AusACPDM 2020 Visionaries: Keynotes & Invited Speakers announced
The AusACPDM are thrilled to announce our first round of Visionary speakers to our 2020 Meeting in Perth. Follow the website or register your interest here for conference updates
Professor Jan Willem Gorter
Jan Willem Gorter, MD, PhD, FRCP(C) Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, is a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics in the School of Rehabilitation Science at McMaster University. He is Director and a scientist at CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research (www.canchild.ca) and holds the Scotiabank Chair in Child Health Research at McMaster University. He is visiting professor in Pediatric Rehabilitation in Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Professor Nadia Badawi AM
Professor Badawi AM is an active clinician and researcher. She is the Macquarie Group Foundation Professor and Chair of Cerebral Palsy (CP) at the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Institute, The University of Sydney, and is the Medical Director and co-Head of the Grace Centre for Newborn Care, at The Children’s Hospital Westmead.
Dr Andreas Meyer-Heim 
Andreas Meyer-Heim is the Chief Medical Officer of the Rehabilitation Centre Affoltern am Albis and Division of Rehabilitation at the University Children’s Hospital in Zurich, Switzerland. He is a Dr. of Medicine (MD), Paediatrician and PD (private lecturer) at the University of Zurich (UZH) and associate lecturer at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHaW) in the field of paediatric rehabilitation.
Professor Katherine Hustad
Katherine Hustad, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She is also an investigator at the Waisman Center. Professor Hustad’s research focuses on characterizing and enhancing speech, language and communication development and outcomes in children with cerebral palsy. She also studies variables that influence speech intelligibility with a special emphasis on augmentative/alternative communication interventions.
Rachel Callendar
Rachel is a TEDx presenter, speaker, trainer, award winning artist and the author of the Outstanding Book of the Year Award 2015 IPPY New York, Super Power Baby Project. This exceptional book celebrates the lives and abilities of children with chromosomal or genetic conditions, and was inspired by Rachel’s late daughter Evie, who was born with a very rare condition herself. In the two and a half years of Evie’s life, Rachel learnt a lot about the use of language in the health system, and has spent the subsequent years continuing to explore the impact and implications of how it is used by health professionals – To positive and negative effect. This book is Evie’s legacy, as is Rachel herself, and both have much to teach us about ourselves, and how we negotiate conflict, grief, hope, uniqueness, celebration, and a meaningful life.
Dr Graeme Innes AM 
Graeme Innes AM is a lawyer, author, and company director. His autobiography Finding a Way achieved popular acclaim in 2016. He has been a human rights practitioner for more than thirty years, and is a conference presenter and facilitator. Graeme was a Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission for almost nine years, responsible for issues relating to disability, race and human rights, and chairs the Attitude Foundation, a start-up using media to change attitudes towards Australians with disabilities. On the international stage, he was a member of the Australian delegation that participated in negotiating the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.
Dr Margaret Wallen PhD MA BAppSc (OT)
Margaret is an occupational therapist with a long-standing interest in paediatric research, outcome measurement and evidence-based practice. Her research interests have focused on upper limb interventions in infants and children with cerebral palsy including constraint-induced movement therapy, bimanual interventions, wrist/hand orthoses and effects of occupational therapy and Botulinum toxin-A injections. Margaret is a senior lecturer and course coordinator for occupational therapy at Australian Catholic University in North Sydney.
Anne McKenzie AM
Anne McKenzie has had professional and voluntary roles as a consumer advocate for the past twenty-five years. Since 2004 Anne has worked in research organisations to increase the community voice in research. In 2016 established the Consumer and Community Health Research Network which is a key platform of the WA Health Translation Network. In April 2019 Anne commenced in a new role as the Community Engagement Manager at the Telethon Kids Institute. Anne is a senior consumer representative for Consumers Health Forum of Australia and is a former Chair of Health Consumers Council WA. She serves on key state and national health and research committees such as the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Department of Health, the National Prescribing Service and the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare.
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