Alan Singh Executive Director, Research Quality and Advice, National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) – Mr Singh’s responsibilities at the NHMRC focus on research translation, including public health, guidelines for clinical practice, environmental health, and Indigenous health policy. His branch is also responsible for NHMRC’s frameworks that support quality, integrity and ethics in health and medical research. Mr Singh also leads NHMRC’s activities to support Indigenous health research and researchers, and NHMRC’s work on behalf of the MRFF. He is NHMRC’s Indigenous Champion. Mr Singh has held a range of senior management roles throughout his career, mostly in health policy.
Anne Wilson, CEO Emerge Australia – Anne is an experienced Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director with a diverse track record of restructuring, repositioning and growing organisations to meet stakeholder needs while attracting investment for financial sustainability and growth. She has worked across the education, health and varied NFP sectors, particularly respiratory and renal health focussing on capacity building across key areas of advocacy, education, research and service delivery among others. A graduate of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business NFP Leadership Program Anne’s qualifications span degrees in Human Services and Adolescent Health. In 2008, Anne was the winner of the NFP Network Association CEO of the Year award. Active on the international stage Anne is currently Director and Secretary/Treasurer of the International Kidney Cancer Coalition with offices in the Netherlands and the UK. With a passion for stakeholder engagement, social justice and working collaboratively to achieve business outcomes, Anne is committed to increasing awareness, investment and improved services and support for those with ME/CFS in Australia.
Carla, ME Advocacy Network Australia (MEANA) – Carla is a long term community leader and advocate. She lives with severe ME/CFS and is passionate about supporting others with the condition. Her current areas of focus are the DSP, NDIS and developing opportunities for accessible grassroots advocacy in partnership with other members of ME Advocacy Network Australia (MEANA) for members of our community to participate in.
Senator Jordon Steele-John, Senator for WA and Green Portfolio holder for Health and Disability – Jordon Steele-John is a Greens Senator for WA and a proud disabled person. He advocates for disability rights and equitable healthcare for all Australians. Jordon and his team were instrumental in establishing a Parliamentary Inquiry into access to ADHD assessment and support services – the first of its kind in Australia. Jordon’s goal is to challenge the boundaries of political norms – both in the Senate and the community and create a more accessible and inclusive society for all. He is co-chair of The Parliamentary Friends of ME/CFS.
Hon. Mark Butler MP, Minister for Health and Aged Services – 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 the United Workers Union (then United Voice) for over 15 years, including 11 years as State Secretary.
In 2003 he was awarded the Centenary Medal for services to trade unionism.
He has long been a champion for society’s most vulnerable, and was a member of the South Australian Social Inclusion Board during its major review of the South Australian mental health system.
In 2013 Mark was awarded the Alzheimer’s Disease International Award for Outstanding Global Contribution to the Fight Against Dementia.
Mark is the author of Advanced Australia – The Politics of Ageing, published in 2015; and Climate Wars, published in 2017.
Dr Mike Freelander MP, Member for Macarthur – Mike has been the Member for Macarthur since 2016. Before this, he worked as a paediatrician in Campbelltown & Camden for nearly 40 years, and in both roles, he has dedicated himself to making sure his local community is supported, cared for and receives the best outcomes possible. Mike has a long connection to Macarthur as he opened his very first clinics in Campbelltown and Camden in 1984, which occurred the same day that Medicare was established. Since then, he and his wife Sharon have raised their six children in Macarthur and have seen the region grow. Mike also commenced work at Campbelltown Hospital where he took on the role as Head of Paediatrics from 1986 to 2013. His hard work and dedication to the region earnt him the respect of local families and residents. In his near 4 decades as a paediatrician in the Macarthur region, Mike has seen over 200,000 patients. Having increasingly seen his patients and their families struggle with affordability and access to healthcare, housing, and education, as well as poor local infrastructure, Mike decided to run for the Federal seat of Macarthur in 2016, which he won, and was re-elected in 2019 and 2022. As the Member for Macarthur, Mike has long advocated for better healthcare, economic, environmental and infrastructure outcomes for his electorate, which is important given that Macarthur is the largest electorate by number on enrolled individuals in the nation. Since then, and with the successful election of the Albanese Government in 2022, Mike has been able to deliver local services, such as the Medicare Urgent Care Clinics and the Medicare bulk billing incentive increase that benefits both patients and GPs alike. Mike currently serves as the Chair of the Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Sport and has led the Committee’s inquiry into long COVID as well as its current Inquiry into Diabetes management, treatment, and prevention. Despite his workload as a Member of Parliament, Mike still finds time to see patients at Campbelltown Hospital and to give back to his profession by teaching the next generation of doctors as an Associate Professor at Western Sydney University, Campbelltown Campus.
Professor Paul Fisher, Chair Emerge Australia Medical and Scientific Advisory Committee – Former Head of Microbiology, Department of Physiology, Anatomy, and Microbiology, La Trobe University, with research interests including the study of neurodegenerative disease, mitochondrial biology, Parkinson’s disease and the roles of mitochondria in disease. Particular dedication and focus is in studying blood plasma, white blood cells and mitochrondria from ME/CFS patients. Chair of Emerge Australia’s Medical and Scientific Advisory Committee, where his leadership helps shape research priorities. His ground-breaking work is widely published, recognising ME/CFS as a complex and debilitating disease with a substantial social and economic impact on individuals and their communities.
Penelope McMillan, spokesperson ME/CFS Australia – Penelope McMillan is active in advocacy for ageing, carers, disability, chronic illness and specifically ME/CFS. Her work includes engagement in research, including co-authorship, and representing people with ME/CFS in local, state, national and international arenas.
Peta Lange, Chief Counsel, Public Affairs, Ogilvy PR ANZ – A highly skilled executive with over 15 years’ public affairs and policy experience who has led projects that increased profile, strengthened reputation, and drove critical outcomes for public, private, and not-for-profit organisations. Peta is passionate about driving critical change through strategies that identify and leverage opportunities to challenge the status quo and table solutions to problems often considered too hard to solve.
