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Unity-in-Health Advisory Board

Dr Tim Ewer

Chair

Dr Tim Ewer, MB ChB, MMedSc, MRCP(UK), FRACP, FRNZCGP, FACNEM, Dip Occ Med, DCH, DRCOG, has been working in Integrative medicine for over 30 years and he is vocationally registered as both a specialist physician and a general practitioner. He founded a GP practice which now has 25 staff and he also has a separate specialised Integrative health clinic in Mapua, Nelson. Prior to this he was a hospital physician for 10 years after gaining his medical degree and specialist qualifications in the UK. He has trained in a variety of modalities including nutrition, environmental medicine, hyperbaric medicine, acupuncture, photobiomodulation, biofeedback and bioenergetic modalities.He has been an advisor to the World Health Organisation on natural medicine and to the New Zealand government on Integrative medicine/CAM. He is a founding board member of the Board of Integrative Medicine Australasia (BIMA) and a faculty member of the Australian College of Nutrition and Environmental Medicine (ACNEM).

Prof Jon Adams

Public Health Expert

Prof Jon Adams is a Distinguished Professor of Public Health, Co-Director of ARCCIM and Deputy Head (Research) at the School of Public Health, University of Technology Sydney. Jon is also a Fulbright Senior Scholar, has held 3 consecutive ARC/NHMRC Research Fellowships including an ARC Professorial Future Fellowship and is a Senior Fellow of the Oxford International Primary Care Research Leadership Program, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford. Jon's extensive research program is conducted in collaboration with numerous industry,community and professional partners and is focused amongst other topics upon self-care, health service use and health decision-making, information seeking and communication. Jon has conducted extensive work in healthy ageing, women's health, the experiences and perspectives of those with chronic illness and he has examined key health and healthcare issues in partnership with numerous culturally and linguistically diverse communities. Jon has published over 600 peer-reviewed manuscripts, has edited/co-edited 9 international health research books.

Dr Joanna Harnett

Academic, Researcher

Dr Joanna Harnett PhD, MHSc, BHSc (Complementary medicine) is a senior lecturer within the University of Sydney Pharmacy School and Faculty Academic Director-Student Life within the Faculty of Medicine and Health, where she conducts research and teaching in the broader area of complementary medicines. Her central focus is to contribute to fostering the appropriate and safe use of complementary medicines and building the evidence base. Joanna is a senior fellow of the International Research Leadership Program at the Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine. She is a minister appointed member of the TGA's Advisory Committee on Complementary Medicines and board member of the International Society of Traditional Complementary and Integrative Medicine Research.

Dr Jennifer Hunter

Integrative GP

Dr Jennifer Hunter is a general practitioner with a long-standing clinical interest in integrative medicine and director of Health Research Group Pty. Limited. Dr Hunter is also a clinical researcher with a strong foundation in epidemiology, health services research, mixed methods and evidence synthesis, and has published extensively on many aspects of integrative medicine. Dr Hunter is recognised nationally and internationally as a trusted source for expert information and the translation of evidence into clinical practice, health service delivery, and clinical guidelines. Current roles include the TGA Advisory Committee on Complementary Medicine, elected Board of Directors and Executive Secretary for the International Society of Traditional, Complementary & Integrative Medicine Research, and co-editor of the European Journal of Integrative Medicine.

Debbie Rigby

Pharmacist

Debbie Rigby is an Advanced Practice Pharmacist with postgraduate qualifications in clinical pharmacy, geriatrics and respiratory medicine. Her special interests include geriatrics, deprescribing, drug interactions, respiratory disease, communication and health behaviour change, and medicines information. Debbie's career as a pharmacist has been across many roles, including community and hospital pharmacy, academia, education, policy and advocacy, government and committee representation and has been involved in every aspect of the evolution of medication reviews in Australia. She currently conducts Home Medicine Reviews and provides medicines education to pharmacists, nurse practitioners, GPs and other health professionals through her company Pharmeducation. Debbie has recently been appointed as the Clinical Executive Lead for the National Asthma Council Australia. Debbie is a past Director of NPS MedicineWise, a past National Vice-President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, a PSA Qld board member for 18 years, and Director and Chair of the Australian Association of Consultant Pharmacy. She is currently a member of the Australian Deprescribing Network, Lung Foundation Australia COPD Clinical Advisory Committee and Primary Care Clinical Advisory Committee, Chair MIMS Advisory Board, and the ACSQHC Medication Safety Oversight Committee and Active Ingredient Prescribing Advisory Group. Debbie has adjunct appointments at UQ, QUT, Griffith University and the University of Sydney. For her passion and commitment to the pharmacy profession and quality use of medicines, Debbie has received numerous awards including PSA Pharmacist of the Year, the inaugural AACP Consultant Pharmacist of the Year, the PSA Gold Medal award, SHPA Clinical Pharmacy Award and was the first female to be awarded the PSA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020.

Dr Janney Wale

Patient Researcher

Janney has a PhD in Pharmacology (Melbourne University) with post-doctoral experience in England and Australia. She became a health consumer advocate because of her own personal experiences and has worked as a patient advocate and patient researcher for over two decades. Her local and international contributions are driven by her passion for kind and considerate patient-centered,evidence-informed health care, to strengthen 'the patient voice' in policy decision-making and the medical literature. Janney continues to publish in the medical literature and has built a good citation and reads record. For some years she led the Consumer Network of the Cochrane Collaboration and continues to be active with review groups. She also chaired the HTAi Patient and Citizen Involvement in HTA Interest Group. Janney remains renowned for her "Show me the evidence" comment. Her initial involvement with UnityHealth was preparing plain language summaries and participating in a co-design project to modify the IMgateway platform for consumers. This research was conducted with the Breastcare Network of Australia and was published in the European Journal of Integrative Medicine. Locally, she contributes to the Consumer Health Forum's activities; pathology services; research and to a number of Committees at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.