MEET THE
SPEAKERS
DR NORMAN SWAN AM
Health Journalist / Broadcaster / Commentator
Dr Norman Swan co-hosts RN’s Health Report and the popular What’s That Rash podcast. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he co-hosted Coronacast, which had monthly downloads in the millions.
Norman is also a reporter and commentator on the ABC Television’s 730 and Midday and has made several Four Corners. He is a past winner of the Gold Walkley, Australia’s top award for journalism and has won other Walkleys, including one with his Coronacast colleagues in 2020. He created Invisible Enemies, on pandemics and civilisation for Channel 4 UK and SBS which was subsequently broadcast in 27 countries.
Norman has been awarded the medal of the Australian Academy of Science, an honorary MD from University of Sydney, a Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences and the Medal of the Order of Australia (AM).
He has three best selling books, So You Think You Know What’s Good For You and So You Want To Live Younger Longer and his latest, So you Want To Know What’s Best For Your Kids, a one stop handbook for parents of children from birth to 10 years old.
Norman trained in medicine and paediatrics in Aberdeen, London and Sydney before joining the ABC. In addition to his medical degree, he is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (in paediatrics) and has a Diploma in Child Health from the Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons of England.
SUE ROBINS
Author / Speaker / Health Care Advocate
Sue Robins is a Vancouver-based author, speaker and health care advocate. Her lived experience includes caregiving, as her youngest son Aaron has Down syndrome. She gained the patient perspective in oncology with a breast cancer diagnosis
and subsequent treatment.
Sue’s first book, Bird’s Eye View is a book about patient experience. Her second book, Ducks in a Row, is about reimagining the health care system through compassion, storytelling and partnering with patients.
Sue has held family leadership positions with the B.C. Children’s Hospital and the Stollery Children’s Hospital. Sue is currently a member of Canadian Medical Association’s Patient Voice. In her day job, she is the senior partner with Bird Comm, a creative health communications company.
PROFESSOR ZACHARY MUNN
Lead, Australian MND Guideline / Director, Health Evidence Synthesis, Recommendations and Impact (HESRI) /
School of Public Health, Adelaide University / Director, Adelaide GRADE Centre
Professor Zachary Munn is an advocate for evidence-based healthcare and for ensuring policy and practice is based on the best available evidence. Professor Munn is the founding Director of Health Evidence Synthesis, Recommendations and Impact (HESRI) in the School of Public Health at the University of Adelaide; Head of the Evidence Synthesis Taxonomy Initiative (ESTI); Founding Director of the Adelaide GRADE Centre; past-Chair of the Guidelines International Network (GIN) and a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator. He is a systematic review, evidence implementation and guideline development methodologist. To enable evidence-based decisions, we need to ensure that the 'evidence' is trustworthy. As such, Zachary advances the methods of systematic review, guidelines and implementation science and conducts methodological research. He has been involved in the conduct of dozens of systematic reviews, clinical guidelines, evidence implementation and health services research projects.
HON BLAIR BOYER MP
Minister for Health and Wellbeing
Blair lives in the North Eastern suburbs of Adelaide with his wife and three daughters. He grew up on the family farm, just across the border not far from Mount Gambier. He was elected to represent the State electorate of Wright in 2018 and was appointed Minister for Education Training and Skills in March 2022 and Minister for Police in September 2025, and the Minister for Health and Wellbeing in March 2026.
The focus of Blair’s work in government has been education, training and skills, child protection, and emergency services.
HON MARK BUTLER MP
Minister for Health and Ageing / Minister for Disability and the NDIS
Mark Butler has been the Labor Member for Port Adelaide and Hindmarsh in the Federal Parliament since 2007 and is the Minister for Health, Disability and Ageing.
Mark served as Minister for Ageing and Australia’s first Minister for Mental Health in the Gillard Government. He has also held the ministries of Housing, Homelessness, Social Inclusion, Climate Change, Water and the Environment.
In 2003 he was awarded the Centenary Medal for services to trade unionism. He has long been a champion for society’s most vulnerable, and was a member of the South Australian Social Inclusion Board during its major review of the South Australian mental health system. In 2013 Mark was awarded the Alzheimer’s Disease International Award for Outstanding Global Contribution to the Fight Against Dementia.
Mark served as President of the South Australian Branch of the ALP in 1997 to 1998 and as a member of the ALP National Executive from 2000 to 2014. He served as Labor’s National President from 2015 to 2018. Mark is the author of Advanced Australia – The Politics of Ageing, published in 2015; and Climate Wars, published in 2017.
Mark holds a First Class Honours Law degree, an Arts degree and a Masters degree in International Relations.
DR MARTIN ENGEL
Scientific and Medical Partnership Lead, Neurizon Therapeutics
Dr Martin Engel is Scientific and Medical Partnerships Lead at Neurizon Therapeutics, driving global preclinical and clinical collaborations and program positioning for NUZ-001 in neurodegenerative diseases. Martin brings a proven ability to work across clinical, pre-clinical, and commercial teams, with a track record of building trusted external relationships spanning US, EU and APAC, and representing organisations in scientific and industry forums; he holds a PhD in neuropharmacology and has published widely on treatment development across central nervous system disorders.
