OUR KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

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Professor Smita Bhatia, MD, MPH completed her training in Blood Banking and Hematology/ Oncology and Epidemiology from the University of Minnesota. She served as founding chair of the Dept. of Population Sciences at City of Hope from 2006 to 2014. Dr. Bhatia joined University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in 2015 to establish the Institute for Cancer Outcomes and Survivorship. She is the White Endowed Professor in Pediatric Oncology at UAB. With over 350 peer-reviewed publications and continuous funding from NCI and LLS since 2000, she is an internationally renowned leader in cancer survivorship. She serves as Associate Editor for JCO and Senior Editor for CEBP. She is an elected member of American Society for Clinical Investigation and Association of American Physicians. She is the recipient of the Frank H Oski Lectureship Award from ASPHO, the Clinical Scholar Award from LLS and the Outstanding Investigator Award from the NCI. She was the recipient of the Dean’s Excellence Award in Mentoring (2020), and the Distinguished Professor award from UAB (2021).

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Professor Christoffer Johansen is a currently a full professor in Cancer Late Effect Research, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He initiated, established and headed the first department of psychosocial oncology applying epidemiological methods at the Danish Cancer Society Research Centre. The research aimed at evaluating how the mind may cause cancer, the effect of a cancer disease on psychosocial outcomes and interventions to improve psychosocial outcomes in cancer survivors. The main focus has been on depression in cancer and close to 25 investigator initiated randomized clinical intervention trials has been conducted under his supervision targeting psychosocial aspects in cancer survivors. He has supervised close to 70 Ph.D. students and besides more than 650 peer reviewed publications, published books on religious belief and health, personality and disease, living with cancer, and cancer late effects. Professor Johansen has been teaching since he was a medical student (1978 to 1986) mainly in anatomy, physiology and social medicine for pre-graduate students and later in epidemiology and academic writing in post-graduate education. He has been the President of IPOS from 2003 to 2006, Honorary Professor at UKE, Hamburg, Germany, University of Leipzig, Germany and currently Honorary Professor at Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia. He loves skiing, walking in mountains (no places in Denmark) and gardening.

Prof Raymond Chan (RN, BNurs, MAppSc, PhD, FACN, GAICD) is Director and Professor of Cancer Nursing, Caring Futures Institute, Flinders University. He holds prestigious titles as NHMRC Investigator Fellow and Matthew Flinders Fellow. Ray is currently leading a number of implementation-effectiveness trials in optimising shared-care to address the needs of cancer survivors. Prof Chan has published over 160 peer-reviewed articles and 2 book chapters. He currently also holds leadership roles in the MASCC Survivorship Group and COSA Survivorship Group.

Linda Denehy is Professor of Physiotherapy at the University of Melbourne and a registered Physiotherapist. She also has a joint appointment as Professor of Health Services Research: Allied Health at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. Professor Denehy has extensive teaching and learning experienceat both under and post graduate levels and introduced the new Doctor of Physiotherapy course in 2011. She waspreviously Head of the Physiotherapy Department at the University of Melbourne. Professor Denehy is a past President of the Council of Physiotherapy Deans of Australia and New Zealand and is the current deputy chair of the Council of Victorian Health Deans. She is a current member of the Australian College of Optometry Council. Linda has supervised over 40graduate research students to completion.She currently supervisesfour PhD and five Post-Doctoral students.Her research interests are in rehabilitation including in intensive care, oncology and perioperative management where she is passionate about improving patient centred outcomes. She has over 200 publications andhas been successful in nationally funded research in both Australia and the United Kingdom.

Professor Wainer is the Deputy Secretary for Public Health in the Victorian Government Department of Health.

She has previously held roles as the Director of Clinical Governance at Bupa Australia and New Zealand, Chair of the Board of Dental Health Services Victoria and a Director on the Board of the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation. Her passion and expertise in public health has driven formal and informal collaborations with the ICHOM, Harvard Business School and The University of Texas at Austin, Dell Medical School in value-based health care across multiple organisations. Zoe also has a continued advocacy focus on the importance of sex differences across health from basic research to health systems implications.

Zoe holds a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery from Flinders University, and has a clinical background in cardiothoracic surgery and thoracic surgical oncology. She has a PhD and a Master of Public Health from The University of Melbourne, is a fellow of the Australasian College of Health Service Management and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Dr Karen Price was awarded the 2016 RACGP FMCER grant to undertake her part time PhD with the Monash Department of General Practice. She is exploring the construct of peer-connection in general practice. This explores GP’s wellbeing, and goal-directed informal learning.
Karen’s research builds on her lifetime expertise as a GP. She is the co-developer and facilitator of GPs Down Under, an 8000+ member community of Australian and New Zealand GPs. She has chaired committees and developed mentor programs for both the AMA and the RACGP. Karen began her general practice in a large procedural practice which included providing medical assistance to the local district police surgeon. She has also been a successful practice owner growing a languishing practice into a thriving community practice in under a decade whilst wrangling three young school-aged children (who are now fully grown).

Karen has presented nationally and internationally; plenary lectures; workshops on women’s medical leadership; social media; resilience, and informal learning.

She is published on women’s medical leadership and received a 2011 Monash University award for medical student teaching. Karen continues to develop evidence-based medicine, leadership, advocacy, and peer support, in both research and her ongoing clinical general practice.
Most recently her advocacy, research and lifetime experience have coalesced into running for RACGP President after her service as deputy chair of the Victorian Faculty of the RACGP and past chair of the Women in General Practice committee of the RACGP. Karen was elected RACGP President in the 2020 national election. She commenced her two-year term on 30 November 2020.