Seminar: Maternity reform and innovation - ideas and challenges

A symposium for midwives, professionals, researchers and educators involved in maternity care

Presenters

Professor Gene Declercq

Gene Declercq, PhD (Political Science) is Professor of Community Health Sciences and Assistant Dean for Doctoral Education at the Boston University School of Public Health and also a Professor on the Faculty of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Boston University School of Medicine. He was awarded a Robert Wood Johnson Investigator Award in Health Policy Research to study policy and practice related to cesarean section in the US and has served as lead author of three national studies of women’s experiences in childbirth and in the postpartum period. He is a recipient of the Norman Scotch award for outstanding teaching.

Professor Nicky Leap

Nicky is a Professor of Midwifery in with the Centre for Midwifery, Child and Family Health UTS. Nicky has been working on two projects designed to Support women to have a positive experience of labour and birth using multi-media including videos.

Professor Lesley Barclay

Lesley Barclay (AO) was the Professor of Family Health at UTS for more than 10 years and the foundation Professor of Health Services Development at Charles Darwin University. In 2009 she began as the Professor and Director of the Northern Northern Rivers University Department of Rural Health (University of Sydney) in Lismore. She is known internationally as a maternal child health researcher and uses innovative research methodologies to investigate complex problems. Her recent research focus has become system change to improve health service delivery

Tanya Farrell

Tanya is the Director of Maternity Services at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne. In her current role, Tanya provides extensive leadership in a number of areas including: service planning and development; demand and change management; establishment of research projects that enhance professional development and evidence-based policy development; and the management of hospital resources within identified budget parameters for in a tertiary maternity service that cares for 6,500 women a year.

Dr Suellen Allen

Suellen is a Post Doctoral Fellow in the Centre for Health Communication at UTS and the Project Coordinator for the ‘100 Patient Stories’ Project. The project funded by the Australian Commission for Safety and Quality in Health Care seeks to develop a deeper understanding of patients’ experiences of Open Disclosure, and to develop indicators of effective Open Disclosure after adverse events.

Mr David Hirsch

David graduated from McGill University Law School in Montreal in 1984. He came to Australia in 1989 to pursue post-graduate studies in medical law at the University of Sydney. After working for a time defending doctors in medical negligence cases he changed sides and has worked exclusively on behalf of injured patients since 1992. David went to the bar in 2005 where he continues to specialise in medical negligence litigation. He has also acted as Counsel Assisting in numerous coronial inquests including the suicide death of Channel 10 newsreader Charmaine Dragun. David is the national chair of the Australian Lawyers Alliance Medical Negligence Special Interest Group. He is a regular guest speaker at medical as well as legal conferences. He was also a story consultant to the ABC drama "MDA".

Ms Ann Kinnear

Ann is the Principal Adviser Maternity Services in the Primary Health and Community Partnerships Branch at the NSW Department of Health. Ann is responsible for providing advice to the NSW Health Service Executive and the Minister for Health and is a member of the NSW Maternal and Perinatal Committee and the NSW Maternal and Perinatal Health Priority Taskforce.