mental health into the larger public health arena.
Mark Boyd
Mark Boyd is the Economic Resources Determinant Program Leader for From Margins to Mainstream. He has over 15 years experience in the public health sector, across a range of roles including advocacy, research, integrated planning and health promotion practice. He helped establish the National Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS as a key advocacy and participatory mechanism as part of Australia’s partnership response to HIV/AIDS.
More recently, he worked for four years in local government on local government health plans, which included a policy framework prioritising health inequalities initiatives, and developed the first local government strategy in Australia to reduce alcohol-related harms, which has been used as a model for similar work across Australia.
Mark currently works at VicHealth, the Victorian health Promotion Foundation, where he has contributed to an equity agenda including assisting with state policy actions to reduce inequality, the development of an equity tool for health promotion planning, and embedding equity into VicHealth program and policy processes.
John Brumby
John Brumby was sworn in as the 45th Premier of Victoria on 30 July, 2007. John leads a Labor Government which has, since 1999, rebuilt Victoria’s infrastructure and services while maintaining strong budget surpluses and managing a vibrant, growing economy.
Before becoming Premier, John Brumby served as Treasurer and Minister for Regional and Rural Development. John Brumby was also appointed as Victoria’s first Minister for Innovation in February 2002.
John Brumby was elected to the Victorian Parliament in 1993. Between 1983 and 1990, he was the Federal Member for Bendigo during the Hawke Government and served as Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Employment, Education and Training. John Brumby completed a Bachelor of Commerce from Melbourne University in 1974 and a Diploma of Education from the State College of Victoria, Rusden, in 1975.
Steven Burkeman
From 1982 until 2001, Steven was Trust Secretary at the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, a UK-based independent, progressive organisation committed to funding radical change towards a better world. Since then, he has worked as a consultant principally with foundations and human rights organisations.
Steven has written and spoken widely about issues relating to philanthropy, and is co-author of a significant report on increasing the impact of progressive philanthropy in the UK (Stepping Up the Stairs). He has been an occasional visitor to Australia over the past 13 years.
Dr Judi Clements
Judi is an experienced Chief Executive in the NGO sector with a background in law, social policy, housing, local government and management practice in the UK.
From 1991 – 2001, Judi was Chief Executive of Mind (the National Association for Mental Health), the UK’s leading Mental Health Charity. Judi lead Mind through key developments including promoting social inclusion through a multifaceted campaign “Respect”. She led the approach to quality and monitoring capacity building 212 local Mind providers in two countries. After working independently and as a Board member of a range of tertiary institutions and national agencies, Judi relocated to New Zealand in 2005, to be Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation (MHF). MHF is New Zealand’s leading mental health promotion organisation working to make mental health everyone’s business and create a nation were collectively and individually the importance of sustaining and improving mental health and wellbeing is recognised.
Judi has a passion for the development of organisations to promote social justice and the elimination of all forms of unfair discrimination.
Prof John Copeland
Having qualified from Emmanuel College Cambridge and the Westminster Hospital London, John trained in psychiatry at the Maudsley Hospital and Institute of Psychiatry on the professorial unit under Sir Aubrey Lewis. He worked as lecturer and senior lecturer at the Institute.
He succeeded as director in the UK of the US/UK Diagnostic Project supported by NIMH, Washington, examining disparities between diagnostic criteria used in the two countries. Community studies between London and New York followed and, after accepting the chair and headship of Psychiatry in Liverpool University, longitudinal studies of older people in Liverpool funded by the MRC and the Wellcome Trust. The Geriatric Mental State and the AGECAT computer assisted diagnostic methods were developed and used in many parts of the world and included in the EURODEP, ASIADEP, Cognitive Function and Ageing and 10/66 collaborative studies.
He is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Psychiatrists and is currently President of the World Federation for Mental Health.
Joumanah El Matrah
Joumanah El Matrah trained as a psychologist and is a community development worker. She has been active in the community welfare sector for ten years. She was a member of the Ministerial Advisory Council for Cultural and Linguistic Diversity, Department of Human Services, Victorian Government and one of the Directors for the Victorian Women’s Trust. Joumanah was an invited participant of the Ninth Annual Global Women’s Leadership Institute; Realising the Vision of Women’s Human Rights: Understanding the Intersections of Racism, Sexism and Other Oppressions.
She is also a Churchill Fellow, researching the impact of the human rights movement on Muslim women internationally. She has been a member of numerous committees and boards; recently she co-chaired the Muslim Reference Group’s sub committee; Education and Training of Clerics and Lay Teachers and Leaders. She is the Executive Director of Islamic Women's Welfare Council of Victoria, and has published works on Muslim women in Australia.
Dr Janet Fanslow
Janet is a Senior Lecturer in Mental Health Promotion at the School of Population Health, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand She has been engaged in violence prevention research since 1989, and has worked on descriptive epidemiological studies of violence, the development and evaluation of programs to improve health care response to victims, and a wide range of national and regional projects to support improved provision of violence prevention, research, monitoring, and intervention activities.
She is co-author of the book Intentional Injury in New Zealand, and sole author of “Beyond Zero Tolerance: Key issues and future directions for family violence work in New Zealand,” (For the NZ Families Commission). She is also author of the NZ Ministry of Health Family Violence Intervention Guidelines: Child and Partner Abuse; and co-author of the guidelines on Elder Abuse and Neglect.
Her recent research, a population based study of violence against women, was part of the World Health Organisation multi-country study. Dr Fanslow’s background is in psychology and public health. She worked with the Family and Intimate Violence Prevention Team of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 1997-1998. She is frequently consulted on violence issues in NZ by NGOs and government agencies.
Steve Fisher
Steve is Senior Advisor and representative in Australia of BasicNeeds, an international non-governmental organisation that works with people affected by mental illness in marginalised communities in Asia, Africa and Latin America. BasicNeeds improves access to mental health services and increases the participation of mentally ill people in the development process. In Australia, BasicNeeds works in partnership with the Nossal Institute for Global Health and the Mental Health Association of Central Australia.
Steve was formerly Chief Operating Officer with the Centre for Appropriate Technology, a national Indigenous organisation based in Alice Springs, and Deputy Chief Executive with ITDG (now Practical Action), an international NGO that demonstrates the sustainable use of technology to reduce poverty in developing countries.
As a development practitioner, Steve has particular interests in communication for development, effective techniques for impact assessment, conflict management and approaches to livelihood development.
Tony Fowkes
Tony is a mental health carer advocate and a legal member of West Australian Mental Health Review Board. He is also a member of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychology, Psychiatry and Law and founding member of the Western Australian Branch.
Tony is a Western Australian Carer Representative on the National Mental Health Consumer and Carer Forum under the auspices of the Mental Health Council of Australia, and a Board member of the Mental Health Council of Australia. He is also a board member and a Vice-President for Mental Health Carers Arafmi Western Australia and President of the national body.
Tony is the President Elect for the World Federation for Mental Health, having previously served as Honorary Secretary for two years, Board member for four years and prior to that as Regional Vice President for the Oceania Region for four years.
Preston J Garrison
Preston is Secretary-General and Chief Executive Officer of the World Federation for Mental Health. He is responsible for providing leadership to increase the efficacy of the operations and functions of the Federation, to enhance the capacity of the organisation to lead the international voluntary mental health movement, and to assist its Board of Directors in realising WFMH’s goals and strategic objectives.
In a long career leading voluntary organisations in the mental health and human services sectors in the United States, Preston Garrison has served as the chief executive officer for the National Mental Health Association, and chief staff officer for NMHA affiliates in Tennessee, Georgia and Florida, and Executive Director for the National Practitioners Network for Fathers and Families (NPNFF).
He has also served as a consultant and technical assistance provider to a variety of national, regional and local social and community service organisations, providing training and technical assistance in strategic planning, organisation renewal and positioning, fund development and general management.
Kate Gilmore
Kate is Executive Deputy Secretary General of Amnesty International and is responsible for operational leadership of the international dimensions of Amnesty’s work. She oversees the daily workings of more than 450 staff based in offices around the world and has been responsible for leading broad-ranging organisational change since arriving at Amnesty’s International Secretariat in 2001.
Prior to this appointment, Kate was the national director of Amnesty International in Australia. Previously she had worked in the health sector including as an activist for women's human rights, particularly in the area of violence against women. She was the founding co-ordinator of the Centre Against Sexual Assault (CASA House) at the Royal Women's Hospital and has degrees from the University of New England, the University of Melbourne and the former Phillip Institute of Technology, now RMIT.
Todd Harper
Todd began as Chief Executive Officer VicHealth, in April 2007, following many years in tobacco control. Prior to taking on his current role, Todd was Quit Victoria’s Executive Director from 1999 to 2007. Under his leadership, Quit and the VicHealth Centre for Tobacco Control have developed national and international recognition for their work on tobacco control.
Following various positions for Tasmania’s Department of Health and Human Services, including in the area of community housing, Todd worked as Executive Director of the Tasmanian Council on AIDS and Related Diseases. He has a degree in economics, a postgraduate diploma in health promotion and in 2008 completed requirements for a masters in health economics.
Dr Melanie Heenan
Melanie works at the Australian Football League (AFL) as the Senior Project Officer responsible for the implementation of their Respect and Responsibility Program. The program is designed to build environments across the football industry that are safe, supportive and inclusive of women and girls. Dr Heenan also works as the Senior Program Advisor to the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation’s violence against women program, with particular focus on primary prevention activity.
Dr Heenan’s career has included over 15 years of research and policy experience. She was the inaugural coordinator of the Australian Centre for the Study of Sexual Assault, and she has held positions with the Victorian Law Reform Commission and the Victorian Department of Justice.
Dr Heenan has also worked with the Centre Against Sexual Assault (CASA House) 1995-2000, National Conference on Sexual Assault and The Law 1995-96, and the Rape Law Reform Evaluation Project 1992-95. She has also been heavily involved on State Government Advisory Committees and in community groups.
Prof Helen Herrman
Helen is a public health physician and psychiatrist. She is Professor of Psychiatry at ORYGEN Youth Health, University of Melbourne and Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Mental Health in Melbourne, Australia. From 1992 to 2005, she was Professor and Director of Psychiatry in St. Vincent’s Mental Health Service Melbourne.
For a year in 2001-2002 she was acting regional adviser in mental health for the WHO’s Western Pacific Region. She is Secretary for Publications, World Psychiatric Association, and Regional Vice-President Oceania, World Federation for Mental Health.
For eight years to 2003 she served as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth). She led a global project for WHO in collaboration with VicHealth and the University of Melbourne on the evidence for mental health promotion, and is now pleased to act as WHO’s focal point for mental health promotion. Her other interests in international and public health include the assessment of outcomes and quality of life for people with disabilities.
Andrew Hewett
Andrew is Executive Officer of Oxfam Australia, and initially established the agency’s advocacy program, the organisation’s increasing focus on lobbying governments, public education and campaigning on social justice and development issues.
Over the years his responsibilities expanded to include Oxfam Australia’s domestic program and the coordination of Oxfam International’s response to the crisis in Timor from 1999 - 2001.
Andrew has also observed the Cancun and Hong Kong Ministerial conferences of the World Trade Organisation. Andrew is the vice-president of the Executive Committee of the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID), the peak council of non-government overseas development agencies.
Barbara Hocking
Since 1995, Barbara has been Executive Director of SANE Australia – the national mental health charity. SANE works for a better life for Australians affected by mental illness, through education, applied research and campaigning for improved services and attitudes
Barbara represents the community perspective on a wide range of committees and advisory groups. With special interests in suicide prevention and stigma reduction, she is a member of the National Advisory Council on Suicide Prevention and the National Media and Mental Health Group.
Previously SANE’s Education Coordinator, Barbara has previously worked in Health Promotion and Education in Australia, the United Kingdom and Papua New Guinea.
Keran Howe
Keran Howe is a social worker who has represented issues related to both women’s health and people women with disabilities in a host of roles. She is a past President of Women with Disabilities Australia (WWDA), Chair of the Disability Advisory Council of Victoria and member of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Women’s Health and Wellbeing.
She is currently a Member of the Board of Directors of Housing Choices Australia, and both Leadership Plus and the Domestic Violence Victoria Governance Groups.
In these roles Keran has advocated for women’s health and for the issues confronting people with disabilities and represented these issues as a keynote speaker at a number of national and international conferences. In 2001 Keran was awarded a Centenary Medal for her contribution on behalf of people with disabilities. Keran is currently Executive Officer of Victorian Women with Disabilities Network.
Dr Garth Japhet
Garth is a doctor qualifying at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1987, with further qualifications in maternal and child health. In 1992 he founded Soul City: the Institute for Health and Development Communication and was executive director until June 08. Today Soul City: IHDC is recognized as one of the foremost and most evaluated development communications organizations in the world. It works in 12 countries. It has produced award wining TV and radio series and consistently reaches over 45 million people in the region. It communicates around all aspects of public health using a multimedia edutainment approach. It also uses community mobilisation and advocacy.
In 2001 he established Heartlines, an organisation with a similar programmatic approach to Soul City: IHDC, but with the objective of narrowing the gap between peoples professed values and their actions in order to impact on major social problems. He is now full time CEO.
Asso Prof Tony LaMontagne
Tony’s interest is in developing scientific and public understanding of work as a social determinant of health, and contributing to improvements in policy and practice aimed at protecting people from the harmful effects of work as well as optimising the health-promoting aspects.
LaMontagne draws on his strong occupational health background, but integrates it with health promotion, sociological, historical, labour relations, and other perspectives. He collaborates widely and across multiple disciplines to advance understanding of the relationships between work and health, and to translate such knowledge into workplace health policy and practice.
Janet Meagher AM
Janet Meagher is Director of Development for Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association, former Honorary Secretary of World Federation for Mental Health (2002-2005), inaugural Consumer Chairperson of the National Consumer & Carer Forum and a renowned international consumer advocate, speaker and lecturer.
For close to three decades Janet has worked to improve and effect change in status and recognition of MH consumers, mental health rights, legislation, policies and education. She is involved in reference groups and advisory committees both locally and internationally, and her work focuses on the organisation, planning and implementation of conferences, seminars, resources and training programs. In 1996 she was awarded an Order of Australia for her work, and in 2000 received the TheMHS Gold Award for Exceptional Contribution to Mental Health Services (2000).
Asso Prof Harry Minas
Harry graduated in medicine and surgery, and medical science, from the University of Melbourne, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists in 1985. He has served as a member of the Executive of the Mental Health Council of Australia and is on numerous state, national and international boards and committees. He has also been a member of state and national ministerial advisory groups.
Harry has been prominent in the development of research, teaching and service development activities in the area of transcultural mental health and in the field of international mental health development. He is consultant to the Commonwealth Department of Human Services, the International Organization for Migration, and the World Health Organization, and leads a WHO Collaborating Centre for Mental Health and Substance Abuse.
Dr Rob Moodie
Rob is Professor of Global Health at the Nossal Institute for Global Health at the University of Melbourne. Between 1998 and 2007 he was the CEO of VicHealth. His major interests are in prevention and health promotion.
Since 1979 he has worked for Save the Children Fund, Medicins Sans Frontieres, the Aboriginal Health Service in Alice Springs, the Burnet Institute and for WHO and UNAIDS.
Rob chairs the Technical Panel to the Gates Foundation’s HIV prevention program in India, and the Melbourne Storm Rugby League Club. He is co-editor of three books, including Promoting Mental Health. Concepts, Emerging Evidence, Practice and Hands on Health Promotion, and has just published Recipes for a Great Life with chef Gabriel Gate.
Dr Carles Muntaner
Carles is the chair in psychiatry and addictions nursing research in the social policy and prevention research department at the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health (CAMH). He is also a professor at the faculty of nursing with a cross-appointment in the department of public health sciences, faculty of medicine, University of Toronto.
An active and dedicated scholar in social epidemiology for many years, Muntaner has contributed many policy resolutions on social determinants of health to the American Public Health Association including a study of community violence; expansion of Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations over home work places; and elimination of racism in maternal and child health.
Muntaner has conducted research in disadvantaged communities in the US, the European Union, Latin America and Western Africa and has provided intellectual leadership for public health with his pioneering work in areas of health disparities and social inequalities in health.
Michael Murray
Michael has over twenty years experience of senior management in the British National Health Service where he managed a range of hospitals, was the Chief Executive of a Mental Health NHS Trust and served on a number of national and international committees.
Michael is co-founder and Chief Executive of the Clifford Beers Foundation and editor of the International Journal of Mental Health Promotion. He has led a range of global initiatives in the promotion/prevention field, acted as an expert advisor to the European Commission and provided consultancy support to a range of private and public agencies, both in the UK and overseas.
Michael is a member of the Advisory Board of INTERCAMHS and is a standing member of the Biennial Conference Committee for the World Conferences on the Promotion of Mental Health and Prevention of Mental and Behavioral Disorders.
Dr Yin Paradies
Yin is an Aboriginal-Anglo-Asian Darwinian who has lived in Melbourne since 2007. He is currently a Research Fellow on the NHMRC Capacity-building in Indigenous Policy Relevant Health Research (CIPHER) program at the Menzies School of Health Research and the University of Melbourne.
Yin has qualifications in mathematics and computing, medical statistics, public health and social epidemiology and has taught at the postgraduate level in epidemiology, biostatistics, demography and multicultural competence for public health practitioners. His research focuses the health effects of racism as well as anti-racism theory, policy and practice.
Yin has received a range of awards including a Fulbright scholarship to study at the University of California, the Australia Day Council’s 2002 Young Achiever of the Year award, and Scholar of the Year in the 2007 National NAIDOC Awards.
Jimmy Pham
Jimmy Pham is the founder and now CEO of KOTO (Know One, Teach One) international. KOTO is a 120-seat restaurant, registered charity and highly regarded vocational training program, where street kids learn the hospitality skills to end the cycle of poverty. The program also teaches English, health, hygiene, sport and other life skills.
KOTO boasts a 100% percent graduate employment rate, and 35% of the KOTO restaurant staff are former graduates. In 2005, ABC Australia aired the program “Jimmy’s Kitchen”, which was viewed by an audience of millions. In 2006 Jimmy received the prestigious James Strong Outstanding Leadership Award for his achievements.
Prof David Pilgrim
David is Professor of Mental Health Policy at the University of Central Lancashire and Honorary Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Liverpool. He has worked across the boundary of the British National Health Service and higher education for the past 30 years. Currently he is leading an evaluation of 10 mental health innovation sites in England and Scotland, commissioned by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts.
His academic interests include mental health policy analysis, the mental health professions and user views of services. With a background in both clinical psychology and medical sociology he has published widely in the broad field of mental health research.
Asso Prof Louise Rowlings
Louise Rowling has established over a 30 year period a national and international reputation for work on school health particularly drug and alcohol education, loss and grief, health promoting schools, and mental health and wellbeing.
Louise was a Chief Investigator for the development phase of MindMatters, Australia’s national mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention strategy in schools. In the dissemination phase she chaired the Evaluation Committee. Louise’s publications include Mental Health Promotion and Young People: Concepts and Practice and a chapter Intersectoral Approaches to Mental Health Promotion in the WHO publication Promoting Mental Health.
Louise leads global policy and advocacy activities for school mental health with a particular focus on wellbeing. As the inaugural President of INTERCAMHS she is heading a collaboration with the International Confederation of Principals to advance school mental health promotion globally. As a first planning step in this project Louise is co-ordinating an International Survey of Principals concerning Mental Health and Well-Being.
Dr Lena Sanci
Lena Sanci is a senior lecturer in the Department of General Practice, University of Melbourne. She leads a research program area on improving Young people’s Health through Primary Care and teaches medical students. She is a general practitioner by training but over the last 3 years has focussed her clinical work on young people’s health.
Lena spent a decade at The Centre for Adolescent Health, Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne where she began her research and clinical career in adolescent medicine and completed a PhD in the design and trial of an intervention for GPs in adolescent health care. For this work she was awarded the New Investigator Award by the Society of Adolescent Medicine (US) and a Premier's Award for Medical Research Commendation (Vic).
Dr Lyndall Strazdins
Lyndall works at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, the Australian National University. She spearheads a range of research initiatives on work, families and child wellbeing, including input into the work and family module of the Federal funded Longitudinal Study of Australian Children.
A variety of recent, major social policy documents have drawn on her research to underline the importance of employed parents’ and their children’s wellbeing for work and family policy. A recent paper on this topic was ranked in the top 20 papers published for that year and nominated for the 2007 Rosabeth Moss Kanter Award for Excellence in Work-Family Research (Strazdins et al, 2006. Journal of Marriage and the Family).
Lyndall and her colleagues have also recently developed an index of working parent’s job quality, identifying conditions and practices that can optimise and support parents’ and their children’s wellbeing (in the Australian Bulletin of Labour, 2007). The index can be used by policy and workplaces for benchmarking, monitoring and evaluation.
Dr Helen Szoke
Helen is the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Conciliator of the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission and has held this position since December 2004.
She has previously held positions relating to management, community development, organisational development and regulation in the education and health sectors.Helen is currently a member of the National Health and Medical Research Licensing Committee, Director of the Adult Migrant Education Services and Director of the Melbourne High School Foundation.
Chris Tanti
Chris is the CEO of headspace – Australia’s National Youth Mental Health Foundation. Facilitating a crucial role in the implementation of a world-first model in early intervention in youth mental health and with the support of key partners, Chris and headspace are changing the way mental health services are delivered for young people across Australia.
Having always been passionate about improving mental health services in the community, Chris began his career working in hospitals and then went on to manage various programs and hospitals both within the public and private sectors.
Through advocacy via media commentary to guiding the major social marketing campaign and engaging key corporate and Government supporters, headspace is working to set the foundations for major change.
Genevieve Timmons
Genevieve is Philanthropic Executive with the Portland House Foundation, which operates to reduce social disadvantage. She has wide and deep knowledge of the role of trusts and foundations, based on extensive work with individual donors, families, corporations and government grant-making endeavours. A specialist interest is in how philanthropy can promote a just and inclusive society.
Expertise has been intensified by international exchange with more than 20 countries, and strong involvement with the New Zealand philanthropy sector.
Genevieve is a Fellow of the International Philanthropy program at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA, which offers a vantage point to monitor emerging trends and challenges for philanthropy across the world.
Karma Tshiteem
Karma Tshiteem is the Secretary of the Gross National Happiness Commission (GNHC) Secretariat, which is the organisation within the Royal Government that is responsible for formulating policies and plans as well as monitoring and coordinating their implementation, and periodic evaluation. The secretariat provides all services related to the GNHC, and is also responsible for coordinating all external assistance to Bhutan as well as supporting the development of local governments in line with the newly enacted Constitution.
Karma has an MBA from University of Canberra, and has worked as a volunteer with the AIDS Council of Canberra, Deputy Secretary of the Policy and Planning Division of the Ministry of Finance and Director of the Department of Public Accounts.
In addition to his regular duties, Karma Tshiteem has served on various boards and committees. He was also a member of Bhutan’s WTO Accession negotiation team. Currently, he is on the board of Druk Holdings and Investments, the Royal Monetary Authority, and the Tourism Council of Bhutan.
Lyn Walker
Lyn is the Director of the VicHealth Mental Health and Wellbeing Unit. She has a background in organisational development and administration and has worked in the public health field for the past twenty years. Lyn's predominant areas of focus have included development of gender specific services and programs and advocacy for legislative and policy reform in key areas relevant to social justice, health and human rights.
Lyn has developed a range of publications. She was co-editor of Mental Health Promotion and Young People, made significant contribution to the development of the first International monograph: Mental Health Promotion: Concepts, Emerging Evidence and Practice, and has supported policy and program development at the national and state levels.
In addition, Lyn has overseen VicHealth’s relationship with the Global Consortium for Advancement of Promotion and Prevention and managed the current conference From Margins to Mainstream.
Kim Webster
Kim is a social work graduate with over 20 years experience in direct care, policy development and program management in both the government and non-government sectors. Kim has a particular interest in strengthening the role of social and economic policy to address the social determinants of health.
In her recent work she has had a particular focus on mental health promotion through the prevention of ethnic and race based discrimination, supporting settlement of new arrivals to Australia and addressing gender based violence. In her current role at the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation, she leads a program of research and project activity designed to address ethnic and race based discrimination
Prof Mark D Weist
Mark is a professor at the University of Maryland (UM) and has been involved in school mental health (SMH) training, practice, research and policy since 1991. He directs the Center for School Mental Health, one of two federally funded national centers that are providing leadership to the advancement of SMH policies and programs in the United States.
Mark helped to found the International Alliance for Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Schools (INTERCAMHS), and with colleagues from the Clifford Beers Foundation and UM, he has started the new journal Advances in School Mental Health Promotion.
Dr Janice Wilson
Janice held the position of DDG, Mental Health for seven years. She is currently Deputy Director-General, Population Health Directorate. She joined the Department of Health in March 1993 as Director of Mental Health, and was also appointed to the position of Chief Psychiatric Advisor in July 1993, later called Chief Advisor, Mental Health in 1997.
Prior to joining the Ministry, Janice was Manager of Mental Health Services for the Wellington Area Health Board. A psychiatrist and Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, Janice held the honorary position of President from May 1997 until June 1999.
Janice also holds a Diploma in Health Administration and a certificate of Health Economics from Victoria University. She has worked both clinically as a psychiatrist and as a Manager in Mental Health Services.
Prof John Wiseman
John is Director of The McCaughey Centre, VicHealth Centre for the Promotion of Mental Health and Community Wellbeing, School of Population Health, University of Melbourne.
John has worked in a wide variety of academic, community and public sector settings and has published numerous books and articles on public policy and the impacts and implications of globalisation. Between 2003 and 2006 he was Professor of Public Policy at Victoria University. Between 2000 and 2003 he was Assistant Director, Policy Development and Research in the Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet.
Leonie Young
Leonie joined beyondblue as CEO in July 2003 with the responsibility of consolidating its development and leading the national, independent organisation through a successful evaluation to achieve a second funded term, to 2010. Leonie was previously State Manager of the Northern Territory Office of the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing and has a background in the public sector.
As CEO, Leonie has been instrumental in assisting beyondblue to expand its community activities and collaborations, across states, governments and sectors, drawing on her considerable experience in population health, health service reform and community partnerships. With the goal of improving knowledge of depression and reaching people, however remote their base, Leonie is looking to build upon beyondblue’s considerable achievements in depression awareness, prevention and early intervention within the health, education and employment sectors.
Leonie aims to strengthen beyondblue’s national leadership, to increase the capacity of the community to prevent depression and respond effectively - opening eyes to depression across Australia.
Mrs Rosalynn Carter
