Featured Speakers
 Bridget Bainbridge, Head, Policy and Privacy, NEHTA Bridget is widely recognised as an expert in the field of information privacy. Her background encompasses policy and legislative development, regulatory systems and the alignment of operational practices (particularly in relation to information systems) with the legal and regulatory environment. Bridget has a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) and a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) from the University of Melbourne and a Doctor of Philosophy from Monash University. |
 Bill Caelli, Queensland University of TechnologyFor over 30 years Bill's research and development interests have concentrated on the broad area of what is now known as "information assurance". This incorporates all aspects of the security management and control of computer and data network systems with additional aspects of the reliable and trusted implementation of cryptography into these systems. This has also involved aspects of "trusted systems" as well as the special needs of some vertical end-user industries such as the banking and finance sector, etc. With over 43 years experience in the information technology industry, this experience has involved the actual development of complete computer systems in industry (the ERACOM ERA-50, 60, 80 series) as well as the integration of cryptographic sub-systems into these structures. |
 James Kavanagh, MicrosoftJames is the lead architect for Microsoft Australia in working with public and private health care organisations. His primary focus is in supporting the adoption of eHealth in Australia through policy, business and technical engagement. Over the last number of years, James has led Microsoft's consulting division for state government and previously been the lead architect on several major government and health programs. |
 Alison Choy Flannigan BA LLB (Hons), Partner Health, Life sciences and biotechnology DLA Phillips FoxAlison Choy Flannigan is a partner with national commercial law firm DLA Phillips Fox. She has over 17 years experience in advising health industry clients in many areas of corporate and commercial law. Alison's clients include public and private hospitals and health care providers, private health insurers, biotechnology, pharmaceutical and aged care/retirement living clients. She specialises in health IT, e-health and health privacy. She previously held the positions of General Counsel Corporate & Commercial with Ramsay Health Care Limited, Australia's largest private hospital operator and partner of another major Australian Law firm. In 2008, she was nominated by her peers in Best Lawyers International: Australia as one of Australia's "best lawyers" in the area of health care and has previously been named in Legal Profiles as a rising star. |
 Peter Croll, Better Life ICTDr. Peter Croll is the Owner and Director of Better Life ICT (www.BLICT.com) a consultancy specialising in Health Privacy. Peter has previously held professorships at two leading Australian universities where he has been responsible as a manager and research leader in his field. He has been a Head of School of IT and the Director of world class research centres, institutes and academies. He was appointed as a National fellow for CSIRO's Preventative Health Flagship initiative in 2006 to investigate Privacy and Security of secondary data use. He has produced over 100 publications in IT appearing in scientific publications and peer reviewed journals with over 50 focusing on the Safety and Privacy with eHealth applications. He currently chairs HIPS, a Health Informatics Privacy and Security forum for the Health Informatics Society of Australia (HISA Ltd.) where he serves as a director on the national board and also the chairs the Queensland Branch committee. He has served on the technology committee for the Australian Law Reform Commission to assist in their proposed revisions for the Privacy Act. He recently became a director on the board of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (iappANZ). He is the chair of this inaugural Health Privacy Futures Conference (HPF'08). |
 Malcolm Crompton, Information Integrity Solutions Pty Ltd Malcolm Crompton is Managing Director of Information Integrity Solutions Pty Ltd, providing high level advice to private sector and public sector organisations on building trust through excellent data governance, particularly in their collection and use of personal information. He is also the Asia Pacific based Director of the International Association of Privacy Professionals and Director of Bellberry Limited, a private not-for-profit organisation that provides health ethics committee services in accordance with the NHMRC Statement on Ethical Conduct in Research Involving Humans. |
 Karen Gibson, NEHTAKaren Gibson has more than 20 years experience in the health and medical research sectors. She has a particular interest in electronic health records and strategic information management, and has worked in the strategic planning sections of two large State Health Departments. With post-graduate qualifications in both Biomedical Engineering and Project Management, she has managed a number of major eHealth projects such as the HealthConnect Trials in Queensland, the Clinicians Health Channel in Victoria and the IT planning for the redevelopment of the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane. Through these roles Karen has gained a strong understanding of the need for improved connectivity and the importance of standards-based development in the health sector. Since joining NEHTA, Karen has successfully established the National Terminology Service and strongly contributed to international work, including establishment of the International Health Terminology Standards Development Organisation, of which she is currently Deputy Chair. In her current role she is responsible for a range of strategic initiatives, including secondary uses of eHealth information and international liaison on eHealth issues. |
 Michael Legg, HISA PresidentMichael Legg is Principal of Michael Legg and Associates, a consultancy in Information and Organisational Systems. He has more than 20 years experience in senior positions in the health industry. Before establishing ML&A he was Director Developments for Pathology, with what was then Australia's largest private health care group, Mayne, and before that General Manager of Southern Pathology, winners of the Australian Quality Award for Business Excellence. He has been involved for many years in health informatics standards setting with Standards Australia and HL7 and has served on many National Committees including the National Health Information Standards Advisory Committee and the Australian Health Information Council's subcommittee for Electronic Decision Support. |
 George Margelis, Intel Australia Digital Health GroupDr George Margelis is Industry Development Manager with the Intel Australia Digital Health Group. He works with the healthcare industry to explore the role of technology in healthcare, working with partners to facilitate trials of technology to develop new usage models for technology in healthcare, and working with industry to develop new products designed to work in the challenging healthcare space. |
 Megan Morris, First Assistant Secretary, Primary and Ambulatory Care Division, DoHAMegan is currently the First Assistant Secretary of the Primary and Ambulatory Care Division in the Department of Health and Ageing. She joined the Commonwealth Public Service as a graduate in 1981, and has worked in many areas of government since then. Most of her positions in government have been in social policy areas: income support; housing; education; employment; and, of course, health. She has advised the government of the day on health policy issues from within the Department of Finance, the Prime Minister’s Department and the Department of Health and Ageing. She has been in the health portfolio for over four years, starting off in the primary care area with a brief spell running the Surveillance Branch in the Office of Health Protection before taking over the Medical Benefits Division in September 2006 and then the Primary and Ambulatory Care Division in 2007. Although by preference a social policy adviser, Megan spent seven years in the Communications and Arts portfolio, responsible at various times for film policy, broadcasting content regulation, sport and the arts. Megan’s career also encompasses two years in the Canadian bureaucracy, in their equivalent of the Prime Minister’s Department. |
 Les McCrimmon, Australian Law Reform Commission Professor Les McCrimmon was has been a full-time member of the Australian Law Reform Commission since 2005. He led the ALRC's review of the uniform Evidence Acts (Uniform Evidence Law, 2005) and the landmark Privacy Inquiry (For Your Information: Australian Privacy Law and Practice, 2008). He has served on a number of NSW Bar Association Committees, the NSW Attorney General's working party established to review the law and practice relating to conflict of interest and the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General Uniform Evidence Act Expert Reference Group. |
 Christopher Puplick,AM MA JPProfessor Chris Puplick is a Professorial Fellow in the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences at the University of Wollongong (New South Wales, Australia). He served as a Senator for New South Wales in the Commonwealth Parliament from 1978 to 1981 and from 1984 to 1990, and was Shadow Minister for the Environment, Arts and Heritage from 1987 to 1990 as well as Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate. From 1994 to 2003 served as the President of the New South Wales Anti-Discrimination Board and as the State's first Privacy Commissioner. He is the author of five books and over ninety other publications and broadcasts. He is Principal of his own consultancy firm, Issus Solutions Pty. Ltd.In 2001 he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for his services in the fields of social justice and Australia's national campaigns against HIV/AIDS. |
| David Ruschena, Consultant, Health Legal David works as a Consultant at Health Legal, specialising in legislative interpretation and corporate compliance. He has been practicing for seven years and has advised public and private corporations on the reconciliation of competing legal obligations, in particular methods of ensuring that research does not contravene privacy legislation. He sits on ethics committees at a hospital and a university and was previously an Associate to a judge of the Federal Court of Australia. Prior to working as a lawyer, David conducted research for the Mental Health Research Institute in Victoria. He is currently completing a PhD at the University of Melbourne on the regulatory effects of litigation |
 Susan Smith, With over 20 years experience working as a hospital practitioner in the Health Sciences, Susan commenced her career in cellular immunology research with the School of Medicine, University of Queensland. Joining the Queensland Heart Valve Bank at The Prince Charles Hospital provided experience as a clinical hospital scientist and collaboration in a variety of internationally acclaimed clinical research programs including heart valve transplant immunology and surgical outcomes analysis. Currently, as the Coordinator for the Cardiac Surgical Register at The Prince Charles Hospital for over 10 years, Susan has gained substantial knowledge and experience in data management and informatics to support Clinical Quality Assurance and research processes.Susan has a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Medical Microbiology, and she has contributed to a number of strategic initiatives at the Health Service level and nationally through professional associations including AHRDMA, HISAQ, HISA Health Information Privacy and Security group. |
 Andrew Solomon, Corporate and Public Affairs Director, Australian Government Office of the Privacy CommissionerAndrew Solomon is currently acting Corporate and Public Affairs Director at the Australian Government Office of the Privacy Commissioner. In his ongoing role as Policy Director, which he will be returning to on 17 November 2008, Andrew led the Office's preparation of its submissions to the Australian Law Reform Commission's Privacy Issues Papers 31 and 32. The Policy section of the Privacy Commissioner’s office includes a specific team whose primary focus is health privacy issues. During his varied career Andrew has worked extensively across both the private and public sectors including operating several small businesses, managing a community service organisation and holding senior management positions in the Australian Public Service. Before joining the Office of the Privacy Commissioner in October 2005 as Policy Director, Andrew was the NSW State Manager for the National Native Title Tribunal. |
 David Stokes, Australian Psychological Society David is the Manager, Professional Issues, for the Australian Psychological Society. David develops programs of support for professional psychologists and also authors official submissions, policy and position statements for the Society. He provides representation and engagement with all National and State Governments and is a member of a range of national consultative committees. David is trained as a clinical neuropsychologist and worked for many years in the public health system as a clinician and manager in a large Melbourne public health facility. He understands at close hand the practical nature of record-keeping and its implications for health consumers. He still conducts a small private practice and sees first-hand the benefits of a more comprehensive and readily available health record. Finding the right balance between needs for care and privacy is his objective. |
 Colin Thomson, BA, LLM Colin Thomson is professor of the Faculty of Law, University of Wollongong, and an Adjunct Professor of the Faculty of Law, Macquarie University. He has been a member and chair of the Human Research Ethics Committee of the University of Wollongong and the Illawarra Area Health Service.He served on the Medical Research Ethics Committee of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) from 1987-1991 and on its successor, the Australian Health Ethics Committee (AHEC), from 1997- 2002, being Deputy Chair from 2000-2002. He was the full time consultant in health ethics to the NHMRC from 2002 - 2006 and in July 2006, was appointed chair of AHEC.At the Faculty of Law, Australian National University from 1972-1988, he introduced the study of law and medicine and was a member of Human Research Ethics Committees of the university, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and the Australian Capital Territory Board of Health. He was directly involved in the preparation of the first and also the current guidelines under sections 95 and 95A of the Privacy Act 1988 and, with the Australian Law Reform Commission, of Essentially Yours: The Protection of Genetic Information. |
 Jan Whitaker, Australian Privacy Foundation, Board and Executive Committee Jan is an IT consultant in Melbourne. Her interests in privacy span the avoidance of the use of IT to exploit people by government and corporate parties, to how privacy regulation should be used to protect the interests of the vulnerable and those with quiet voices in society. She has served on the inaugural Community Advisory Committee for Southern Health (Victoria), "Health Issues Journal" editorial committee of the Health Issues Centre, the Community Reference Committee for the Health Privacy Act in Victoria, AGIMO privacy reference group for the Australian Government Online Service Point, AUSTRAC Privacy Consultative Committee, RFID Privacy Code of Practice committee, and the Board of Electronic Frontiers Australia. Jan has qualifications in Music Education and Educational Technology. |
