Dear members,
Our 2022 Conference on Yugambeh Country was very rewarding and certainly the highlight of our year. It was wonderful to see our members, stakeholders and friends come together to share knowledge and culture, and to inspire one another. Thank you to everyone who attended and supported our event. We are already planning next year’s conference in nipaluna, Hobart!
At the AIDA Annual General Meeting we farewelled board directors, Dr Ngaree Blow, Dr Corey Dalton, Dr Robert Blackley, Prof Jaqui Hughes, and our past president, Dr Tanya Schramm. Ms Holly Reynolds, 2022 AIDA Student Director also completed her term.
The AIDA 2022-23 Board of Directors are:
President – Dr Simone Raye
Vice President – Dr Jonathan Newchurch
Directors – Dr Olivia O’Donoghue, Dr Glenn Harrison, Dr Tammy Kimpton
AIDA Student Director – Kyle Ryan.
It is hard to go past our award recipients from this year’s conference, Dr Sarah Goddard and Miss Isobella Kruger who won Indigenous Doctor of the Year and Indigenous Student of the year for 2022 respectively. Well-deserved and massive congratulations to both.
During conference, we heard from our many members, students, doctors, and stakeholders about their experiences in the workforce, barriers to health equality, and how we can make a positive change going forward. The potential for change is great, and through robust discussions and genuine commitment by all stakeholders, the future looks brighter than ever.
We greatly appreciate everyone who made our conference possible. Our delegates, sponsors, exhibitors, speakers, event organisers, Board, and AIDA Secretariat– and everyone else who played an invaluable role in bringing this event to life.
We held our first Specialist Trainee workshop, also on the Gold Coast immediately after the conference. It was very well received and attended with a lot of great learnings and knowledge-sharing. If you would like to learn more about the AIDA STSP program or how you can receive support, please get in touch with the team at stsp@aida.org.au.
We are pleased to see a continued commitment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health in this year’s budget announcement, including $54.3 million allocated to train 500 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workers and practitioners. We look forward to working closely with government to improve health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Warm regards,
Helen Roben
A/g Chief Executive Officer.