Committee
Convenors
Anke van der Sterren
Deputy CEO at the Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drug Association ACT (ATODA)
Anke van der Sterren is the Deputy CEO at the Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drug Association ACT (ATODA). Anke is a social scientist with over 25 years’ experience in research and evaluation in the areas of alcohol and other drugs, tobacco, blood borne viruses and workforce development. Anke has worked as a public health researcher in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled, university, and non-government sectors. Anke is in the 2020 cohort of the Future Health Leaders Program at UNSW and is undertaking a Professional Doctorate in Applied Public Health. Her DrPH project focuses on identifying and exploring the key domains of service user experiences that are most important to people accessing AOD services, and using these to codesign a service-user centred experience measure that reflects the perspectives and needs of multiple stakeholders—service users, service providers, policy makers/funders and researchers.
Chris Gough
Executive Director at the Canberra Alliance for Harm Minimisation and Advocacy (CAHMA) and President of the Australian Illicit and Injecting Drug Users League (AIVL)
Chris Gough is the Executive Director of the Canberra Alliance for Harm Minimisation and Advocacy (CAHMA), an alcohol, tobacco and other drug service delivery and advocacy organisation run by and for people who use drugs and people who use drug treatment services in the ACT. Chris is the President of the Australian Illicit and Injecting Drug Users League (AIVL) and identifies as a person who uses drugs. Chris’ expertise centres around peer and consumer driven programming, community development and leadership as well as systemic advocacy. His vision is for a society where people who use drugs are not criminalised but rather supported and understood, where drug markets are not controlled by organised crime but instead properly regulated and where drug treatment and harm reduction are sufficiently funded.
Amy Faden
Credentialled Drug and Alcohol Nurse (CDAN) with DANA; Member Australian College of Nursing (MACN) and Tobacco Treatment Specialist with ASCP
Amy Faden, with 25 years of nursing experience, has dedicated much of her career to providing frontline care to individuals accessing alcohol and other drug services in the ACT and NSW. Holding postgraduate qualifications in Alcohol and Other Drugs, Sexual and Reproductive Health, and Mental Health, she excelled as a Clinical Nurse Consultant across various settings. Noteworthy accolades include being named the ACT Nurse of the Year in 2010 and serving as the inaugural coordinator for the ACT Supreme Court’s drug and alcohol sentencing list. Amy currently serves as treasurer on the board of the Drug and Alcohol Nurses of Australasia (DANA), advocating for nurses' recognition and supporting them in delivering optimal care. Transitioning to the federal government, she persists in challenging negative perceptions surrounding substance use.
Organising Committee
Kate Senior
Dr Kate Senior is an Addiction Medicine Specialist with Drug and Alcohol Services SA (DASSA), with a background in General Practice. She has served as the Trainee Rep on the RACP Australasian Chapter of Addiction Medicine Committee and is the current APSAD SA Rep.
Craig Rodgers
Craig Rodgers completed his training with the College of General Practitioners in 2000 and has been working as a part-time GP in the inner city area of Sydney since that time. In 2004 he was inducted as a founding Fellow of the Chapter of Addiction Medicine and has continued to work in both the drug and alcohol sector and general practice. He enjoyed many years of work at the Kirketon Road Centre in Kings Cross, a primary health care service for people who inject drugs, sex workers and ‘at risk’ youth, and was the Medical Unit Manager from 2002 until 2012. Since 2012 he has been working as a Staff Specialist in Addiction Medicine at St Vincent’s Hospital. He is also a conjoint lecturer at the University of NSW and has contributed to registrar and GP training in the areas of Addiction Medicine, HIV and Sexual health.
Robert Stirling
Dr Robert Stirling is CEO of Network of Alcohol and Other Drugs Agencies (NADA) the NSW NGO AOD peak body. He supports members in AOD and public health policy, planning and funding, governance, sector and workforce development, as well as research and evaluation. Robert has worked in the AOD sector for almost 20 years in both government and the NGO sector, and holds qualifications in public health and community management. He is on the board of the Australian Alcohol and other Drugs Council and is an Adjunct Lecturer with the Drug Policy Modelling Program at UNSW.
Suzie Hudson
Clinical Advisor to the Centre for Alcohol and Other Drugs at NSW Ministry of Health.
Dr Suzie Hudson is an accredited mental health social worker with a PhD in public health and community medicine who has worked in the AOD, mental health and forensic mental health fields for over 25 years. A clinical leader and current Clinical Advisor at the Centre for Alcohol and Other Drugs at NSW Health, her role is to provide AOD treatment policy advice and to support AOD treatment providers across NSW to deliver compassionate, trauma-informed and high-quality care. Suzie is an Adjunct Associate Lecturer at NDARC at UNSW, and also works as an accredited trainer, researcher and therapist in the community. Suzie is a passionate advocate for elevating Aboriginal voices, knowledge and wisdom in the AOD sector.
Christina Marel
The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney
Associate Professor Christina Marel is Program Lead of Treatment and Translation in Complex Populations at the Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use at the University of Sydney. Her research focuses on improving our understanding of, and responses to, mental and substance use disorders in complex populations; and developing innovative, evidence-based resources to support the translation of research into clinical practice.
Scientific Advisory Committee
Amy Peacock
Dr Amy Peacock (BA Hons, PhD) is an Associate Professor and Program Lead for Drug Trends at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW Sydney, and an Adjunct Researcher in the School of Medicine, University of Tasmania. Her program of research is focused on: i) monitoring systems for detecting trends in illicit drug use and communicating risks to people who use drugs and other stakeholders and ii) epidemiology of alcohol-related risk behaviour, morbidity and mortality.
Anna Olsen
School of Medical and Psychology, ANUAssociate Professor Anna Olsen’s interdisciplinary program of research combines practical and critical approaches to public health, with a particular interest in marginalised populations and qualitative methodologies. Current research includes: opioid overdose prevention; drug checking; drug use and motherhood; domestic and family violence; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health; and ethical practice in social research. She values collaborative approaches to research and has extensive experience working with community and government on evaluation and research projects.
Cassandra Wright
Dr Cassandra Wright is Program Lead of the Alcohol and other Drugs research program at Menzies School of Health Research in the Northern Territory. Dr Wright is interested in the impact of alcohol policies on priority populations; reducing harms at events, and emerging products like no and very low alcohol.
Chris Holmwood
Trying to retire, Chris is an Addiction Medicine Physician who was previously Director of Clinical Partnerships at Drug and Alcohol Services South Australia (DASSA).
Prior to that he was Clinical Director of the South Australian Prison Health Service, and earlier than that was State Director of the RACGP Training Program for SA and NT.
Christina Marel
The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney
Associate Professor Christina Marel is Program Lead of Treatment and Translation in Complex Populations at the Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use at the University of Sydney. Her research focuses on improving our understanding of, and responses to, mental and substance use disorders in complex populations; and developing innovative, evidence-based resources to support the translation of research into clinical practice.
Craig Rodgers
Craig Rodgers completed his training with the College of General Practitioners in 2000 and has been working as a part-time GP in the inner city area of Sydney since that time. In 2004 he was inducted as a founding Fellow of the Chapter of Addiction Medicine and has continued to work in both the drug and alcohol sector and general practice. He enjoyed many years of work at the Kirketon Road Centre in Kings Cross, a primary health care service for people who inject drugs, sex workers and ‘at risk’ youth, and was the Medical Unit Manager from 2002 until 2012. Since 2012 he has been working as a Staff Specialist in Addiction Medicine at St Vincent’s Hospital. He is also a conjoint lecturer at the University of NSW and has contributed to registrar and GP training in the areas of Addiction Medicine, HIV and Sexual health.
Dan Vautin
Director of Policy & Impact and 2IC at the Alcohol, Tobacco and other Drugs Council Tasmania (ATDC)
David Newcombe
Dr David Newcombe (PhD) is an Associate Professor, and Co-Director of the Centre for Addiction Research, at University of Auckland. He has worked for over 20 years in the addiction sector, in Australia and New Zealand. His current research focuses on examining the effectiveness of different treatment approaches for stimulant misuse.
Elisabeth Yar
Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Association ACT (ATODA)
Dr Elisabeth Yarbakhsh is the Workforce Development and Research officer at the Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Association ACT (ATODA). She has a PhD in Anthropology from the Australian National University and is interested in the translation of alcohol, tobacco and other drug research into policy and advocacy. Elisabeth has published widely across a range of topics.
Jacqueline Bowden
Professor Jacqueline Bowden is Director of the National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction (NCETA), Flinders University. She’s a behavioural scientist who has worked at the interface of research and public health policy for more than twenty years (particularly in tobacco and alcohol control, and more recently other drugs).
James Dunne
For more than 15 years James has worked in policy and research roles within government, non-government organisations and universities in Australia, Scotland and Hong Kong, including with the Australian Injecting and Illicit Drug Users League and the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society. James has a long history of working in member-based organisations, and has a passion for improving health and wellbeing outcomes for people who use drugs. James is a former board member of the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations and current Fellow at the Centre for Criminology at The University of Hong Kong.
Jane Akhurst
AIHW
Jane Sheridan
Professor Jane Sheridan (Janie) was the inaugural Director of the Centre for Addiction Research, at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. After completing her Bachelor of Pharmacy Degree at the University of Bath, UK, she completed her PhD at the University of London, UK in 1995. Janie’s research has included exploring harm reduction service provision through primary care, new psychoactive substances, pharmaceutical drug misuse, methadone prescribing patterns, the role of community pharmacy in screening and brief interventions, older adults alcohol consumption, and treatment for stimulant dependence. She has also been involved in undergraduate pharmacy education in the management of opioids dependence, and health issues related to substance misuse. Janie has retired from her permanent role at the School of Pharmacy, and has a part time role with the School of Population Health at the University of Auckland.
Janni Leung
Dr Leung is an NHMRC Fellow at National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research (NCYSUR), University of Queensland. They research the epidemiology of substance use (e.g. cannabis, alcohol, smoking, vaping), mental health, and addiction, including gaming addiction, using quantitative analysis methods, e.g. systematic reviews, meta-analysis, cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses.
Jeff Buckley
Jeff is a Social Worker with 20 years’ experience working across government and non-government roles in alcohol and drug practice, crowd-care and harm reduction in entertainment precincts, community development, youth homelessness and adult education. He is the currently the Director of Insight, Queensland’s Centre for Alcohol and other Drug Training and Workforce Development in Queensland Health.
Jimmy Perry
Jimmy from the Cooroong region and father of 3 & children, 4 Grandchildren. He has been employed by ADAC since 2001. 2012 Jimmy completed a Masters from Sydney University Faculty of Medicine. 2014, Jimmy was awarded the First People’s Award by APSAD. 2020, Jimmy was inducted into The Coralie Ober Honor Roll from NIDAC.
Katherine Senior
Dr Kate Senior is an Addiction Medicine Specialist with Drug and Alcohol Services SA (DASSA), with a background in General Practice. She has served as the Trainee Rep on the RACP Australasian Chapter of Addiction Medicine Committee and is the current APSAD SA Rep
Kylie Lee
Kylie is Professor of Public Health (La Trobe University). Her research is led by community or health service requests. Kylie is lead editor on a clinical textbook requested by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander alcohol and other drug workers nationally.
Lynette Bullen
Lynette, a Wiradjuri woman, has been an Aboriginal drug and alcohol clinician for over 25 years. She won the APSAD Clinician Award in 2021. She currently works as a senior drug and alcohol clinician for in the Involuntary Drug and Alcohol Treatment Unit in NSW (based in Orange). She recently led a study into this unit that was published in Drug and Alcohol Review.
Michael White
Michael White is Executive Director of the South Australian Network of Drug and Alcohol Services (SANDAS). He represents the interests of members at both state and federal level through advocacy and representation, AOD policy development, systems planning, and research and its translation to practice. Michael has worked in the NGO and education sectors for over 35 years. He holds qualifications in adult and vocational education, quality improvement and management.
Natasha Reid
Child Health Research Centre, The University of Queensland
Natasha is a Research Fellow and Clinical Psychologist. Her research focuses on prevention of alcohol use during pregnancy and improving assessment, diagnosis and treatment services for children and adolescents with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) and their families.
Philip Hull
ACT Health
Robert Stirling
Sarah Clifford
Sarah Clifford is Public Health doctorial candidate at Menzies School of Health Research. Her work focuses on the relationship between alcohol use and harms, and how policies can impact these outcomes.
Scott Wilson
Scott Wilson is a well-respected Aboriginal leader and CEO of ADAC, the Aboriginal Drug and Alcohol Council (South Australia). He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney. Scott’s personal and professional experience in substance misuse has made him a valued member of nearly every major governmental and non-governmental committee in Australia for more than 30 years.
Tayla Degan
National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales
Dr Tayla Degan is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC), University of New South Wales. She is also a registered Clinical Psychologist working in private practice and frequently conducts university guest lectures. Tayla is currently involved in stimulant research at NDARC and is working on projects which include a Phase III randomised placebo-controlled trial- the Tina Trial. She has a particular interest in research on health literacy of people accessing mental health and substance use disorder treatment services, the implementation of continuing care, and evaluation of substance use disorder treatment.
APSAD recognises the Ngunnawal people as traditional custodians of the ACT and surrounding region. APSAD acknowledges that other people and families also have a traditional connection to the lands of the ACT and region and we respect this connection to country.