Directors & staff

Directors

Associate Professor Ngiare Brown is one of the first Aboriginal medical graduates in Australia. Since graduating from the University of Newcastle in 1992, she has been a leading advocate for Indigenous health and social justice. During her career Ngiare has held a variety of positions and undertaken work in education, mentoring, clinical practice and advocacy. She played a key role in the establishment of the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association and has held a number of Ministerial appointments. In her previous position she was Assistant Director at the Menzies School of Health Research in Darwin, where she developed a program around child health and human rights within the Child Health Division. She has a Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine (James Cook University) and is a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and well advanced in her research towards a PhD.

In 2003, after five years in Darwin and Boston, Professor Alan Cass returned to the University of Sydney as a senior researcher, and then Director, of the Renal Division of the George Institute for International Health and Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine. A Fellow of the Royal Australian College of Physicians, he is a national leader in the development of policy regarding the co-ordinated delivery of chronic disease prevention and management services for Indigenous Australians. He has considerable expertise as a clinical researcher, epidemiologist and community-based researcher. His research has repeatedly broken new ground, including Sharing the True Stories, which documented the extent of miscommunication in cross-cultural healthcare. After graduating BA MBBS from the University of Sydney in 1989, Alan trained as a specialist physician and nephrologist at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. In 2003 he gained his PhD from the University for his thesis exploring the social determinants of chronic kidney disease among Indigenous Australians. He received an Australian Harkness Fellowship in Health Care Policy in 2002-3.

Senior staff

Associate Professor Jenny Reath brings over 25 years experience as a general practitioner, teacher and researcher in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. She has had major input into General Practice policy and program development particularly in the area of vocational training for general practitioners in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health. In 2006 Jenny completed a Master of Medicine by research which underpinned the development of a women’s health program in a remote Aboriginal community. Jenny works part time with the Poche Centre while she continues in her other roles as GP Manager of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Unit and part time general practitioner at Aboriginal Medical Service Western Sydney.

Dr Shane Hearn is researching resilience in Indigenous and non-Indigenous adolescents in regard to health and education outcomes (PhD) and is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Public Health.

Dr Tara Walker is currently based in Broken Hill in the role of coordinator of clinics and associated projects.

Other staff

Ms Leah Stevenson is currently supporting the strategic planning process and the cultural competency program.

Ms Jane Root is responsible for all administrative matter relating to the Centre.