CHARLES DARWIN SYMPOSIUM SERIES 2005

Speakers

Professor Ian Anderson

Bio:

Ian Anderson currently holds the Chair in Indigenous Health at the University of Melbourne. 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. He is also currently the Research Director for the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) in Aboriginal Health.

Ian has worked in Aboriginal health for about 18 years in a number of clinical/health care and administrative/policy roles. Whilst the Administrator of the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service he played a key role in establishing a community based research program, with a focus on youth health and issues for injecting drug users. He has been active in academic publishing, particularly in the health social sciences, since this time. During his time as Medical Adviser to the Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health he contributed to the development, in collaboration with the National Health and Medical Research Council, to a priority driven research agenda in Aboriginal health.

Abstract:

From Blessing to Benchmark: Indigenous Health and Human Rights

Aboriginal health policy and strategy has for the last thirty years emphasised notions of equity and Indigenous rights. This reflects the influence of the Aboriginal health movement that developed from the late 1960s. Contemporary Aboriginal policy is, however, based on an 'outcomes' framework, emphasising 'practical' as opposed to 'symbolic' reconciliation. This new approach to Aboriginal policy has been developed in opposition to a rights based approach. Are these two fundamentally distinct strategies? What, if any, are the policy, strategic and institutional connections between outcomes and rights? "

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Mrs Pat Anderson

Bio:

Pat Anderson is the Executive Officer of the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory (AMSANT), which is the peak indigenous health organisation in the Northern Territory. She is also the Chair of the Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health, an exciting collaboration of twelve member organisations representing research users, research providers, policy makers and service delivery agencies all working to improve aboriginal health. Pat was the CEO of Danila Dilba, the Aboriginal Community controlled health service in Darwin and then the Chair of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO), the peak national indigenous health organisation.

Pat has spoken on issues to the United Nations working group on indigenous people. Pat is an Alyawaare woman and has extensive experience in all aspects of indigenous health including community development, advocacy, policy formation and research ethics. She is also a prolific writer and has had many essays, papers and articles published.

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Mr Geoffrey (Jacko) Angeles

Bio:

Born and bred in Darwin.

Birth certificate Address: Hut 31, Parap Camp.

Traditional owner of the Finnis River Land Trust. Officially handed back to us on February 28, 1993. The FRLT covers an area of 218 sq kms which covers areas surrounding Batchelor Township and Litchfield National Park, and sections of the Adelaide River region.

Family clans: Great grandmother country (FRLT) - Kungarakan 'Paperbark People'.

Grandmother country: Gurindji (areas surrounding Lajamanu, Darguragu & Kalkaringi)

Adopted clan: Rirritjingu (country is the sunset side of Port Bradshaw, Cape Arnhem and Yirrkala). Yolngu name: Djarrmiyingu (Brolga man).

Entertainment

Appeared on a cooking show series on ABC Message Stick (Sydney ABC) cooking bush foods, and our own multicultural Darwin style of cooking.
Featured in documentary about 'Old Darwin' called "Buffalo Legends". Played the part of my grandfather during the Chief Protector days (of Native Affairs - back then); and another role as footy coach of the 'Buffaloes'. This film has been played at the deckchair cinema and can be bought from Ronin Films in Canberra.
Co-MC'd with Ted Egan at the esplanade 'Festival of Darwin' show, titled "Stringbands and Shakehand Gala". This show encapsulated the days of good old Darwin when music and entertainment by the ' coloureds ' of Darwin was a way of combating the racism and discrimination during the 'White Australia Policy' days.

MSHR

Started in April 1994
Projects associated around Heart Health, particularly Rheumatic Heart Disease .
Developed Rhf package (video & 2 booklets) which won the NTPS Plain English Award, 1998 (Norma Benger and myself, with assistance from Jonathon Carapetis and Bart Currie).
Chief Investigator . Successfully secured funding from a submission I wrote and sent to RHSET (Rural Health Support Education & Training) to evaluate the Rheumatic fever information package being used (re above).
Seconded to THS (3 months) to develop and facilitate the Aboriginal Cultural Awareness Program (along with local Malak Malak woman Denella Beer)
CRC project - Pneumococcal Feasibility Project . Visited the Navajo and White Mountain Apache in Arizona and New Mexico to discuss some of the issues with pneumococcal vaccinations on Indigenous nations.
CRC project: National Review and Refinement of the National Performance Indicators on Indigenous Health. This project considered the views and understandings of national HAHU (Heads of Aboriginal Health Units) around the country. In assistance with the then Director of the CRC, Mr Tony Barnes we traveled the west coast region to major towns and cities interviewing people directly related to utilizing these indicators.
CRC project: Forgetting Compliance . Assisted Kim Humphries, Tarun Weeramanthri and Joseph Fitz on this project re issues relating to 'patient compliance' as well as GP views expectations.
Ear Health. Narrated a training video for the education and understanding of otitis media (middle ear infection) to Aboriginal Health Workers and other allied health staff on improved diagnostic procedures.
DRUID - invited on project mid-way as Chief Investigator to assist with recruitment and promotion (of project).

Other activities

Pimatisiwin Journal: An Editorial Board Member on a 'Journal of Aboriginal and Indigenous Community Health' in Canadian and northwestern territories.
Facilitator - for the Indigenous Employment Forum held at Strangers Lounge, Parliament House 13 th & 14 th December 2004. An initiative of the Office of Commissioner for Public Employment (OCPE) and IPAA, looking at ways to better engage, employ and sustain Indigenous people with sound jobs.
Facilitator - (8 th , 9 th , 10 th Feb 05) for the Visiting Elders Program held at Palms Resort, the Esplanade. An initiative of the Justice Department, ATSIC and Correctional Services, looking at ways to reduce re-offending of Indigenous prisoners in the Northern Territory. Elders nominated by communities having a high percentage of their people in prison were selected to visit inmates and reaffirm their responsibilities re culture, law, & programs.
Liaison Committee Member of the FRLT. This position requires me to meet with Land Council staff and mining companies re exploration licences and mining interests on areas within the FRLT. I was nominated by the elders to represent their views.

Qualifications

B App Sc degree in Aboriginal Community Management & Development, through Curtin Uni, Perth WA. 1997
Diploma in Business (Frontline Management). CDU 2004
Coaching Certificate - Grade 1. Australian Rules Football (refresher 2005)

Abstract:

The Evolution of Indigenous Health Research

What does this actually mean? Is it more about 'How Indigenous Health Research has Evolved?' One may then ask - "but what is classified as Indigenous Health Research?". If I was asked these same questions, I would say that indigenous people have long practiced research, with the majority of it relating to their health. For instance, how were medicinal foods and treatments discovered in the Indigenous economy? The 'evolution of Indigenous health research' may be more related to the evolution of Indigenous health researchers - which my talk will allude to. Indigenous primitive research methods did not have all the 'extras' of how research is conducted today, but they certainly had ethical, moral, and cultural standards associated.

There has definitely been an increase of Indigenous people getting involved in the research agenda, and this is something quite significant, considering some of the bleak statistics describing the health of Indigenous people today.

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Professor Nicholas Anstey

Bio:

Nick Anstey is Head of the International Health Programme at Menzies School of Health Research and an infectious diseases physician at Royal Darwin Hospital. From 1989-1996 he undertook malaria research in The Gambia, UK, Tanzania and USA. He returned to Darwin in 1996 to establish the Malaria-TB research collaboration between MSHR and the Indonesian Ministry of Health. Since 1999 this collaboration has been undertaking malaria and TB research and training in Timika, Papua, Indonesia. His principal research interests are in the pathophysiology, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of malaria.

Abstract:

The burden of malaria in our region is underappreciated and getting worse. In the Asia-Pacific region over 1.4 billion people in are exposed to infection of whom over 200 million will have a clinical infection each year. The consequences of this are huge and represent a major impediment to economic growth and the improvement of heath status of our regional neighbours. A major contributor to this burden is the emergence strains of malaria resistant to multiple antimalarial drugs. Drug-resistant malaria undermines all other efforts in malaria control. OECD Governments and transnational funding agencies have been reluctant to fund newer effective antimalarial drugs that will reduce illness and death from malaria.

In collaboration with the Indonesian Ministry of Health, we have been conducting research and training in Papua (formerly Irian Jaya) aimed at informing antimalarial policy and reducing illness and death from malaria. Community-based studies have demonstrated the efficacy and safety of these new antimalarial regimens in Papua. In 2005-06 the Ministry will change policy in the local region (a population of 130,000) and we will prospectively monitor the impact and cost effectiveness of policy change.

In hospital based studies we are investigating ways of improving the management of severe malaria using the new artemisinin derivatives and adjunctive therapies. Community and hospital studies will continue to be facilitated by training activities and pathophysiology, immunology and molecular laboratory work conducted in both Papua and Darwin.

Major obstacles to improved malaria control by 2020 are political commitment, sustaining funding for effective antimalarial and vector control activities, and improving access to effective primary health care services.

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Professor Lesley Barclay

Bio:

Lesley Barclay (AO PhD) is the foundation Professor of Health Services Development at C harles Darwin University . Previously she was the founding professor and D irector of the Centre for Family Health and Midwifery. As Chief Investigator she guided medical and midwifery colleagues in one of the first National Health and Medical Research Council Centres of Clinical E xcellence in Research , focusing on improvements to maternity services. She is currently leading research into maternity services in China funded by ARC in partnership with 2 Provincial governments. Lesley has led 30 research projects and been successful with 8 NHMRC and ARC grants in the last decade, supervised 26 major research theses to completion and published 25 refereed journal articles and 15 major reports for government since 1997.

Lesley has worked in International development for nearly 20 years , as a technical adviser to governments, AusAID, World Bank and WHO in provision of primary health car, maternal infant/child health and capacity building in health worker education systems. This work has occurred in Asia, Melanesia and the Pacific Islands. Lesley has also served on a variety of national committees such as the NHMRC Council for two terms and is currently a ministerial appointee to the Australian Council for Safety and Quality. She was awarded an AO this year in recognition of her contribution to professional and international developments and child health.

Abstract:

The 'Other' is the one who is different from oneself, the concept helps with self identity and marginalises those who are different. There is a tendency to attribute a health problem to the other's cultural beliefs and practices (i.e. shyness, belief about disease causation) rather than to discriminatory attitudes and practices of health practitioners that act as barriers to health care. 'Othering', has been associated with population health consequences such as shorter life expectancy, higher infant mortality and hypertension. We have also found over many years work in neonatal nurseries elsewhere, while almost certainly exacerbated by ethnic difference, that the underlying mechanism is not only racism or discrimination. I will tell 4 stories around babies that were born too early that each in their own way has contributed to the work we are now beginning around Australian Aboriginal family and birth. This is based on research done in Samoa over a decade, now beginning in China. The focus of these stories is the mother who gives birth to a baby a few weeks early.

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Dr Alex Brown

Bio:

Alex Brown is an Indigenous doctor, with at least seven years of indirect involvement in Aboriginal Health, and over 5 years of direct experience in Aboriginal Health education, policy, service delivery, public health, epidemiology, research and research ethics.

Dr Brown has a growing national profile in Indigenous cardiovascular disease research and policy development, through a range of specific projects, and national reference/advisory group activities. He has presented extensively across the country, in New Zealand and in Israel on the complex patterns and determinants of Indigenous health, communicable disease control in Aboriginal community contexts, the disparity in chronic diseases burdens faced by Indigenous Australians and in the growing area of Indigenous male health.

Dr Brown commenced his PhD in 2005, exploring the potential synergistic relationships between psychosocial stress, depression and cardiovascular disease. He is also leading the first ever analysis of quality of care across the continuum for Indigenous people with acute cardiovascular disease.

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Dr Ngiare Brown

Bio:

Ngaire Brown is an Aboriginal woman from the south coast of New South Wales and one of the first half dozen identified Aboriginal medical graduates in Australia. Dr Brown graduated from the University of Newcastle, has obtained a Masters of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and is currently an Advanced Trainee with the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine.

In 1992, Dr Brown graduated with a scholarship from the RAN and spent her initial post-graduate years in acute care settings as an Emergency Medicine trainee. In 1997, she moved specifically into Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, working in policy, medical workforce development and medical education. Past positions have included Indigenous Health Advisor to the Federal AMA, Senior Lecturer (Indigenous Health) UNSW and ANU, and Manager Preventative Health Programs for World Vision Australia's Indigenous Programs.

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Dr Chris Burns

Bio:

Chris Burns was elected to the Northern Territory Parliament in August 2001. He was appointed a Cabinet Minister in October 2002. He is currently Minister responsible for the portfolios of Transport and Infrastructure; Lands and Planning; Parks and Wildlife; and Essential Services.

Previously Dr Burns was a Research Officer and Public Health and Research Development Committee Scholar at Menzies School of Health Research (1992-1997). His main research areas related to Aboriginal Health, particularly the delivery of health services and the development of programs to address drug and alcohol issues.

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His Excellency Mr Imron Cotan
The Ambassador Extraordinary And Plenipotentiary
Of The Republic of Indonesia To The Commonwealth Of Australia

Bio:

H.E. Mr. Imron Cotan was born on December 21, 1954 and is married to Mrs. Sri Nuraeni Cotan and they have two daughters and a son. He graduated from the Faculty of Socio-Political Sciences, Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta - the oldest university in Indonesia - majoring in international relations in 1982.

In 1983 Mr. Cotan joined the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) that has ever since assigned and entrusted him with various duties and responsibilities. Immediately after graduating from DFA's diplomatic course for junior diplomats (1984), he was assigned to supervise Indonesia's bilateral cooperation with friendly countries in the field of environmental preservation. In 1986 he was sent to the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Indonesia to UN Office in Geneva, Switzerland, as third secretary, entrusted to handle matters related to intellectual property rights. In 1989 he was instructed to participate in the UN Disarmament Fellowship Program to familiarize himself with those intricate issues of the maintenance of international peace and security before taking up a new position as chief of disarmament section, Directorate of International Organizations, Directorate General for Political Affairs - DFA Jakarta. He functioned as such for two years.

In 1992 he was again sent to Indonesia's Permanent Mission in Geneva, Switzerland, as second secretary and afterward promoted to first secretary to become the section chief for international peace and security affairs during which he was intensively involved with, and engaged in, various negotiating forums such as, inter alia , the Conference on Disarmament, Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) Conferences, Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) Conferences, and Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review and Extension Conferences (1992-1997) and, UN General Assembly (1986-2001). During the NPT Review and Extension Conference (1995), Mr. Cotan was the spokesman for the Non-Aligned Movement as well as Indonesia's chief negotiator in Main Committee I dealing with issues related not only to the review and extension of the NPT, but also to the maintenance of international peace and security, especially weapons of mass-destruction issues.

Returning to DFA in Jakarta (1997), Mr. Cotan briefly served as Deputy Director for Mass Media, Directorate of Information, Directorate General for Socio-cultural Relations whose primary responsibility was to monitor as well issue permits for foreign correspondents or journalists operating in Indonesia. In 1998, he was promoted as Deputy Assistant to the Minister State Secretary for Political Affairs, State Secretariat (Office of the President) responsible for policy formulation on a wide-range of issues pertinent to Indonesia's foreign relations. In 2000 this office was liquidated and transformed into the Bureau for International Studies that Mr. Cotan also had the honor to become its first director. During this period, President Megawati Soekarnoputri accorded Mr. Cotan ' Satya Wirakarya ' Medal of Honor, acknowledging his outstanding services rendered to the nation, Indonesian government and its people. On May 2002, he was appointed as Minister/Deputy Chief of Mission of the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra, Australia.

He was recalled to Jakarta, August 2003, and briefly served as Senior Official seconded to the Indonesian Minister for Foreign Affairs. He was later on appointed as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Indonesia to the Commonwealth of Australia and presented his Letters of Credence to the Governor General of Australia, Major-General Michael Jefferry, at Government House, Canberra, on November 28, 2003.

Canberra, 1 December 2003

Abstract:

The Indonesian/Northern Territory Partnership in Public Health

The Northern Territory shares many natural characteristics with Indonesia, particularly its eastern regions, such as climate, and floral and faunal species. They also share similar health issues.

The flow of people and goods between these regions will increase as a result of globalisation. In particular, there will be an increase in trade and ease of travel. The impending free trade agreement between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Australia-New Zealand Closer Economic Relations, to be fully implemented within the next decade, will serve to strengthen the relationship between these regions.

Indonesia and the Northern Territory have a collaborative mechanism in place to deal with public health issues, and a number of successes have been registered in the fight against malaria and tuberculosis. New communicable diseases, which have been greatly facilitated by globalisation, are coming to the fore, such as HIV/AIDS, SARS, and Avian Influenza.

The key to further cooperation and collaboration is, therefore, striking a balance between easing the movement of people and goods on the one hand, and preventing the spread of diseases on the other. When diseases do occur, they must be treated through joint efforts.

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Professor Bart Currie

Bio:

Bart Currie is an Infectious Diseases Physician at Royal Darwin Hospital and Professor in Medicine at the Northern Territory Clinical School, Flinders University. He is also Head of the Tropical and Emerging Infectious Diseases Division of the Menzies School of Health Research in Darwin and Program Leader of the Biomedical Program in the Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health. Areas of interest include clinical and epidemiological aspects of tropical and emerging infections, development of treatment guidelines and clinical toxinology.

Abstract:

Emergence, Reintroduction and Escalation of Infectious Diseases: What's on the horizon for Northern Australia and the Region?

Bart Currie, Menzies School of Health Research & Northern Territory Clinical School, Royal Darwin Hospital

In recent years SARS and avian influenza have resulted in major public health responses and heightened concern for regional epidemics and a global pandemic. In Australasia a number of bat-associated viruses have emerged which cause potentially fatal disease in humans and animals. Dengue virus has expanded within the region and both virus and the mosquito vector, Aedes aegypti , have defied contemporary control measures. Japanese encephalitis virus has also expanded to include much of Papua New Guinea, with incursions into northern Australia. With amplification in the feral pig population JE could become established across tropical northern Australia, including the Northern Territory. Melioidosis occurs in much of the region but remains under-diagnosed in many likely endemic locations. Leptospirosis and various rickettsial infections are also important, but with accurate diagnosis problematic their epidemiology requires better elucidation. With global warming it is predicted that all these diseases will have potential for expansion. In addition to the environmental changes that are predicted to occur with global warming, current environmental destruction and in particular burning and clearing of rainforests in the region have been implicated in substantial and sometimes unexpected adverse effects on human health. Increasing resistance of pathogenic bacteria to commonly used antimicrobials is a major threat to health services throughout the region.

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Dr Sandra Eades

Bio:

Sandra Eades is a Senior Research Fellow in Aboriginal Health at the Institute for Health Research, Sydney. She is a medical epidemiologist with a specific interest in paediatric and perinatal epidemiology and the conduct of randomized controlled trials to test public health interventions in Aboriginal communities. Her PhD studies investigated the causal pathways and determinants of health among an urban cohort of Aboriginal infants in the first year of life. She is a Principal Investigator on the WA Aboriginal Child Health Survey and was particularly instrumental in engaging WA Aboriginal community linkages for this study and refining survey instruments in the developmental phase of the study.

Her current research involves the conduct of a randomized controlled trial of a culturally specific smoking intervention for pregnant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and the establishment of a major cohort study among NSW Aboriginal children and families attending urban Aboriginal Medical Services. She has just returned from presenting a diabetes prevention program for Aboriginal people in NSW as part of the Oxford Vision 2020 Movement to reduce chronic disease worldwide. Professor Eades is a member of Research Committee for the 2003-2005 NHMRC triennium and co-Chairs the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health working committee. She was recently appointed Conjoint Professor in the Faculty of Health at the University of Newcastle.

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Professor Garry Egger

Bio:

Garry Egger has qualifications in behavioural biology and epidemiology. He has been involved in health promotion and research in both Government and Industry for almost 30 years. He was initially a Research Scientist in the NSW Health Department and then Director of Health Promotion for the NSW Department of Sport and Recreation. Since 1982, Dr Egger has been Principle of the Centre for Health Promotion and Research in Sydney.

Professor Egger is well known for his work in health promotion, and in particular physical activity and weight control. He was an inaugural member of the Australian Fitness Accreditation Council and extensively involved in the development of Fitness Leader Training in Australia. More recently he has been involved in the development of training for personnel in weight control and has developed, and is scientific director for the GutBuster 'waist control' program for men, now run throughout Australia. He is a Council member of the Australian Society for the Study of Obesity and was a member of the NH&MRC committee on the prevention of obesity in Australia having contributed to much of the final document. Dr Egger is also a Fellow of ACHPER and a member of the ASMF. He has wide experience in both qualitative and quantitative research and has completed a large number of consultant reports including ' Sports injuries in Australia'; 'The economics of prevention in Australia', 'Skin cancer prevention', 'Nutrition in NSW'', 'A study of the Sydney Aboriginal community', 'Drug use in NSW Schoolchildren' and the original 'Costs and benefits of smoking' report in Australia. He has also written 18 books in the field including 4 texts (two in physical activity and one in obesity), has over 60 peer reviewed scientific articles and directed several health related videos and audio tapes. Dr Egger is currently an Adjunct Professor in the School of Health Sciences at Deakin University.

Abstract:

How Bill Gates Makes us Fat

Body weight is maintained at an equilibrium level by a fine balance of energy intake and energy expenditure. Small perturbations in this formula are compensated for by day-to-day biological adjustments. However over the longer term, a consistent imbalance results in a shift to a different equilibrium level. Large-scale population shifts in body weight reflect societal changes in energy balance favouring one or other, or both sides of the equation. In modern society, this is generally assumed to be in favour of increased intake in the form of readily accessible high energy-dense food. However, limited research suggests that daily physical activity levels (PALS) have decreased by up to 2/3 of that carried out by our forebears a little more than a century ago. These changes can be put down to both time-saving and time-using technologies, such as those epitomised by Henry Ford, and more recently Bill Gates.

Website:

http://www.professortrim.com/

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Professor Ian Gardner

Bio:

Ian Gardner is currently CEO of the CRC for Diagnostics and holds a professorial position in the School of Life Sciences at QUT. He held a number of research and academic positions in Immunology and Infectious Diseases, both in Australia and overseas, before spending 6 years the Menzies School of Health Research from 1985-1991. Following this he was Manager and Chief Scientist in Immunology at Queensland Medical Laboratory before taking up his present position in 2002.

His interests are in the application of biotechnology to improving diagnosis of disease, especially in the settings of point of care testing, field diagnosis, biosensing and bioterrorism.

Abstract:

How Menzies Made Me

I arrived at the Menzies School of Health Research in the latter part of 1985, not quite a foundation member but nearly. My background was in Immunology and Infectious Diseases, and this position represented a great opportunity to work with some 'real' health problems in an area of significant health disadvantage. My time at the School taught me many things that I was not anticipating - the particular problems involved with the function of an independent health research institute in a remote location, the plethora of issues that conspired to depress the health of Aboriginal people, the need for consultation and involvement, the importance of being able to do something about disease rather than just finding out about it. I learned a lot, but I suppose I was coming from a low baseline.

So how did Menzies influence where I am today? Since I left in 1991 I have effectively ceased to be an active research scientist. I took a position to run a unit in a large diagnostic laboratory, but one that had a significant role in diagnosis of the infectious diseases of Northern Australia. I involved this laboratory in the Cooperative Research Centre for Diagnostics, and became the CEO in 2002. This CRC is concerned with improving the way we diagnose disease, and a number of the research projects I am now responsible for address some of the health issues I was involved with when I was in Darwin. The links are still there - my time at the Menzies School has had a strong influence on what I am today, and will continue to do so.

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Mr Mick Gooda

Bio:

A descendent of the Gangulu people of Central Queensland, is well known in indigenous affairs throughout Australia, having advocated and represented on behalf of Aboriginal people for the last 25 years. Specifically, Mr Gooda's extensive work history has involved the delivery of policy and program development and advocacy in Queensland, Victoria, the ACT and Western Australia, where he was the Manager of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) State office. His most recent position in Government was as the Chief Executive Officer of ATSIC and possibly its last employee.

He is currently the CEO of the Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health (CRCAH).

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Robert Griew

Bio:

Robert Griew was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Northern Territory Department of Health and Community Services in January 2003.

Mr Griew's public service background spans both health and community services, from children's services, disability and aged care to public health and Aboriginal health. He has worked extensively in the Commonwealth Departments of Community Services and Health.

Mr Griew has been involved in governments increasing their involvement in Aboriginal health, rural and remote service delivery and implementing funding reform in health and community services

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Dr Shane Houston

Bio:

Shane Houston is a Gangulu man from Central Queensland. He has worked in Aboriginal Affairs for more than 30 years with the majority of that time in the health and employment areas. He has held many positions at local, state, national and international levels including a stint with the World Council of Indigenous Peoples in Canada and as an Australia representative to various UN Forums. He has played a significant role in Aboriginal health over many years through various Ministerial Working Parties and Councils including the National Aboriginal Health Strategy Working Party in 1989. Dr Houston completed his PhD at Curtin University in 2003 graduating with a Chancellor's Commendation.

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Assoc Professor Paul Kelly

Bio:

Paul Kelly is a public health physician and academic. Paul spent his early years in Perth where he graduated with a medical degree in 1984. His public health and research career have led him to work in Malawi, East Timor, Indonesia and in three Australian juristictions. He moved to Darwin with his wife and two children in 1997 and is currently Head of the Education & Training Division at Menzies School of Health Research. His main research interests are in tuberculosis control in low-income settings. In 2004, he was awarded a Career Development Award from the National Health and Medical Research Council to allow him to further develop his research program aimed at building locally appropriate health systems to improve tuberculosis control in Australia and in countries to our near North.

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Dr Andrew Laming

Bio:

Andrew Laming graduated medicine before embarking on a 15 year transition to Federal Parliament, via public health research in Lajamanu with Menzies in 1994-5. Other career highlights include remote and rural family practice, sports medicine in South Africa, a 1992 Diploma of Obstetrics in London and landmine clearing and ICRC war surgery in Afghanistan .

While training in Ophthalmology at Sydney Eye Hospital, he worked in developing economies from Madagascar to Cuba and returned to the 'top end' as Community Eye registrar at Darwin Hospital in 1997 where he established Australia's first mobile eye disease database (RedANT) with Dr Masoud Mahmood. From this work he gained an MPP from Charles Darwin University in 2000.

After a Harvard MPA in the same year, he joined the World Bank Group as a consultant in human development, then was seconded to the East Timor Transitional Authority as a health planning specialist, once again collaborating with Menzies. After working as medical advisor to then Health Minister Kay Patterson then as major reviewer of Indigenous community organisations with ATSIC, he won the seat of Bowman in the Redland area of Brisbane. He sits on the parliamentary standing committees of Public Accounts and Audit and Communications, IT, Arts and Sport. He lists his ultimate goal in public health as finally submitting his public health thesis to University of Sydney.

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Professor Alan Lopez

Bio:

Alan Lopez is Professor of Medical Statistics and Population Health and Head of the School of Population Health at the University of Queensland. Prior to joining the University in January 2003, he worked at the World Health Organisation in Geneva, Switzerland, for 22 years where he held a series of technical and senior managerial posts including Chief epidemiologist in WHO's Tobacco Control Program (1992-95), Manager of WHO's Program on Substance Abuse (1996-98), Director of the Epidemiology and Burden of Disease Unit (1999-2001) and Senior Science Advisor to the Director - General (2002).

He has published widely on mortality analysis and causes of death, including the impact of the global tobacco epidemic, and on the global descriptive epidemiology of major diseases, injuries and risk factors. He is the co-author of the seminal Global Burden of Disease Study (1996) which has greatly influenced debates about priority setting and resource allocation in health. He has been awarded major research grants in epidemiology, health services research and population health, chairs the Health and Medical Research Council of Queensland and is a member of Australia's Medical Services Advisory Committee.

Professor Lopez graduated with an honours degree in mathematics from the University of Western Australia in 1973 and took his Master of Science degree in Statistics at Purdue University in the USA. He was awarded a PhD in medical demography from the Australian National University in 1979. His principal research interests are in the analysis of mortality data, burden of disease methods and applications, and the quantification of the health effects of tobacco, particularly in developing countries. He has collaborated extensively with leading researchers throughout the world on these issues, particularly at Harvard and Oxford Universities.

Ten most influential publications (with annotation):

Murray CJL, Lopez AD , Wibulpolprasert S 2004. Monitoring global health: time for new solutions. BMJ , 329 : 1096-1100. Proposed a framework and mechanism for independent monitoring of progress with global health development.
Ezzati M, Lopez AD 2003. Estimates of global mortality attributable to smoking in 2000. Lancet , 362 : 847-852. Provided methods and results for assessing impact of global tobacco epidemic with annual toll (4.8 million) 40% higher than previously believed.
Murray CJL, Ferguson BD, Lopez AD , Guillot M, Salomon JA, Ahmad O 2003. Modified logit life table system: principles, empirical validation and application. Population Studies , 57 (2): 165-182. Proposed a new model life table system for use by developing countries and international agencies to more reliably estimate death rates at different ages in developing countries.
Ezzati M, Lopez AD , Rodgers A, Vander Hoorn S, Murray CJL 2002. Selected major risk factors and global and regional burden of disease. Lancet , 360 : 1347-1360. Presented methods and comparative global and regional magnitude of major risks to health in 2000.
Murray CJL, Lopez AD 1999. On the comparable quantification of health risks: lessons from the Global Burden of Disease Study. Epidemiology , 10 : 594 - 605. Laid out the Murray-Lopez comparative risk assessment framework for assessing health risks, which formed the basis of WHO's 2002 World Health Report and subsequent national adaptations (eg Thailand, Australia, USA).
Lopez AD 1998. Counting the dead in China: measuring tobacco's impact in the developing world. BMJ , 317 : 1339-40. This editorial drew attention to the current and worsening tobacco epidemic in China, and on innovative methods for quantifying health effects in poor countries.
Lopez AD , Murray CJL 1998. The Global Burden of Disease, 1990 - 2020. Nature Medicine 4 (11): 1241-43. Provided the first ever global comparative assessment of risk factor impact for 10 leading exposures in 1990, including tobacco, alcohol, blood pressure, malnutrition and unsafe sex.
Thun MS, Peto R, Lopez AD , Monaco JH, Henley SJ, Heath C, Doll R 1997. Alcohol consumption and mortality in middle-aged and elderly US adults. NEJM , 377 : 1705-14. Assessment of the health effects of alcohol use based on the largest epidemiological cohort ever followed.
Murray CJL, Lopez AD 1996. The Global Burden of Disease: a comprehensive assessment of mortality and disability from diseases, injuries and risk factors in 1990 and projected to 2020 . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press on behalf of the World Bank and WHO. Set out in detail the methods, data sources and key findings of the first ever global assessment of the major causes of disease burden, incorporating both death and non-fatal health outcomes. Has substantially influenced priority setting methods in health in more than 50 countries and in major development agencies such as WHO and the World Bank.
Peto R, Lopez AD , Boreham J, Thun M, Heath C 1992. Mortality from tobacco in developed countries: indirect estimation from national vital statistics. Lancet , 339 : 1268-78. Presented the theoretical basis for, and application of the Peto-Lopez method for estimating deaths from tobacco based solely on vital statistics. Has been widely used for tobacco control policy and advocacy .

Abstract:

The challenge of non-communicable disease in our near neighbours: a disease burden perspective

The Asia-Pacific Region is undergoing a phase of rapid epidemiological change, much faster than most other developing regions of the world, yet with marked differences among countries. China, with almost 40% of the Region's 3.3 billion population, has achieved marked declines in mortality over the past few decades with more than two-thirds of its disease burden now due to non-communicable disease and less than one-fifth from communicable diseases. Even in India and neighbouring countries, non-communicable diseases currently cause about 40% of the entire disease and injury burden, about as much as from infectious diseases. With the exception of HIV/AIDS, all other causes of communicable disease burden are declining in the Region (to the extent that data are available to assess trends), with less than 100,000 deaths per year in total from tropical diseases, such as schistosomiasis, leishmaniasis, dengue, Japanese encephalitis and intestinal nematode infections. Mortality from diarrhoeal diseases and lower respiratory infections remains comparatively high and requires further health system investments targeted at improving child survival. Non-communicable disease, especially stroke, ischaemic heart disease, cancer and chronic lung disease together kill about 16.5 million people in the Asia-Pacific Region each year (65% of all deaths), and on current trends, this is projected to rise to 25 million deaths annually by 2020, or about 75% of all deaths in the Region. A major factor driving this change is the widespread and largely uncontrolled use of tobacco, particularly by males. In the poorer countries of the Region, underweight, unsafe water and poor sanitation, unsafe sex and indoor air pollution are leading causes of disease; in the more economically advanced developing countries, alcohol, sub-optimal blood pressure and tobacco use cause a substantial amount of disease burden, followed by underweight, indoor smoke from solid fuels and high-body mass index. A major constraint on the development of evidence-based health policy in the Region is the lack of reliable data on major causes of diseases and injury, despite cost-effective methods for population health surveillance.

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Dr Dorothy Mackerras

Bio:

Dorothy Mackerras received her post-graduate training in public health, epidemiology and statistics in the United States and has taught in several different Master of Public Health degrees since returning to Australia. She has been a member of a number of national committees in Australia, most recently the FSANZ Scientific Advisory Group for the Development of the Substantiantiation Framework for Nutrition, Health and Related Claims. She is currently one of the chief investigators of the Aboriginal Birth Cohort Study.

Dr Joao Martins

Bio:

Graduate from Faculty of Medicine at Undaya University in 1994
Graduate MPH from the Otago University in 2001
1994-1997 served as Head of Community Health Center at Letefoho, Ermera district, East Timor
2001-2002 Vice-MInister for Health
2002-till now Dean, Faculty of Public Health Universidade da Paz
2003-July 2005, Program Manager, Project Management Unit, Ministry of Health.

Abstract:

The implementation of the Health Sector Rehabilitation of Development Project I in Timor-Leste

The Health Sector Rehabilitation and Development Project I (HSRDP I) with total amount of grant USD 12.7 million was put in place in the wake of the collapse of health services delivery system following mass destruction over the country including health infrastructure. In an intensive collaboration between the Interim Health Authority and the international development partners led by the World Bank, the project aimed at (i) restoring basic health system in response to the immediate needs, (ii) laying fundamental policies for further development of the sector, (iii) and creating a Project management Unit to facilitate its implementation.

The major outcome on this project is the construction of 28 New Community Health Center, one medical store, the rehabilitation of 36 health post, the installation of oxygen plant in Dili and 13 medical waste incinerators in districts. In policy area, Health Policy Framework, Hospital configuration and District Health Plan are the major outcome. Numerous of trainings both overseas and in-country trainings have also been financed under this project which help improve the capacity building of the Ministry of Health.

The project also used Sector Wide Approach (SWAp) in its implementation, for example, the installation of an Oxygen Plant in Dili and Medical Waste Incinerators in each district where the civil works for oxygen plant and incinerator was constructed through government funds, while the Oxygen Plant and the Incinerators were funded by the project. The case of immunization where the vaccines are provided by UNICEF, project provided infrastructure while the government provided health workers to conduct the immunization.

The HSRDP I closed on the 30 December 2004, the Ministry still continue to implement HSRDP II (USD 12.6 million) and the European Commission Grant (16.5 million Euro) until June 2007. The Second European package aid with amount of 8 million Euro will be signed by the MoH, WB and EC sometime in July this year.

Since the HSRP I focused more on infrastructure with main objective to restore the health access, the HSRDP II and EC grant are focusing on hospital construction, pharmaceuticals, policy development, establishing health information system, and training and scholarship. In order to build a sound health information system and policy development, it should be supported by research component. This leaves wide open opportunity for academics and researchers to contribute to the betterment of the health system. Menzies School of Health Research and Charles Darwin University can collaborate with universities in Timor-Leste such as Universidade da Paz and the National of University of Timor-Leste to advance the research development in this country.

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Professor John Mathews AM

Bio:

John Mathews graduated in science (1961) and medicine from University of Melbourne. He studied kuru in New Guinea, computer medicine and autoimmunity at the Hall Institute, and epidemiology in Oxford. He established Genetic Epidemiology and the NHMRC Twin Registry in Melbourne. He advised the Agent Orange Royal Commission, and also NHMRC, governments, WHO and the Wellcome Foundation on radiation, chemical and communicable disease risks. He became Foundation Director of the Menzies School (1984), of the CRC for Aboriginal Health (1997), & was Deputy CMO in Canberra from 1999. He is now a health consultant, and Honorary Professorial Fellow of the University of Melbourne.

Abstract:

Looking back over the first 20 years of the Menzies School of Health Research

Many far-sighted people have contributed to the success of the Menzies School of Health Research. Their vision first formed around two workshops ( Living in the North , and Towards a School of Health Research ) organised by the Menzies Foundation. In 1983, with support from the Northern Territory Government and the University of Sydney, a planning committee was formed, and a Director appointed in June 1984. The School commenced operations in January 1985, initially under the aegis of the University Planning Authority, and subsequently with separate legislation and an autonomous Governing Board*. Financial support came from the NT government, the Menzies Foundation, and through competitive grants won from NHMRC and many other agencies. The Commonwealth also joined with the NT Government to fund the new building, completed in 1996.

The School owes much to those many dedicated individuals who worked, often as volunteers, to support it through the Menzies Foundation, Government, through the Royal Darwin Hospital, academia, and as members of the Board and School committees. Yet its success would have been impossible without its talented staff, who shared the vision of the founders, and who worked long and hard to nurture the idea and the ethos of research, and to practice it, in an environment that could be harsh and unforgiving.

What has Menzies achieved? Firstly, in partnership with NT Health and many others, Menzies has helped to build up health expertise in the north. With medical student and post-graduate training in its hospitals, and with knowledge-based community interventions, the NT is now better able to deliver improved services for all its citizens. Secondly, since the Alice Springs Workshop in 1986, Menzies has pioneered new ways of working with Indigenous people and with Aboriginal Medical Services, helping them with research training and opportunities, and with translating research knowledge into improved health outcomes. Menzies also helped to establish the CRC for Aboriginal Health in 1997, with Lowitja O'Donoghue as Chair. Thirdly, world-class research at Menzies has helped to better understand and prevent low birth-weight, poor nutrition, substance abuse, otitis media and chest disease, rheumatic fever and heart disease, kidney disease, melioidosis, malaria, and many other health problems of relevance to Indigenous Australians, and others living in the region.

With its closer links to Charles Darwin University, Menzies will continue to play a leading role in advancing knowledge, and in working with educators and service providers to translate that knowledge into improved health outcomes.

* In 2003, Menzies became a controlled entity within the School of Advanced Studies of Charles Darwin University.

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Mr Mark Mayo

Bio:

Mark Mayo is a local Darwin resident of both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent. He is currently a chief investigator on a Melioidosis Project based at MSHR since 2003.

Mark has been at MSHR since 1992 and has worked on various lab based projects (malaria, ear health and melioidosis). He has presented at both national and international conferences. In 2001 Mark received a degree in science from Northern Territory University (Charles Darwin University) and was awarded the first CRCATH (Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal and Tropical Health)/Rio Tinto Indigenous Fellowship to continue his research in Melioidosis. Mark is continuing his research into Melioidosis.

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Dr Malcolm McDonald

Bio:

Malcolm McDonald is an infectious diseases physician and clinical microbiologist with extensive lecturing experience through the Departments of Medicine at the Universities of Melbourne and Monash and with adjunct academic status through the Flinders University of SA.

He is currently studying for a PhD at the Menzies School of Health Research (MSHR) in Darwin focusing on the role of streptococcal skin infection in the pathogenesis of rheumatic heart disease. This is a collaborative project between the University of Melbourne and MSHR. When completed, his aim is to continue to with work skin infection and post-streptococcal disease, particularly in Northern Australia and Southwest Pacific. It is hoped that better understanding of pathogenesis will result in new approaches to prevention.

During the course of his candidature, he will continue to be active in clinical teaching at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels in the areas of infectious diseases and general medicine through the Royal Darwin Hospital.

Abstract:

What's on the Horizon for the Southwest Pacific?

Many of the Pacific nations on our doorstep are financially poor and politically volatile. They are scattered over vast distances the populations are diverse, including Melanesians, Micronesians, Polynesians and immigrants from Asia, Europe and the Antipodes. Tourism could be an important source of income, but the bulk of the profits are taken out of the region. Much foreign aid ends up in foreign pockets and often the best locally-trained expertise heads for richer pastures. Delivery of health services remains logistically demanding and resources are scarce. Health education is struggling.

Malaria is endemic in PNG, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, and is likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. Malaria's health, economic and social burden is greatly underestimated. Other problems common to poor tropical nations include acute respiratory illnesses, tuberculosis, dengue, rheumatic heart disease, typhoid, leptospirosis and cervical carcinoma. HIV/AIDS is largely restricted to PNG but is likely to extend.

Non-infectious diseases are becoming more important. Diabetes and obesity are the new epidemics. Refined sugar, in all its manifestations, is now a 'weapon of mass destruction'. Western diet and lifestyle are threatening to replace traditional ways with all the cardiovascular consequences.

Menzies School of Health Research is developing expertise in the management of diabetes, malaria, tuberculosis, rheumatic heart disease and health services delivery that will be especially relevant to this region.

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Professor Tony McMichael

Bio:

Tony McMichael directs the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, at The Australian National University, Canberra. He was previously Professor of Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. When returning to Australia in 2001, he received a 5-year Burnet Award from the National Health and Medical Research Council.

Professor McMichael has over 30 years of experience in epidemiological research, with a particular emphasis on studying environmental influences on disease risk. His research spans population health consequences of global environmental change and ecosystem disruption. He played a pioneering role, internationally, in the development of the concepts and methods relevant to studying the health impacts (especially infectious disease risks) of global climate and other environmental changes. This has included: (i) authoring/editing a methods textbook (Cambridge Univ Press) and one review volume (WHO and UN agencies); (ii) chairing the assessment of health impacts for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and (iii) playing a similar role in the international Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) Project.

His most recent book is "Human Frontiers, Environments and Disease: Past Patterns, Uncertain Futures", Cambridge University Press (2001).

Abstract:

"Moving targets" - humans and microbes in a globalising world

A.J. McMichael
National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health
The Australian National University
Canberra, Australia

In the 1950s-60s, infectious disease appeared to be receding in the developed world. Successes were evident with antibiotics, vaccines, mosquito-control programs, and surveillance and control measures. However, by late twentieth century a generalised upturn in the emergence and resurgence of infectious diseases (IDs) was evident. Approximately 30 new IDs have been identified since 1975, including HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, Nipah virus and many viral haemorrhagic fevers - and, since 2000 in the Asia-Pacific region, SARS and now the Avian 'flu virus. Meanwhile, many long-recognised IDs have increased, including tuberculosis, malaria and dengue. Cholera, too, continues to enjoy its largest-ever and longest-ever pandemic. In the background, enmired in poverty and squalor, diarrhoeal disease and acute respiratory infections each continue to kill several million infants and children every year.

Broadly, this turn of events reflects the distinctive conditions of today's globalising world: population size and density, urbanisation, mobility (air-travel, refugees, rural-urban migration), long-distance trade, persistent poverty (esp. in expanding peri-urban slums), conflict and warfare, troop movement (and R&R activities), and, now, human-induced large-scale environmental changes - that is, the disturbance and destabilisation of ecosystems and biophysical processes (such as climatic stability) and resultant new contacts between humans and natural reservoirs of infectious agents. Political ignorance, denial and obduracy (as with HIV/AIDS) often compound the problem.

Can we estimate the future probabilities of ID emergence? Who could have foreseen, specifically, the emergence of HIV/AIDS, Mad Cow Disease or SARS? However, we do know that: (i) increasingly intense modification/exploitation of natural environments, often entailing new human-microbe contacts; (ii) the disturbance of natural ecosystems and their various internal biotic controls; and (iii) poverty, crowding, social disorder and political instability - all create auspicious conditions for (new) microbes to infect humans. We live, non-negotiably, in a microbially-dominated world. In our dealings with the microbial world we must think and act more in ecological terms, and less in military terms. The lesson of recent times is that we cannot finally conquer - but we could get much better at anticipating, acting judiciously and coexisting.

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Professor Kerin O'Dea AO

Bio:

QUALIFICATIONS : B.Sc. (University of Melbourne), 1967

Ph.D. (University of Melbourne), 1971

CURRENT POSITION: Director, Menzies School of Health Research, Darwin

Between 1971 and 1988 Kerin O'Dea held full-time research positions in Europe, USA and Australia. She was appointed to the position of Professor of Human Nutrition and Director, Deakin Institute of Human Nutrition at Deakin University in May 1988, and since then has held the positions of Dean of the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) at Deakin University (Melbourne). In 1998 she was appointed Professor of Nutrition and Preventive Medicine at Monash University. In early June, 2000, she took up the position of Director of the Menzies School of Health Research in Darwin.

Her major research interests are:

lifestyle change and health in Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders with particular emphasis on obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease
diet in the pathogenesis and treatment of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease in different population groups
public health nutrition.

She is active on numerous national committees advising government on nutrition, health and health research. She has published extensively in national and international peer-reviewed journals.

Abstract:

Super Size Me

Obesity prevalence is escalating in populations across the globe as a consequence of urbanization. Diabetes in particular, but also many other chronic conditions are rising sharply in tandem.

Urbanization is associated with a predictable pattern of lifestyle changes, including a more sedentary lifestyle and increased availability of highly processed foods. Never before in human history has there been continuous over-abundance of energy-dense foods, and never before have humans been so inactive. Humans evolved under conditions where food shortages were common and survival depended on being physically active. Under those conditions behaviours important to survival included a strong preference for highly-prized but relatively rare energy-dense foods (fat, fat-rich foods, honey), a capacity to gorge, and minimization of 'unnecessary' physical activity. From a hunter-gatherer perspective the western diet and lifestyle makes good sense: high energy diet rich in fat and refined carbohydrate, and low physical activity. However, the unanticipated consequence of reaching the 'land of fat and sugar' is the obesity epidemic and all its health and social sequelae.

High energy density of food facilitates over consumption, as does consuming energy in liquid form (soft drinks, flavoured milk, alcoholic beverages). Consumption of calorie-containing beverages continues to rise and has been linked to obesity in children. Average meal sizes at major fast food outlets have more than doubled in the US over the past 20 years, fuelled by competition within the sector. The food industry is an enormously powerful influence on governments and world trade. Turning around this juggernaut is one of the greatest challenges facing societies all over the globe in the 21 st century.

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Ms Donna Odegaard

Bio:

My name is Donna Odegaard, I am a Larrakia woman from the Darwin region of Northern Territory.

I have been involved in Larrakia and national and international Indigenous affairs including Indigenous education, Aboriginal land rights, native title and water rights, Indigenous heritage, Indigenous land management and, commercial development for a long period of time.

I commenced university BA studies in my early forties, successfully graduating in 1997 after completing my studies at the Northern Arizona University, USA as an Indigenous exchange student. During this period I established a close relationship with Native American Indian peoples in particular, Dine (Navajo), Havasupai, Hopi, and Ute through my work and interest in comparative Aboriginal affairs, which assisted my work with Larrakia and Indigenous communities throughout Australia.

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Dr Ric Price

Bio:

Ric Price is an Infectious Diseases Physician at the Royal Darwin Hospital. He has a large part of the last decade conducting field based research in Africa, Thailand and Indonesia. He came to Darwin in 2002, as a senior researcher at MSHR and clinical specialist at the Hospital. In conjunction with Nick Anstey he has helped to secure funds to expand the Menzies International Health Programme, both on shore and at the field site in Papua, Indonesia (formerly Irian Jaya). This work focuses on improving antimalarial treatment policy and is being conducted in collaboration with the Indonesian National Institute of Research and Development (NIHRD). Ric was awarded a Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellowship in 2004 to continue his work on drug resistant vivax malaria in Papua, Indonesia.

Abstract:

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Dr Sue Sayers

Bio:

Sue Sayers is a paediatric specialist with a wide range of clinical experience in developed and developing countries. In Darwin for six months in 1974, she was the only paediatrician at the hospital for Cyclone Tracy. She returned in 1981 and in 1987 her concerns about the outcomes of babies with poor intra-uterine growth lead to the start of the Aboriginal Birth Cohort study for which she gained her PhD. This continuing study is now recognised as one of the oldest and largest indigenous cohorts in the world.

Abstract:

Chronic diseases occur in epidemic proportions in the adult Indigenous population. A birth cohort of 686 Aboriginal babies recruited at the Royal Darwin Hospital between 1987-1990 and is an opportunity to study the processes associated with chronic adult disease development from the cradle to the grave.

To date we have information on the outcomes of these cohort babies at birth, the health and lifestyle of their mothers during the pregnancy and their growth and health at 11 years of age. The continuing study of this cohort could make a substantial contribution to chronic disease epidemiology internationally.

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Dr Norman Swan

Bio:

Host of the Health Report, on ABC Radio National, Dr Norman Swan, is a multi-award winning broadcaster and journalist.

One of the first medically qualified journalists in Australia, Dr Swan was born in Scotland, graduated in medicine from the University of Aberdeen and later obtained his postgraduate qualifications in Paediatrics.

Joining the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1982, Dr Swan has won numerous awards for his journalism and broadcasting.

Dr Swan was named Australian Radio Producer of the Year in 1984 and was awarded a Gold Citation in the United Nations Media Peace Prizes for his radio work. He has won three Walkley National Awards for Australian journalism and Australia's top prize for Science Journalism, the Michael Daly Award, twice.

A famous example of Dr Swan's work is his much publicised and controversial investigative program on scientific fraud and the well-known gynaecologist Dr William McBride. The program exposed fraudulent research, sending shock waves throughout the medical world and led to Dr William McBride being de-registered. It earned Dr Swan the 1988 Australian Writers' Guild Award for best documentary and a Gold Walkley.

In 2004 he was awarded the Medal of the Australian Academy of Science, an honour that had only been given three times and the Royal College of Physicians of Glasgow made him a Fellow.

In addition to the Health Report , Dr Swan appears on local ABC radio. He also presents the popular "Health Minutes" on ABC NewsRadio each week and edits his own newsletter, The Choice Health Reader , which is published in partnership with the Australian Consumers Association.

On television, Dr Swan has hosted ABC Television's science program, Quantum , and been a guest reporter on Catalyst and Four Corners . He hosted Health Dimensions on ABC Television, and created, wrote and narrated a four part series on disease and civilisation, "Invisible Enemies" , made for Channel 4(UK) and SBS Television. This has been shown in twenty seven countries. He also co-wrote and narrated "The Opposite Sex" , a four part series for ABC Television.

Norman Swan is known outside Australia. He has been the Australian correspondent for the Journal of the American Medical Association and the British Medical Journal and consulted for the World Health Organisation in Geneva on global priorities in health research.

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Professor Paul Zimmet AO

Bio:

Paul Zimmet is currently Foundation Director of the International Diabetes Institute, a position he has held since 1985. He holds Professorial positions at Monash University,Deakin University and the Graduate School of Public Health, the University of Pittsburgh. He also serves on the Australian Government's Strategic Taskforce on Diabetes. His research in Pacific and Indian Ocean populations has provided new insights into the genetic contribution of Type 2 diabetes and the role of obesity, exercise, nutrition and socio-cultural change. More recently, he led the team that carried out the first ever national diabetes and obesity study in Australia (AusDiab). He has published over 550 scientific papers, chapters and reviews in peer-reviewed journals and books. He is Co-editor of the major and widely used text on diabetes - "International Textbook of Diabetes Mellitus" and also Co-editor of the recently published "The Epidemiology of Diabetes".

Professor Zimmet has received many prestigious international awards over the years, the most recent being the Banting Award for 2005, from Diabetes UK.

He has been a member or Chair of numerous WHO, international and national committees addressing the issue of chronic diseases and nutrition over more than 20 years.

In 1993, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for distinguished services to medicine and education, particularly in the field of diabetes, and in 2001, he was appointed Officer Order of Australia (AO) for services to medical research of national and international significance, particularly in the field of diabetes, as a leader of investigations into social, nutritional and lifestyle diseases, and to biotechnology development in Australia.

Abstract:

Diabetes: A Global Problem of Overwhelming Importance

Type 2 diabetes and obesity have reached epidemic proportions in many developing and developed nations. Recent projections from the International Diabetes Institute suggest that there are currently 190 million people worldwide with Type 2 diabetes. There are also at least 300 million people worldwide with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). This represents an epidemic of major proportions and possibly the largest epidemic in human history. IGT subjects are at substantially higher future risk than the general population for diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD).

These data are alarming when one considers that the AusDiab study, undertaken by our Institute, reported 7.5% of Australians have diabetes and another 16% have impaired glucose metabolism, itself an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. This means that nearly 3 million Australian adults have diabetes or prediabetes. The prevalence rates are much higher in our indigenous community, as is the premature morbidity and mortality from diabetes and its complications.

Diabetes and IGT cluster with other major CVD risk factors resulting in the Metabolic Syndrome. This clustering of CVD risk determinants, including insulin resistance, has a significant role in the high CVD risk associated with Type 2 diabetes and obesity. The main cause of mortality in Type 2 diabetes is CVD accounting for at least 70% of mortality, a rate we have recently confirmed in the AusDiab cohort. After adjusting for confounders, the hazard ratio (HR) for all-cause mortality in people with previously diagnosed diabetes was 2.0, compared to normal glucose tolerance. Mortality risk was also increased in people with newly diagnosed diabetes, IFG and IGT.

The health costs to nearly every nation from the diabetes epidemic will constitute a huge burden from not only the costs of diabetes treatment and care but its devastating complications such as CVD and renal failure. Australia will not escape from this scenario with diabetes now costing over $3 billion annually. Diabetes, a disorder once viewed as a "Cinderella" disease, now poses the greatest threat to Australia's health.

Website:

http://www.diabetes.com.au/

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