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Invited Speakers
Professor Kylie Readman is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education and Students) at the University of Technology Sydney. In that role, Kylie focuses on creating the institutional conditions for building staff and student capacity in learning, teaching, and the student experience, centered around academic engagement, belonging, well-being, and partnerships.
Ensuring student equity is a central theme of her work, including several research projects that investigate the experience of students from a range of diverse backgrounds which are under-represented in higher education. She has had many years’ experiences in leading innovation at the whole-of-institution level, including strategy, resourcing, curriculum
integration and product design and campus master planning. Kylie is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a 2020 recipient of an Equity Practitioners in Higher
Education Australasia Champion for Change citation
Dr Marianne Gale is Director, Population and Community Health, South Eastern Sydney Local Health District, NSW Health. As a distinguished Australian public health physician Marianne she has led initiatives in communicable diseases, health equity, chronic disease prevention, and multicultural health engagement. She has previously served as medical advisor to NSW’s Chief Health Officer and Deputy Chief Health Officer of New South Wales in 2021.
Dr Gale also spent five years with Médecins Sans Frontières, working in challenging contexts such as West Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia. With an unwavering commitment to community-focused healthcare, she champions multicultural outreach and preventative health strategies, including nutrition and physical activity programs across the state.
Jacob Madden is the Assistant Secretary of the Australian Centre for Disease Control Establishment Strategy Branch at the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. In this role he leads the policy and strategic design for a new CDC in Australia, including developing legislation and negotiating with state and territory governments. He is also responsible for a program of work to modernise data sharing for public health purposes in Australia, including legislative reform, governance and technology.
Prior to this role Jacob led the Department’s response to COVID-19 and other emergencies in aged care settings.
Jacob holds a Master of Public Health from the Australian National University and a Bachelor of Laws (Hons)/Bachelor of Arts from the University of Notre Dame Australia.
Dr Summer May Finlay (CSCA, TAE, BSocSC MPHA, and PhD) is a Yorta Yorta woman who grew up on Awabakal country (West Lake Macquarie) and is a passionate advocate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Her passion is what has driven her to work in a number of public health fields including social marketing, communications research and policy. She has worked for a range of organisations in the Aboriginal Community Controlled Health, not-for profit, university, and for-profit sectors.
Summer is an Associate Professor at the University of Wollongong, where she is also the ASSH Associate Dean (Equity Diversity and Inclusion) (Interim) and the SOSS Co-Head of Teaching and Learning (Strategy). Summer is also a Steering Committee Member on the Competency Renewal Project for the Council of Academic Public Health Institutions where she drives decolonised approaches to competency development for Australasian public health graduates.
Dr Nathan Dawes (PhD, MPH, BOccThy, SFHEA, FHERDSA) is Associate Dean of Learning and Teaching at the College of Medicine and Dentistry, James Cook University, and a nationally recognised leader in public health education and academic governance. An occupational therapist by background, Nathan draws on clinical experience across aged care, mental health, and occupational rehabilitation to inform his teaching and research in health systems and workforce development.
Nathan’s research focuses on health policy and systems, with particular expertise in aged care, mental health, and competency-based education. He leads the internationally collaborative Competency Renewal Project for the Council of Academic Public Health Institutions Australasia (CAPHIA), shaping public health curricula across Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, and Papua New Guinea.
Until recently, Nathan coordinated JCU’s Master of Public Health and Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine programs. He currently serves as Deputy Chair of the JCU Academic Board, where he contributes to strategic academic decision-making and the assurance of academic quality across the university. He also provides governance leadership as a Council Director for a regional residential aged care provider, supporting clinical oversight, workforce development, and quality improvement. Nathan is recognised for his inclusive, practice-focused pedagogy and sector-wide impact on education policy, curriculum renewal, and academic standards.
Adjunct Professor Dominic Morgan commenced his working life in the finance sector, prior to moving into health and emergency services. He now has over 35 years of ambulance experience across a broad range of roles in the areas of operations, clinical practice and executive leadership within the sector, at both national and international levels.
After commencing his career with NSW Ambulance as a clinician and specialist, he was subsequently appointed to the role of Chief Executive Officer of Ambulance Tasmania in 2009. In 2016 he returned to NSW as Commissioner and Chief Executive of NSW Ambulance.
He is a Board member and past Chair and Deputy Chair of the Australasian Council of Ambulance Authorities, the peak body representing the Ambulance sector in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. He has also chaired a number of international sub-committees and represented the CAA on the Global Paramedic Leadership Alliance. He is also a member of the Ambulance Service Advisory Board.
Dr Morgan has a number of professional affiliations including Adjunct Professorship with the University of Technology, Sydney, as well completing the Australian Institute of Company Directors program. He is as also a currently Registered Paramedic.
Dominic completed his PhD in 2018 though the University of NSW in Medical Research and also holds a Master of Business Administration, Bachelor of Health Science and a Diploma in Adult Education. He has also been the author of a number of published peer reviewed and collaborative original research articles on out of hospital care.