Professor Leanne Hides (Conference Co-Convenors)
Professor Leanne Hides holds an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Senior Research Fellowship and the industry-supported Lives Lived Well Chair in Alcohol, Drugs and Mental Health at the University of Queensland. Leanne is a clinical psychologist with over 20 years of clinical and research experience in the development of new psychological treatments for substance use and comorbid mental disorders. She has led over 30 randomized controlled trial, with her most recent work focused on telehealth, web and mobile-based treatments. Her research team is also contributing new knowledge on the key mechanisms of change in substance use treatment, who they are most effective for, and how to best engage and deliver treatment to young people.
Associate Professor Mark Daglish (Conference Co-Convenors)
A/Prof Mark Daglish graduated in Medicine from the University of Edinburgh. He completed his psychiatry training in South East Scotland & Bristol, UK. A/Prof Daglish has been Director of Addiction Psychiatry, Royal Brisbane & Women’s Hospital since 2007. He is also a staff specialist in one of the city centre opioid replacement clinics in Brisbane and Associate Professor in Addiction Psychiatry at the University of Queensland.
Genevieve Dingle
University of Queensland
Genevieve Dingle is an Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology at the University of QLD with a research interest in how groups and communities (and conversely, loneliness) can influence mental health and substance use. She is an AHPRA registered clinical psychologist and supervisor whose previous jobs included Program Manager of the Rubicon AOD Program at Belmont Private Hospital. She is lead author of Groups 4 Belonging, a 6-session program designed to address loneliness in people recovering from addiction. Genevieve convenes courses on Cognitive Behaviour Therapies for Adults; and Addiction Science and Practice for Psychology Masters students at UQ. As well as being the QLD Rep on the APSAD Council, Genevieve is the Editor of Behaviour Change journal and a member of the Executive Committees of the Australian Music & Psychology Society and the Arts Health Network QLD. See website for publications: Associate Professor Genevieve Dingle – UQ Researchers and twitter @genevieve132
Jackie Hallam
Alcohol, Tobacco and other Drugs Council (Tas Inc)
Jackie has worked in a variety of roles within the Tasmanian alcohol, tobacco and other drugs sector since 2001. These have involved policy analysis, conducting research interviews with people who use drugs, implementing workforce development initiatives, conducting evaluations and frontline work in needle and syringe programs. Jackie graduated with a PhD in public policy from the University of Tasmania, in 2006. Her thesis, ‘The Rise and Stall of Harm Reduction policy in Australia’, examined change in illicit drug policy in Australia from 1980 to 2000. Jackie is currently the Policy Manager at the Alcohol, Tobacco and other Drugs Council.
Colleen Blums
Drug and Alcohol Nurses of Australasia
In a nursing career spanning five decades Colleen Blums has worked in a variety of clinical and hospital management settings. She also provides consultancy and project management services to organisations across Australia.
Sixteen years ago, she began what was intended to be a short-term management role in the AOD sector. Inspired by the people she met she developed a passion for all aspects of nursing patients with AOD issues.
She is a Council member of the Coalition of National Nursing and Midwifery Organisations.
Colleen is an active member of her professional association, Drug and Alcohol Nurses of Australasia. Formerly President of DANA she is now the Executive Officer.
David Newcombe
The University of Auckland, New Zealand
David Newcombe is Associate Professor of Alcohol and Drug Studies at the University of Auckland. He is currently Head of the Department of Social and Community Health in the School of Population Health, Director of postgraduate addiction studies, and Associate Director of the Centre for Addiction Research. David has had over 20 years’ experience working in the addiction sector in New Zealand and Australia in clinical, research and education roles. Prior to moving to New Zealand he was Senior Project Officer at the WHO Collaborating Centre at the University of Adelaide. David was the co-convenor of the 2018 APSAD conference held in Auckland.
Genevieve Dingle
University of Queensland
Genevieve Dingle is an Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology at the University of QLD with a research interest in how groups and communities (and conversely, loneliness) can influence mental health and substance use. She is an AHPRA registered clinical psychologist and supervisor whose previous jobs included Program Manager of the Rubicon AOD Program at Belmont Private Hospital. She is lead author of Groups 4 Belonging, a 6-session program designed to address loneliness in people recovering from addiction. Genevieve convenes courses on Cognitive Behaviour Therapies for Adults; and Addiction Science and Practice for Psychology Masters students at UQ. As well as being the QLD Rep on the APSAD Council, Genevieve is the Editor of Behaviour Change journal and a member of the Executive Committees of the Australian Music & Psychology Society and the Arts Health Network QLD. See website for publications: Associate Professor Genevieve Dingle – UQ Researchers and twitter @genevieve132
Jackie Hallam
Alcohol, Tobacco and other Drugs Council (Tas Inc)
Jackie has worked in a variety of roles within the Tasmanian alcohol, tobacco and other drugs sector since 2001. These have involved policy analysis, conducting research interviews with people who use drugs, implementing workforce development initiatives, conducting evaluations and frontline work in needle and syringe programs. Jackie graduated with a PhD in public policy from the University of Tasmania, in 2006. Her thesis, ‘The Rise and Stall of Harm Reduction policy in Australia’, examined change in illicit drug policy in Australia from 1980 to 2000. Jackie is currently the Policy Manager at the Alcohol, Tobacco and other Drugs Council.
Janni Leung
The University of Queensland
Dr Janni Leung, an epidemiologist, is a Global Substance Use and Mental Health Research Fellow at the National Centre For Youth Substance Use Research (NCSYUR) and affiliated with The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC) in Australia. They have qualifications and training in public health and psychology. They have research and teaching experience in epidemiology and biostatistics. They have published over 100 scientific papers and conference presentations in the substance use epidemiology field. Janni is committed to conducting high quality rigorous research to generate empirical scientific evidence to inform decisions to prevent substance use related harms in the population.
Jeff Buckley
Insight, Queensland Health
Jeff Buckley is the Director of Insight – an alcohol and drug training and workforce development initiative based within Queensland Health. He is a Social Worker with over 20 years’ experience in alcohol and drug practice, youth homelessness and community development. He has worked across government, academia and community sectors in roles including program management, casework, street outreach and providing late night health and welfare services in entertainment precincts. He has a particular interest in the art of interactive group facilitation, team problem-solving and trivia competitions!
Lauren Bradley
Australian Injecting & Illicit Drug Users League (AIVL)
Lauren Bradley is the Acting CEO of the Australian Injecting & Illicit Drug Users League (AIVL) which strives to improve the health and human rights of people who inject/use drugs. She has over 8 years’ experience working with marginalised and stigmatised communities. Additionally, Lauren is a Director of the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO) and Vice-President of Hepatitis ACT.
Lauren Monds
Discipline of Addiction Medicine, Central Clinical School, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney
Dr Lauren Monds has a PhD in psychology and currently works as a lecturer in the Specialty of Addiction Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health at Sydney University. She is also the Research Coordinator for Drug and Alcohol Services, Northern Sydney Local Health District. Lauren’s research focuses on acute and long term effects of substances on cognition.
Leanne Hides
School of Psychology, University of Queensland
Professor Leanne Hides holds an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Senior Research Fellowship and the industry-supported Lives Lived Well Chair in Alcohol, Drugs and Mental Health at the University of Queensland. Leanne is a clinical psychologist with over 20 years of clinical and research experience in the development of new psychological treatments for substance use and comorbid mental disorders. She has led over 30 randomized controlled trial, with her most recent work focused on telehealth, web and mobile-based treatments. Her research team is also contributing new knowledge on the key mechanisms of change in substance use treatment, who they are most effective for, and how to best engage and deliver treatment to young people.
Mark Daglish
University of Queensland and Royal and Women’s Hospital Brisbane
A/Prof Mark Daglish graduated in Medicine from the University of Edinburgh. He completed his psychiatry training in South East Scotland & Bristol, UK. A/Prof Daglish has been Director of Addiction Psychiatry, Royal Brisbane & Women’s Hospital since 2007. He is also a staff specialist in one of the city centre opioid replacement clinics in Brisbane and Associate Professor in Addiction Psychiatry at the University of Queensland.
Michael Doyle
Sydney University, Centre of Research Excellence in Indigenous Health and Alcohol
Michael is a Bardi Aboriginal man who has been involved in the HIV/AIDS and BBV field in both a professional and personal capacity for over 20 years. He began his career as an Aboriginal health worker at the Broome Regional Aboriginal Medical Service. After 10 years in various roles in the non-government sector he moved into research in 2008 to work at Curtin University’s National Drug Research Institute. In 2011 Michael moved to the Kirby Institute where he later completed his PhD in 2018. He is currently a Senior Research Fellow at Sydney University’s Centre of Research Excellence in Indigenous Health and Alcohol. Michael was awarded a National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, Emerging Leader grant in 2020 and he is currently a board member of the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations.
Michael Farrell
National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW
Professor Michael Farrell is the Director of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC) at the University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW and Faculty Theme Lead of Mental Health, Neuroscience, Ageing and Addictions, UNSW Medicine. Prior to his appointment at UNSW, Professor Farrell was a Professor of Addiction Psychiatry at Kings College London.
His extensive research interests include evidence-based practice and treatment evaluation, in tobacco, alcohol and other drug dependence, psychiatric comorbidity, translation of new evidence into practice. He was Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee of The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. He is an editor with the Cochrane Drug and Alcohol Group. He is a member of the World Health Organization Expert Committee on Drug and Alcohol Dependence. He is current President of APSAD. He has published over 300 scientific papers and a number of books. He has been a board member or director of many different Alcohol and other Drug NGO Community Groups over the past thirty years He has been a consultant on National Drug Policy to many national Governments. He is a strong advocate for better investment and support for prevention, treatment and research.
Michael White
The South Australia Network of Drug and Alcohol Services
Executive Director South Australian Network of Drug and Alcohol Services (SANDAS). Michael represents the interests of members at both state and federal level. His role is focusses on member advocacy, AOD policy development, systems planning and the engagement of the non-government sector in research and its translation to practice. He sits on a number of committees representing the non-government AOD sector. Michael has worked in the nongovernment and education sectors for over 35 years. He holds qualifications in adult and vocational education, quality improvement and management. Michael has a keen interest in systemic improvement and the enhancement of inter-sectoral practice.
Renee Bittoun
University of Notre Dame Australia
Renee has worked in Smoking Cessation for more than 35 years and is an inaugural member of the international SRNT (international Society for Research in Nicotine and Tobacco).
- She started one of the world’s first Smokers’ Clinics in Sydney, Australia in 1979.
- She was Director of the Smokers’ Clinics in the Sydney Local Health District for 15 years to 2018.
- She was Head of the Smoking Cessation Unit in the Faculty of Medicine, Brain Mind Institute, at the University of Sydney for 20 years, where she established the first University course on Nicotine Addiction and Smoking Cessation in any Australian University.
- She was President of AASCP, The Australian Association of Smoking Cessation Professionals for 10 years (now amalgamated with APSAD)
- She is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the international peer-reviewed Journal of Smoking Cessation published by Cambridge University Press.
- She has published many articles and books on smoking cessation.
- She was recently a visiting Professor to the Salpetriere Hospital, at the Sorbonne in Paris, France.
- She is currently Professor at Notre Dame and Avondale Universities in Australia and at the Charles University, in Prague, the Czech Republic and is a consultant and teacher in tobacco treatment to NSW Health, National Indigenous Health groups, mental health groups and drug and alcohol treatment programmes both nationally and internationally.
Sheridan Pooley
Matua Raki National Addiction Workforce Programme, New Zealand
Sheridan first sought help from an addiction service in the early 1980s and has been engaged in treatment ever since as a client and/or colleague. After completing a Master of Arts Sociology thesis In another Vein: The Social Consequences of Methadone Maintenance Treatment, volunteering at Auckland’s first needle exchange outlet and 5 years in the NGO sector Sheridan joined Community Alcohol and Drug Services Auckland as consumer advisor where she has built a small (but perfectly formed) consumer team which actively promotes consumer involvement, recovery- (as defined by the client) oriented systems of care and person-centred approaches. Sheridan is involved in a range of national activities, chairing the Addiction Consumer Leadership Group – Te Pou which is committed to building and supporting the consumer, peer and lived experience workforce.
Tania Kelly
AOD Consultation Liaison QLD
Tania is a Credentialed Mental Health Nurse and Tobacco Treatment Specialist. After 24 years in a diverse nursing career, Tania began working full-time for AODS in 2013. Her experience spans across a variety of treatment environments inclusive of inpatient, outreach and community-based settings, with her current position being AOD Consultation Liaison. Tania aspires to assist health professionals understand addiction, and gain confidence in recognising and supporting people struggling with AOD issues. She has also established her own private nurse-led clinic in Mackay, and recently published her book aiming to demystify addiction treatment: “Keep Calm and Treat Addiction: Your 12-step Guide to Client Recovery”.
