Dear members,
It is such a pleasure and honour to be appointed as Chief Executive Officer of AIDA, which has such a strong history of advocating for and contributing to equitable health and life outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Whilst I am missing my family and hometown of Darwin, it is a privilege to be in Canberra and on Ngunnawal land.
My first month has been quite busy meeting with Secretariat staff, as well as members at the Melbourne Member Networking Event. I also attended my first board meeting and look forward to working with the board on strengthening our corporate governance. A/Professor Shannon Springer and I represented AIDA at the Council of Presidents of Medical Colleges (CPMC) meeting where A/Professor Springer presented “Strong Futures: Strengthening the Path to Fellowship for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Medical Graduates”, a joint research project between AIDA and James Cook University and the NMTAN project standards. The day prior, AIDA delivered our “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health in Clinical Practice” training to the CPMC; we received positive feedback and are now working on a program to roll-out the training in 2020.
Over the next 12 months AIDA will continue to advocate for members and our community, as well as strengthen membership engagement and support. A priority will be the development and implementation of a new strategic plan that will set our priorities for the next few years to come.
I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge Anita Mills as interim CEO and her work in guiding the organisation through a restructure earlier this year as well as Mary Guthrie who acted in the CEO role prior to my commencement, who maintained stability in the organisation.
Final preparations are underway for our annual conference to be held in Darwin this year, what a great place for a conference! This year’s theme Disruptive Innovations in Healthcare brings together dynamic presenters with thought provoking presentations, if you haven’t registered there is still time!
Nominations for the AIDA Awards are still open, this is a great opportunity to recognise the great work of our members who improve the health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Please take the time to nominate and recognise outstanding individuals across the following categories:
I look forward to meeting you in Darwin; I am interested in hearing members thoughts and ideas around the direction of AIDA and how we can best serve our members.
See you in Darwin!
Regards,
Monica Barolits-McCabe
CEO
