We invite you to the ACM NSW 2023 State Conference – our conference in Hunter Valley! The title of the conference is ‘The Fruits of our Labour'.
Nas Campanella
Nas Campanella is the ABC’s National Disability Affairs Reporter. Nas is totally blind and has a neurological condition called Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) which means she can’t read Braille. After completing a Communications degree at the University of Technology Sydney, majoring in journalism she started with the ABC as a cadet. Nas has worked as a regional reporter in south eastern New South Wales and then as a triple j newsreader for seven years. In taking on this role, Nas became the first blind newsreader in the world to read and operate the studio for herself live to air. In 2020 she was appointed to the senior national Disability Affairs role.
Nas travels the world to speak at events, helping to motivate people on issues ranging from inclusive education, adaptive technology, accessible travel and the importance of empowerment and leadership for women. Now also a proud mum to her son, Nas also shares her experiences navigating motherhood as a parent with disability. As well as working in the area of policy development in Australia and across the Pacific, Nas has volunteered abroad creating disability awareness training programs for the United Nations and has held several board positions in the disability sector.
Nas is a freelance writer, MC and mentor and is an ambassador for three organisations; The Centre of Perinatal Excellence, Motivation Australia and the Royal Institute For Deaf and Blind Children.
Cathy Adams
Cathy has experienced a long and successful career as a midwife working across Australia, in several overseas countries, in many different roles and various models of care. Her career pathway has not been a planned one but rather one where she has responded to opportunities as they present themselves. Her most recent focus has been on development of mitigation strategies to influence quality and safety in Maternity Services. She also has an interest in how an understanding of neuroscience can facilitate leadership and engagement with others to create positive workplace cultures.
Associate Professor Donna Hartz
Associate Professor Donna Hartz is midwife and nurse with over 40 years’ experience as a clinician, educator, lecturer, manager, consultant and researcher. She identifies as a descendent of the Kamilaroi (Gomeroi) people. She has worked at a variety of tertiary and metropolitan maternity services and universities within New South Wales. She is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Newcastle University and holds adjunct positions at Western Sydney and Charles Darwin Universities.
Donna has extensive experience in maternity care and service redesign, in particular midwifery-led models of care and maternity service clinical governance. Her current work agenda is informed by previous roles that include: a hospital accredited independent and homebirth midwife (1988-2000); the first NSW clinical midwife consultant in clinical governance, the implementation and evaluation of midwifery models of care in particular caseload midwifery at the primary midwifery led service, Ryde Midwifery Group and the large caseload midwifery model at the Royal Hospital for Women. She was the project manager and PhD student on the MANGO RCT. Her current major research projects include the BOOSt, the Best Start to Life Birthing on Country projects and the Bubs Quit Midwife clinical specialist smoking cessation RCT.
Professor Kathleen Baird
Professor Kathleen Baird has been a midwife since 1996 and has clinical and academic experience in all models of care which stretches over two continents. She is currently the Professor of Midwifery, Head of the Midwifery and leads the research stream Women and Children’s Health in the new emerging UTS Research Institute for Innovative Solutions for Wellbeing and Health (INSIGHT) at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).
Kathleen is an executive member of SPHERE CAG for Women, Children and Newborn, and an executive member of the Australasian Nursing and Midwifery Clinical Trials Network. Kathleen’s research has a strong focus on maternity care, models of maternity care, women’s health and intimate partner violence particularly in relation to pregnancy.