The Hon Mark Butler MP

Minister for Health and Aged Care

Mark Butler has been a Labor Member in the Federal Parliament since 2007 and is the federal Minister for Health and Aged Care.

Mark served as Minister for Ageing and Australia’s first Minister for Mental Health in the Gillard Government. He has also held the ministries of Housing, Homelessness, Social Inclusion, Climate Change, Water and the Environment.

Before Mark was elected to parliament, he worked for some of the most disadvantaged people in the community as an official with United Voice for over 15 years, including 11 years as State Secretary.

Dr. Elizabeth Deveny

Chief Executive Officer

Consumer Health Forum of Australia

Dr Deveny is an experienced and well-respected senior executive with a strong commitment to providing sustainable health outcomes for all Australians, and a demonstrated ability to build and maintain positive, productive partnerships with key stakeholders and the broader community.

Dr Deveny is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Consumers Health Forum. Elizabeth is the immediate past Chair of the Australian Digital Health Agency. Dr Elizabeth Deveny's recent roles include CEO of South Eastern Melbourne PHN, CEO of Bayside Medical Local and Chair of Southern Metropolitan Partnership.

She holds a masters in vocational health education and a PhD in Medicine (clinical decision support development), both from Melbourne University.

Prof Rod McClure

Professor and Dean, School of Medicine, Western Sydney University

Pro Vice Chancellor, Health Futures

Dr Rod McClure is Professor of Public Health Medicine, and Dean, School of Medicine at Western Sydney University.  Since being awarded his PhD in Epidemiology and Population Health in 1995, he has had comprehensive international career with clinical, administrative, education and research contributions across the public, private and government sectors. Rod is a fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine.  He is the current Board Chair of the nib foundation, and is a Council Member of the Australian Faculty of Public Health Medicine.

Rod brings extensive experience in research grant management having lead research centres/institutes, having sat on national competitive grant review panels in Australia and the United States, and having being successful as primary investigator on grant applications totalling more than $60 million.

Assoc. Prof Melissa Kang

Co-head, General Practice Clinical School
Sydney Medical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health

Melissa Kang is a vocationally registered GP who has worked exclusively with adolescents and young adults in hospital and community settings. She worked in Youth Health, WSLHD, for over 25 years as a medical officer. She is a full time Associate Professor in the General Practice Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney. Her research over the past 25 years has focused on access to health care and health system navigation for young people, with a focus on disadvantaged or marginalised populations. She sits on several government and non-government committees, including the Clinical Advisory Group for Reachout, the Australian Association for Adolescent Health and the International Association for Adolescent Health.

Prof Sue Crengle

Ngāi Tahu Māori Health Research Unit
University of Otago

Sue completed her MBChB, MPH and PhD degrees at the University of Auckland. She is a vocationally registered general practitioner and public health medicine specialist and has been working as a researcher for over 25 years. Her research interests include inequities in health, health services research, quality of care, child and youth health, cardiovascular disease and lung cancer.  Much of Sue’s work involves identifying where and how inequities in health occur, and in testing ways to eliminate these inequities. Sue also works as a GP in Waihopai Invercargill.

Dr Summer Finlay

University of Wollongong, and Co-Chair Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council of NSW Human Research Ethics Committee

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. She is currently employed at the University of Wollongong as a Senior Lecturer.