Professor Tom Calma AO is an Elder from the Kungarakan tribal group and a member of the Iwaidja tribal group. He has been involved in Indigenous affairs at a local, community, state, national and international level for 45 years.

From 1995-2002, Tom served as a senior Australian diplomat in India and Vietnam. He served as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner from 2004-2010; and as Race Discrimination Commissioner from 2004-2009, both roles within the Australian Human Rights Commission.

Tom has a special interest in Indigenous health, social and emotional wellbeing, mental health, suicide prevention, social determinants theory and empowerment programs. He is an international public speaker, as well as being at the forefront of research and research-translation into government policy, in these areas. In particular, Tom led the Close the Gap for Indigenous Health Equality Campaign (2006 on) and has held the role of National Coordinator Tackling Indigenous Smoking since 2010. He chaired the ministerial committee that developed the inaugural National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Strategy in 2013 and is currently Chair and Patron of the Poche Indigenous Health Network and a Chair and/or member of a number of other boards and committees across Australia.

Appointed in 2014 as Chancellor of the University of Canberra, Professor Calma is the first Indigenous male chancellor of an Australian university. He is currently also Professor of Practice (Indigenous Engagement) in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney.

In 2012, Tom was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service to the Indigenous community as an advocate for human rights and social justice through contributions to government policy and reform, and through his work in supporting cross cultural understanding. In 2013, Tom was named the ACT Australian of the Year for his service and commitment to the Indigenous community as an advocate for human rights and social justice and in January 2023 he was announced Senior Australian of the Year 2023 in recognition of his work in aged care and the Voice.

Helen Milroy is a descendant of the Palyku people of the Pilbara region of Western Australia but was born and educated in Perth. She is Australia’s first Indigenous doctor and child psychiatrist. Currently Helen is the Stan Perron Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Perth Children’s Hospital and University of Western Australia and Honorary Research at the Telethon Kids Institute. Helen is the Chair of the Gayaa Dhuwi Proud Spirit Australia organisation and a board member of Beyond Blue. Helen has been on state and national mental health and research advisory committees and boards with a particular focus on Indigenous mental health as well as the wellbeing of children. From 2013-2017 Helen was a Commissioner for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and from 2017-2021 was a Commissioner with the National Mental Health Commission. In 2020, Helen was the joint winner of the Australian Mental Health Prize and named the WA Australian of the Year for 2021.Helen is also an artist and published author and illustrator of children’s books. She has been shortlisted for several children’s literature awards and received the 2021 Whitley Award for best early childhood reader for Backyard Birds.

Vanessa Edwige is a Ngarabal woman from Emmaville, NSW. Vanessa is a registered psychologist and the Chair of the Australian Indigenous Psychologists Association.

Vanessa has worked in Redfern, NSW for the last 23 years working predominantly with Aboriginal children, young people, families and community providing culturally responsive psychological support for adverse childhood experiences, intergenerational trauma and supporting cultural resilience.

Vanessa currently works as a practicing psychologist with a particular emphasis on conducting assessments and writing reports for people facing or involved in the justice system. Vanessa has worked as a senior psychologist for the NSW Department of Education, a practising psychologist on the dual diagnosis team for Weave Youth and Community Services, a consultant and trainer for the NSW Institute of Psychiatry, NSW Co-ordinator for Aboriginal victims of crime with the NSW Attorney General’s Department and as the Senior Researcher for the NSW Aboriginal Child Sexual assault report with NSW Attorney Generals Department.

Vanessa is a member of the independent advisory panel for the NSW Public Defenders Bugmy Bar Book project and the Bugmy Justice Project with Deadly Connections.

Monica is a Kungarakan woman from Darwin. Monica has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Canberra, and has extensive accounting, policy and management experience in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health. Her previous roles include Corporate Services Manager, Danila Dilba Aboriginal Medical Service; Business Development Manager, Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory; and Assistant Director with the Commonwealth Department of Health. Her most recent role was Manager of Flinders University Northern Territory.

Monica has worked in a wide range of roles with the police, health services, and the Department of Health, but when she recognised the impact of the shortage of Indigenous doctors in holding back treatment and health improvement, she chose to join the Flinders University Northern Territory Medical Program in 2013, determined to make a difference.

Pat Dudgeon is from the Bardi people in Western Australia. She is a psychologist and professor at the Poche Centre for Aboriginal Health and the School of Indigenous Studies at UWA. Her area of research includes Indigenous social and emotional wellbeing and suicide prevention. She is a member on many boards and committees such as on the National Suicide Prevention Office Advisory Board, the Culture, Care, Connect Advisory Group – National, Regional and Local Suicide Prevention and Aftercare Networks, NACCHO, Australian Indigenous Psychologists Association (AIPA)and the Australians for Mental Health. She was also a national Mental Health Commissioner for 5 years.

She is the director of the Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention at UWA. She is also the lead chief investigator of a national research project, Transforming Indigenous Mental Health and Wellbeing. She has many publications in Indigenous mental health such as the Working Together Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health and Wellbeing Principals and Practice 2014 and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Evaluation Project Report – What the Evidence and Our People Tell Us 2016.

Dr Mark Wenitong is from the Kabi Kabi tribal group of south Queensland. He is currently working as a Medical Advisor at the Apunipima Cape York Health Council in Cairns. As Medical Advisor, Mark’s role is to provide strategic leadership, research translation into practice, support and advice to the Board, CEO and senior management team.

Mark completed his degree in medicine at the Newcastle University Medical School in 1995 and was the third Aboriginal male to become a doctor. After his basic clinical training in Newcastle, Mark began his medical career working in community development with World Vision and also spent time working in Central Australia.

Mark has worked as Senior Medical Officer at Wuchopperen Health Services in Cairns for nine years; acting CEO of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation in primary health care on Oekusi during the East Timor conflict; and as Medical Advisor for the Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health in Canberra. Dr Wenitong is a past President and founder of the Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association and is a member of several state and national advisory committees.

Mark is committed to improving the health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across Australia through community control. He is interested in primordial prevention, social and emotional well-being, early childhood, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander chronic disease, microbiome, epigenetics, refugee health and prison health.

Rob’s people hail from Derby in the West Kimberley and the Pilbara region of WA. He has held a number of roles including a lecturer at Curtin University and the University of Western Australia and has worked as a senior adviser in community relations and Indigenous Affairs to the oil and gas industry. He is passionate about social justice for Indigenous people and currently co-chairs the Commonwealth funded Kimberley Aboriginal Suicide Prevention Trial Working Group.

Rob is Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Kimberly Aboriginal Medical Services (KAMS) based in Broome WA, which includes a number of regional Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services.

Ms Donna Burns is the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Indigenous Doctor’s Association.  She is a proud Wiradjuri descendant with extensive experience in executive leadership and Governance with a particular focus on improving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health outcomes.

This experience is underpinned by Ms Burns’ many decades in the healthcare sector, as a Registered Nurse, with postgraduate qualifications in Emergency Nursing. She previously used this experience to lead her own consultancy work, specialising in organisational change and leadership development.

As a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Ms Burns is a non-executive Director on several Boards, including headspace National and Gayaa Dhuwi (Proud Spirit).

Ms Burns is currently focused on growing and advancing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander medical workforce, while championing a culturally safe health system for all our peoples.