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2024 ACM National Conference
Book now for the 2024 ACM National Conference at the Pullman Albert Park, Melbourne!
Stay onsite and immerse yourself in an enjoyable three days of inspiration, education and collaboration.
This conference features plenary sessions from international and local experts, 5 breakout rooms with over 80 presentations, workshops and interactive sessions as well as a series of networking opportunities. The Gala Dinner is the standout social event which includes the announcement of the ACM Midwifery Awards and presentation of ACM Honours.
There is a strict capacity limit in 2024 and we expect this conference to be a sell out event. Please buy your tickets early to avoid disappointment.
keynote Speakers
Kerstin Uvnäs Moberg
Oxytocin Specialist
Kerstin Uvnäs Moberg is a specialist in women’s health and female physiology and has worked within these fields for more than 30 years. She is a pioneer in research about oxytocin, ”the hormone of love and wellbeing”, and was one of the first researchers to point out the behavioural, psychological and physiological effects of oxytocin during birth, breastfeeding and menopause. She was also one of the first to study the role of oxytocin in response to closeness and touch and its role during interaction between parents and children.
Kerstin found, among other things, that oxytocin reduces pain and anxiety, decreases blood pressure and reduces the levels of stress hormones in both sexes. These discoveries have helped to stimulate the development of oxytocin to become a pharmaceutical drug, to be used to increase social competence in autistic individuals, to decrease anxiety, stress and depression and to increase wellbeing.
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Dr Hazel Keedle
Senior Lecturer, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University
Dr Hazel Keedle PhD is a Senior Lecturer of Midwifery at The School of Nursing and Midwifery at Western Sydney University. Hazel has more than two decades of experience as a clinician in nursing and midwifery and as an educator and researcher. Hazel’s research interests are vaginal birth after caesarean, birth trauma and maternity experiences explored primarily using feminist mixed methodologies.
Hazel's work is recognised nationally and internationally, with many invited conference and seminar presentations including academic publications and a book for women based on her PhD findings ‘Birth after Caesarean: Your Journey to a Better Birth’. Hazel is the lead researcher on the largest maternity experiences survey, The Birth Experience Study. Hazel is also the Co-Editor in Chief of The Practising Midwife Australia from All4Maternity which was launched in September 2022.
Dr Nisha Khot
Clinical Director of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Peninsula Health and Vice President of RANZCOG
Dr Nisha Khot is the current Vice-President of RANZCOG. She is clinical director of obstetrics and gynaecology at Peninsula Health in Melbourne. She also holds clinical appointments at the Royal Women’s Hospital and Joan Kirner Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Melbourne. She combines her passion for equitable healthcare for migrant and refugee women and rural women with her additional leadership positions as board director of Rural Doctors Association of Victoria (RDAV) and Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health (MCWH).
As Clinical Fellow for the Living Evidence for Australian Pregnancy and Postnatal care (LEAPP) guidelines group, Dr Khot supports the development of national evidence-based guidelines in consultation with expert clinicians and consumers. Her experience as an overseas trained doctor in the UK and in Australia have shaped her advocacy for gender equity and diversity in healthcare leadership as a means to address racism, sexism and discrimination experienced by women of colour in healthcare.
Professor Cath Chamberlain
Director of Onemda Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and Wellbeing and Head of the Indigenous Health Equity Unit at The University of Melbourne
Professor Catherine Chamberlain is a Palawa Trawlwoolway woman (Tasmania), Director of Onemda Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and Wellbeing and Head of the Indigenous Health Equity Unit at the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne. A Registered Midwife and Public Health researcher, her research aims to identify perinatal opportunities to improve health equity across the lifecourse. She is inaugural Editor-In-Chief of First Nations Health and Wellbeing Lowitja Journal and Principal Investigator for two large multi-disciplinary projects – Healing the Past by Nurturing the Future – which aims to co-design support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents experiencing complex trauma; and Replanting the Birthing Trees, which aims to transform intergenerational cycles of trauma to cycles of nurturing and recovery.
Distinguished Professor David Simmons
Professor of Medicine at the Western Sydney University Macarthur Clinical School, Head of the Campbelltown Hospital Endocrinology Department.
Distinguished Professor Simmons, MA, MBBS, FRACP, FRCP, MD (Cantab), is the Professor of Medicine at the Western Sydney University Macarthur Clinical School, Head of the Campbelltown Hospital Endocrinology Department. With over 400 refereed publications he was the 2020 American Diabetes Association Norbert Freinkel and 2022 Diabetes in Pregnancy Study Group Pederson Awardee. He is the current president of the Australasian Diabetes in Pregnancy Society (ADIPS) and was a member of the World Health Organisation technical working group on the criteria for hyperglycaemia in pregnancy. He remains a practising endocrinologist with diabetes in pregnancy and young adult diabetes clinics.
Alison Eddy
ICM Western Pacific Representative and CE of the NZ College of Midwives
Alison Eddy is serving her first term as the ICM Western Pacific region representative. Alison is currently the Chief Executive of the New Zealand College of Midwives.
Alison has broad based midwifery practice experience, from community based case-loading midwifery led continuity of care settings to tertiary hospital care. She holds a Masters of Public Health from Otago University and also has experience in policy and contract management roles within the Ministry of Health.
Alison’s work has included significant advocacy within her own country for midwives to achieve fair and reasonable pay and sustainable working conditions. She has served on numerous committees and in governance roles and has significant experience in developing and leading programmes which support the ongoing development of the midwifery profession. She has an interest in advancing the health system settings and policies which are needed for the midwifery profession to thrive.
Dr Megan Bohren
Associate Professor of Gender and Women's Health, University of Melbourne
Dr Meghan Bohren is an Associate Professor of Gender and Women’s Health at the Nossal Institute for Global Health, School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne. She holds an NHMRC Emerging Leadership and Dame Kate Campbell Fellowship. Dr Bohren leads primary mixed-methods, implementation research and systematic reviews related to improving women’s experiences with pregnancy and childbirth care, and works primarily with groups who are disadvantaged by systems of power. Dr Bohren has a particular interest in using innovative qualitative research methods to bring community and health worker voices to the public health guideline development process.
Professor Caroline Homer AO
Burnet Institute
Despite a growing Australian population, there are fewer midwives on the national register than there was five years ago and only marginal growth of graduate numbers from midwifery programs. Led by Professor Caroline Homer AO, Burnet Institute is partnering with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) to conduct a comprehensive review of the Australian midwifery workforce to ensure the continued growth and sustainability of the profession. Caroline will present the Midwifery Futures report, a projection of workforce supply and demand in Australia, a synthesis of the information gained throughout the analysis, literature review and consultation, and recommendations for the sustainability of the profession.
Adjunct Professor Shelley Nowlan
QLD Chief Nurse Officer, Deputy Rural Health Commissioner, Adj Prof School of Nursing and Midwifery UQ, Adj Prof School of Nursing QUT, Adj Prof School of Nursing and Midwifery, UniSQ, Adj Prof School of Medicine, Griffith Uni
Shelley will be presenting the updated National Consensus Framework for Rural Maternity Services which provides a set of principles and strategies to guide policy and support planning of culturally safe, quality maternity services in rural and remote Australia. It is a tool for communities, service providers, decision makers and funders to work together to ensure rural mothers and their babies have choice and access to safe, evidence-based maternity care close to home. Initially developed in 2008, the Consensus Framework has recently been reviewed and updated by the original endorsing organisations as well as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rural maternity experts, the National Rural Health Alliance, and the Maternity Consumer Network to ensure it reflects changes and advances within maternity care.
+ more to come!
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tickets
EARLYBIRD PRICING
(until July 17th 2024)
Three day registration (includes Gala Dinner)
Non-Member $1,320
ACM Member $ 895
ACM Graduate, Affiliate, Pacific Member $580
ACM Student Member $500
FULL COST
(from July 18th 2024)
Three day registration (includes Gala Dinner)
Non-Member $1,530
ACM Member $1,100
ACM Graduate, Affiliate, Pacific Member $660
ACM Student Member $600
NATIONAL
CONFERENCE
2023
ADELAIDE
3
80+
600
DAYS
PRESENTATIONS
DELEGATES
55
EXHIBITORS
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sponsors
