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Invited Speakers
Day 1
Dr Huppatz’s career reflects a strong commitment to legislative reform, systemwide improvement, and collaboration across government, industry and communities. A Fellow of the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine, she has worked across most Australian jurisdictions and contributed to World Health Organization missions in the Pacific and Geneva. She is also deeply committed to improving Aboriginal health, with longstanding involvement in community-led programs across regional WA.
Emily Munro is an Acting Senior Program Officer in the Sexual Health and Blood-borne Virus team at the Department of Health Western Australia. She has a background in public health strategy, health promotion, and research across government and non-government settings. Prior to her current role, Emily worked as a Project Officer in Mental Health Strategy at East Metropolitan Health Service, a Health Promotion Officer at North Metropolitan Health Service, and a Research Assistant at The Kids Research Institute Australia. She volunteers as a Non-Executive Director on the Board of Royal Life Saving Society WA and is an advocate for young people and early career public health professionals. Emily holds a Master of Public Health and has contributed to initiatives focused on digital health and online safety, mental health, STI prevention, and local government public health planning.
Emeritus Professor Mike Daube AO
Mike Daube is Emeritus Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Curtin University, where he was Director of the Public Health Advocacy Institute. Before this he was Director General of Health for WA and Chair of the National Public Health Partnership. He has held a range of senior positions in government, with other roles including President/ Chair of PHAA, ACOSH, and many other organisations and committees, including the Australian Government’s committee that recommended tobacco plain packaging. He has worked on public health issues including tobacco, alcohol and gambling nationally and internationally since 1973, has published widely, and has worked with WHO, governments and health organisations in c.40 countries. Among current committee roles, he is Chair of the Health Promotion International Editorial Board.
He is an Officer in the Order of Australia (AO), was Western Australian of the Year in 2018, and has received further awards from WHO, PHAA, AMA, ACOSH, Cancer Council, Heart Foundation, Thoracic Society, American Cancer Society, WFPHA and other organisations.
Associate Professor Darren Garvey is an Indigenous psychologist, researcher and educator with more than 30 years’ experience working alongside Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers and communities. With matrilineal ties to Hammond Island in the Torres Strait, his work spans Indigenous psychology, social and emotional wellbeing, counselling, cultural studies and health promotion.
Darren has extensive experience in teaching and curriculum development, including more than two decades with Curtin University’s Centre for Aboriginal Studies, and has contributed to strengthening cultural competence and Indigenous perspectives in health professional education. He is the author of Indigenous Identity in Contemporary Psychology: Dilemmas, Developments, Directions and has published widely on Indigenous mental health, identity, cultural competence and decolonial approaches to education.
His current research focuses particularly on understanding and measuring the wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people, including community-informed approaches to mental health and wellbeing.
Day 2
Associate Professor Daniel Demant is an award-winning public health educator and Course Director of Postgraduate Public Health at the University of Technology Sydney. His research focuses on sexual health and wellbeing, substance use, and health equity, with particular expertise in LGBTIQ+ populations and other priority communities. His academic leadership also encompasses curriculum design, research supervision, and the advancement of inclusive, evidence-informed teaching and learning. In 2025, he received the CAPHIA Teaching Excellence Award in recognition of his leadership in public health education and his contribution to strengthening student learning across undergraduate and postgraduate programs.
Associate Professor Demant’s teaching practice reflects a deep commitment to equity, innovation and real-world public health capability. Through curriculum leadership, student-centred pedagogy and a focus on contemporary public health challenges, he supports students to connect evidence, practice and lived experience. His keynote will draw on this experience to explore how public health education can better prepare graduates to practise with confidence, criticality and purpose in a rapidly changing world.
Associate Professor Kath Francis is a public health academic at Adelaide University and CAPHIA’s Indigenous Health Education Director. Her work focuses on decolonising health education, embedding Aboriginal knowledges in curriculum, and strengthening culturally responsive teaching and institutional practice.
Kath co-leads Indigenous Health Education within Adelaide University’s College of Health, combining teaching, research and supervision with leadership in curriculum reform. At the former University of South Australia, she led the Aboriginal Curriculum portfolio, developing a university-wide approach to embedding Aboriginal knowledges through curriculum, educator development and practical resources. She subsequently helped shape Adelaide University’s Aboriginal Knowledges in Curriculum portfolio, contributing to governance, strategy and large-scale staff mobilisation.
Kath has also contributed extensively to CAPHIA through Board service, the renewal of the CAPHIA Public Health Graduate Competency Framework, professional development and initiatives to decolonise public health education. Her work is grounded in strengthening culturally safe, equitable and community-responsive health education.
Associate Professor Bevan Erueti is Associate Dean Māori in Te Kura Hauora Tāngata/College of Health at Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa/Massey University and CAPHIA’s Māori Health Director. His leadership centres mātauranga Māori, Te Tiriti o Waitangi and social justice across health, education and community settings.
Bevan has played a significant role in advancing Te Tiriti-led strategy and strengthening Māori learner success at Massey University through teaching, research, governance and institutional leadership. His work includes contributing to the Kaiarahi Tiriti Project and multiple committees and working groups focused on embedding Māori knowledge systems, perspectives and values across health education.
His leadership is grounded in building vibrant Māori communities while strengthening the capability of non-Māori to engage respectfully and effectively with Māori. Through CAPHIA, Bevan brings this perspective to public health education, governance and workforce development, supporting approaches that centre Indigenous knowledge, challenge inequity and strengthen culturally responsive practice.