Australian Public Health Conference 2025

Jonathan Gilmour is a Data Scientist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. His work focuses on human health impacts of climate change and the environmental impacts of AI and data centers. He is also leading federal data and informational resource preservation work with the Public Environmental Data Partners and tracking the impacts of federal policy changes at The Impact Project. He previously was a Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the Aspen Policy Academy, an advisor to the Rockefeller Foundation’s Pandemic Prevention Initiative, and a Data Infrastructure Engineer at The COVID Tracking Project at The Atlantic.

Dr Katie Woolaston believes that biodiversity conservation should be mainstreamed into all areas of governance from local, to international, as a means of mitigating the triple planetary crisis. Katie holds a Masters in Law (specialising in Human Rights & Social Justice) from the University of New South Wales, and a PhD in Environmental Law from Griffith University. Katie was an expert on the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) panel concerning Biodiversity and Pandemics, and is the Chair of the Technical Advisory Group of the 'Nature4Health' Initiative. Her first book, titled ‘Ecological Vulnerability: The Law and Governance of Human-Wildlife Relationships’ was published by Cambridge University Press in 2022, and her second, ‘The Cambridge Handbook on One Health and the Law’ will be published in 2025.

Associate Professor Chris Degeling is Principal Fellow at the Australian Centre for Engagement, Evidence and Values at the University of Wollongong. A member of the Quadripartite’s One Health High Level Expert Panel, he is a social scientist and bioethicist specialising in empirical research in health. With a background in veterinary medicine and expertise in qualitative and deliberative methodologies, Chris’ research focuses on the intersection of public health ethics, public health policy, communicable disease control and One Health.

Rob Moodie is Professor of Public Health at the University of Melbourne. Early in his career he worked in the Sudan for Save the Children Fund and Medicins Sans Frontieres, and then for Congress in Central Australia from 1982-1988. For many years he led HIV prevention work with the Burnet Institute, WHO and UNAIDS. Following his role as CEO of VicHealth from 1998-2007, he chaired the National Preventative Health Taskforce. He led the 2023 Lancet series on the Commercial Determinants of Health. He has been teaching and refining leadership skills training programs for the last 15 years mainly in Australia, Malawi and south Asia. He was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia in 2014.

Professor Bronwyn Fredericks is an Indigenous academic leader from South-East Queensland with over 30 years of experience across higher education, government, and community sectors. She currently serves as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Engagement) at The University of Queensland, where she leads the university’s Indigenous strategy and community engagement. Her research focuses on health and education, grounded in the lived realities of Indigenous peoples and driven by a commitment to social justice. Previously, she held senior roles at Central Queensland University and served as a Commissioner with the Queensland Productivity Commission. A Fellow of both the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and the Australian Academy of the Humanities, she has received numerous accolades, including the 2019 Public Health Award in Indigenous Health and the 2022 National NAIDOC Award for Education.

Blair commenced as the Secretary of the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing on 17 July 2023. Blair has served as the Secretary of the Commonwealth Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency and the Secretary of the Commonwealth Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism. Blair has also served as Secretary of the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet, NSW’s most senior public servant. Prior to these positions, Blair held senior leadership positions in Treasury and the Acting Chief Executive of the Australian Office of Financial Management with responsibility for managing the Commonwealth’s debt and derivative portfolio. Blair has had extensive engagement with Commonwealth State relations, including reform of the Federation and Health funding in his role as Secretary of the Department of Premier and Cabinet in the NSW Government. Blair also has significant private sector experience as a strategy consultant advising governments, not for profits, and corporates on a wide range of matters including climate, energy, human services, health, organisational leadership and design, governance and economic policy. In 2012 Blair was awarded the Public Service Medal for outstanding public service in the development of public policy, particularly in the areas of carbon pricing and emissions trading, tax policy design and debt management. Blair has a Bachelor of Economics (Hons), a Master of Economics and a Graduate Diploma of Legal Studies.

Kira Fortune is responsible for Healthy Cities, Health Promotion and Well-being in the Regional WHO Office of Europe. Kira has spent the last 25 years specializing in public health, equity, community engagement and the social determinants of health in various international organizations across the globe. Prior to taking up the position in Copenhagen, she managed the Social Determinants of Health and Violence and Injury Prevention Unit at the Regional WHO Office of the Western Pacific, in Manila. She also spent ten years at the Pan American Health Organization/Regional Office of the World Health Organization in Washington D.C., coordinating the work on the social determinants of health, healthy cities, health-in-all policies and the sustainable development goals within the Americas. Kira has extensive experience working across the international stage from global NGOs, academia as well as with inter-governmental organizations. Before joining the World Health Organization, Kira managed The International Health Research Network in Denmark and spent four years working in the Department of Global Advocacy at The International Planned Parenthood Federation in London. Kira also worked for three years with UNICEF in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where she was responsible for the Programme on Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV. Kira holds a Doctorate in Sociology from City University London; a Master’s Degree in Anthropology, Gender and Development, and a Bachelor of Science in Anthropology from the University of London. She also has a Master’s Degree in International Health from University of Copenhagen.

Kelly holds a Bachelor of Social Science (Human Services) from the University of South Australia, a Graduate Diploma in Health Promotion from La Trobe University, and a Master of Science (Research) from the University of Wollongong. With over 25 years of experience in health promotion, she has worked across the not-for-profit and government sectors in chronic disease prevention, community development, social and health policy, and advocacy. Kelly also spent 15 years as a researcher in the university sector, specializing in social marketing and public health research on topics including alcohol and junk food advertising, asthma self-management, organ and blood donation, mental health, and dementia. Currently, she is the CEO of Healthy Cities Australia (formerly Healthy Cities illawarra), a regional not-for-profit charity established in 1987 as part of the World Health Organization’s Healthy Cities movement. She also serves as a Steering Committee Member of the Alliance for Healthy Cities, advocating for health equity through systemic change.