This year's wonderful speakers are:

Professor Rhonda Marriott

Pro Vice Chancellor, Ngangk Yira Institute for Change, Murdoch University

Matrilineally descended from the Nyikina people of the Kimberley, Professor Marriott, AM has extensive senior University leadership experience, and maintains her professional connection with nursing and midwifery. She champions the translation of codesigned maternal, early childhood and youth research outcomes into national policy and practice to emphasise the strengthening of Aboriginal family futures through transformational research. As PVC for the Ngangk Yira Institute for Change, she has drawn together a passionate team of Aboriginal and non-Indigenous researchers for meaningful research partnerships with Elders and members from Aboriginal communities across Western Australia.

Dr Sarah Paton

Breast Physician, BreastScreen WA

Dr Sarah Paton studied Science and Medicine at the University of Western Australia, then later Creative Writing, and worked in Perth hospitals, before moving to Melbourne and Boston. Sarah worked in inner-city general practice, paediatrics, and dermatology. A growing passion for women’s health led to a career step in 2015 to train in breast medicine, working with BreastScreen WA, and North and East Metro Health Services as a breast physician. Sarah’s creativity has always been her background theme. Sarah believes in the duality of Art and Science, that art can provide a discourse of healthcare, allowing accessibility to the narratives of illness, with the power to change perceptions of disease and health, and in turn, engagement and progress. In 2023, following serious illness, the story unexpectedly became her own, with self-portrait “Memento Mori” winning significant recognition in the Lester Portrait Prize.