INVITED SPEAKERS

International 

Dr Barbara Cormack is a New Zealand paediatric dietitian and researcher at the forefront of neonatal nutrition innovation and improvement, for which she is internationally recognised. She has a Master of Health Sciences Degree, a PhD in Perinatal Science, and is a Senior Research Fellow at the Liggins Institute at the University of Auckland. Barbara was awarded the Dietitians NZ Award of Excellence for her work in obtaining prescribing rights for dietitians and was a founding member of the Australasian Neonatal Dietitians’ Network. Currently working in Starship Child Health as a specialist neonatal dietitian and Clinical Lead of the team of Starship Dietitians she has advocated for improved nutrition research to increase the knowledge base on which paediatric and neonatal clinical nutrition is based. Her realisation of the gaps in evidence around neonatal nutrition led Barbara to her PhD at the Liggins Institute where her research centres on how nutrition affects the growth, development and the long-term health of preterm babies.

Professor Linda S. Franck holds the Jack and Elaine Koehn Endowed Chair in Pediatric Nursing at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), School of Nursing and co-directs the ACTIONS fellowship program. She holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences and is an affiliate member of the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health. From 2015-2020 she served as Co-Principal Investigator and Director of Postnatal Research for the California Preterm Birth Initiative.

Linda has extensive experience in leading interdisciplinary teams to conduct clinical research to improve the quality and safety of hospital care for infants and children. She has a particular interest in improving the patient and family experience of health care and has pioneered interventions to engage patients, families and communities in healthcare delivery and research co-design. Linda received her bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of San Francisco and her master’s and PhD degrees from UCSF. She rejoined the UCSF faculty in 2010, after a decade at the Institute of Child Health, University College London, where she served as the first Chair of Children’s Nursing Research in the UK. She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and of the American Academy of Nursing. In 2020, she was inducted into the Sigma Nursing Researcher Hall of Fame and named the UCSF School of Nursing Research Mentor of the Year.

National 

Dr Stephen McKeever is a lecturer within University of Melbourne’s Department of Nursing. Most of his clinical experience has focused on caring for critically ill children and their families. This experience has been gained across the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia.

In August 2012, Stephen graduated with a PhD from The University of Melbourne. His doctoral thesis examined electroencephalograph changes occurring in children during anaesthesia. Since this time Stephen has supervised doctoral, and master’s, students in various aspects of children’s pain management and family interactions. 

Since January 2020 Stephen has been Journal of Child Health Care's Editor in Chief. This journal is an international, interdisciplinary and peer reviewed journal. It focuses on issues related to health and healthcare of neonates, children, young people, and their families.

Lynn Gillam is an experienced clinical ethicist, originally trained in philosophy (MA, Oxon, as a Rhodes Scholar) and bioethics (PhD).  Lynn is the Academic Director of the Children’s Bioethics Centre at the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne. She is also Professor in Health Ethics at the University of Melbourne, in the Department of Paediatrics.

Lynn provides clinical ethics case consultation, policy advice and leads research in paediatric clinical ethics. In 2018, Lynn was awarded the RCH Chairman’s Medal, in recognition of this work. She also teaches ethics in the MD course, and other health professional degree courses at the University of Melbourne, and supervises research students at Honours, Masters and PhD levels.  In 2019, Lynn was made a Member of the Order of Australia for service to medical education in the field of bioethics.

Professor Denise Harrison (RN, RM, PhD) is a Professor of Nursing at the University of Melbourne, Australia, and holds honorary appointments at the University of Ottawa, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and the Royal Children’s Hospital. She is the ACNN Professional Officer. She leads the Be Sweet to Babies program of research which focuses on improving pain management for neonates, infants and young children in partnership with parents, clinicians, interdisciplinary researchers and trainees. This work includes advocating for ethical conduct of neonatal pain studies, as well as knowledge translation studies, and using social media as a medium for knowledge dissemination.