Plenary speakers
In order of appearance
Prof Faye McMillan AM, University of Technology Sydney
Ms Natalie Raffoul, National Heart Foundation of Australia, Sydney, Australia
Prof Adam Bridgeman, The University of Sydney
Prof Daniel Thurley, The University of Sydney
Prof Zubin Austin, The University of Toronto
Prof Faye McMillan AM
University of Technology Sydney
Professor Faye McMillan AM FPS is a Wiradjuri yinaa (woman). Faye is a community pharmacist recognised as the first Indigenous Australian to hold a pharmacy degree in Australia. Faye has worked in higher education for more than 3 decades, teaching undergraduate and postgraduate courses and programs and research with a specific focus Indigenous health locally, nationally, and internationally. Faye currently works at The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) as a Professor in Indigenous Health in the School of Public Health, a board member of The Australian Pharmacy Council (APC) also chairs the APC Indigenous health strategy group, Faye is also working with the Center for Indigenous Health at Johns Hopkins University. Faye has held positions within the Office of the National Rural Health Commissioner. Faye is a Senior Harkness Fellow (23/24), a Senior Atlantic Fellow for Social Equity (2019) and also a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Faye is 5ft, yet her two sons are 6ft 4 and 6ft 5 respectively (seriously).
Ms Natalie Raffoul
National Heart Foundation of Australia
Natalie Raffoul (BPharm Hons, GradCertPharmMed, MHM, MPS) is currently the Healthcare Programs Manager at the National Heart Foundation of Australia. She oversees the design and delivery of national health programs that seek to improve the early detection, assessment and management of cardiovascular disease in Australia. Natalie is a clinical cardiology pharmacist by background and has extensive experience running national implementation and education programs in general practice.
I love hiking and have a hiking blog on TikTok with 36k followers 🙂
Prof Adam Bridgeman
The University of Sydney
An Australian National Teaching Fellow, Adam Bridgeman has dedicated his career to enhancing student learning and the student experience. He has received numerous teaching awards in the UK and Australia and is currently leading the institutional response to AI for learning, teaching and assessment.
Adam is a chemistry educator at heart and holds the record for the most fire alarms and fire engines visits in one day for his lectures.
Prof Daniel Thurley
The University of Sydney
Associate Professor Dan Thurley is a Consultant Physician in Pharmaceutical Medicine, having trained at Cambridge and Cardiff Universities in the UK, he has worked clinical in medical oncology in both the UK and Australia. He has had in international career in the pharmaceutical and medical device industry working in several countries across Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong. Having previously been an examiner for a decade for the Royal College of Physicians in the UK for the Diploma of Pharmaceutical Medicine, Dan is currently the Academic Director for Sydney Health Executive Education (SHEEd), in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney : SHEEd focuses on post-graduate life-long learning for healthcare professionals, particularly in the area of short courses and micro credentials.
I am at times an overly enthusiastic cat lover and am currently full-time butler to Dexter and Aston, two grey British Short Hairs.
Prof Zubin Austin
The University of Toronto
Zubin Austin BScPhm MBA MISc PhD FCAHS is Professor and Murray Koffler Research Chair at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Canada. His research focuses on the professional and personal development of the health workforce. He has published over 250 peer reviewed manuscripts and authored 4 textbooks, including “Management, Leadership, and Entrepreneurship in Pharmacy” recently published by the Pharmaceutical Press – UK. In 2017, in recognition of the global impact of his work, he was installed as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, the highest honour for health researchers in Canada. He is also the only University of Toronto professor ever to have been awarded both the President’s Teaching Award for sustained excellence as an educator and the President’s Research Impact Award for the international significance of his work. He has been named Professor of the Year by pharmacy students on 21 separate occasions.
Since the pandemic, I’ve been more interested in gardening. This summer, I’d planted beans and peas but sadly nothing sprouted…I’d assumed the voles and squirrels had carried them off. Towards mid summer, I noticed a strange, unrecognizable plant starting to grow where the beans and peas had been planted. Using GoogleLens, I scanned it…and discovered that what was growing in my garden in Canada – was a papaya tree! Tropical fruits aren’t known to grow in Canada, but somehow in the winter, I’d composted papaya seeds/pulp and spread it in the garden, and it took root, crowded out the beans and peas, and is now growing. Stay tuned – it will take several years for the tree to grow and bear fruit but for the winter I brought it in the house, carefully pollinated it with a q-tip, and hope that soon made-in-Canada papaya will be on my breakfast table.