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A Message from Shamal Dass Chair of ARACY's Board of Directors

December 2023

I want to express my humility and gratitude at being given the privilege to serve as Chair of ARACY Australia – an organisation which is committed to doing what is needed to ensure all children and young people in Australia have every opportunity to thrive.

I’d like to acknowledge the awesome team at ARACY, my fellow Board members, and our trusted funding and delivery partners. I look forward at working with all of you to ensure ARACY delivers on the promise of this moment, to move us towards the country we aspire to be – one where a child’s postcode does not define their destiny.

Shamal Dass - ARACY Board Chair

ARACY is a not-for-profit company, governed by a Board of Directors. The board meets quarterly to provide advice and guidance to the Chief Executive Officer.

ARACY is a registered charity with the Australian Charities and not for profit commission (ACNC) with the company purpose to promote the Social Determinants of Health and the prevention and control of disease to enhance the wellbeing, welfare and life chances of children and young people

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Shamal Dass - ARACY Board Chair

Shamal Dass

CHAIR

Qualifications: BEc (Hons) F FIN

Adjunct Associate Professor Shamal Dass is the Head of Family Advisory and Philanthropic Services at JBWere, where he leads a team that provides tailored advice on governance, leadership, capacity building, structuring, sustainability, and strategy to for-purpose organisations and private clients. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Centre for Social Impact at UNSW, where he co-created and co-teaches the Governance for Social Impact course at the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM). Shamal’s work focuses on developing frameworks that help philanthropists, governments, corporates, and for-purpose organisations deliver better outcomes for beneficiaries.

Shamal serves on the Boards of Earthwatch Institute Australia and Two Good Foundation and was the inaugural independent chair of The Constellation Project Governance Group. He is also a member of the Centre for Social Impact Advisory Committee and the JBWere Charitable Endowment Fund Investment Committee. Originally from Fiji, Shamal moved to Australia as a child and grew up in Southwest Sydney. He is a proud father of two children, Samuel and Camille.

Dr Jenny Proimos - ARACY Board Director

Dr Jenny Proimos

ARACY Board Member

Qualifications: MBBS, MPH

Jenny is a consultant paediatrician and adolescent health physician in the Department of Adolescent Medicine at the Royal Children’s Hospital. She spent a decade working in the Victorian Government as the Principal Medical Advisor for child and adolescent health. Her current research interests focus on organisational and system change to promote gener equity and advance women in healthcare leadership.

Jenny is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and is a non‑executive director for the past 15 years. Jenny is Past‑President of the Paediatrics and Child Health Division of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians from 2008‑2010.

Dr Norman Swan - ARACY Board Director

Dr Norman Swan

ARACY Board Member

Qualifications:  AM, FRCP, FAHMS, MD (Hon Causa)

Norman co-hosts RN’s Health Report and the ABC’s What’s That Rash podcast. During the COVID‑19 pandemic, he co‑hosted Coronacast, a daily podcast on the coronavirus. Norman is also a reporter and commentator on RN Breakfast, the ABC’s 7.30, Midday, News Breakfast and occasionally Four Corners. He is a past winner of the Gold Walkley and has won other Walkleys including one in 2020. He created Invisible Enemies, on pandemics and civilisation for Channel 4 UK and broadcast in 27 countries.

Norman was awarded the medal of the Australian Academy of Science and has an honorary MD from the University of Sydney. He was appointed as a Member the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2023 Australia Day Honours for “significant service to the broadcast media as a science and health commentator”.

Norman trained in medicine and paediatrics in Aberdeen, London and Sydney before joining the ABC.

Hawa Mohammad - ARACY Board Director

Hawa Mohammad

Board Member

Qualifications: LLB (Hons I) BComm

Hawa is a Legal Associate to a Justice of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Division 1). Hawa was a UNICEF Young Ambassador in 2021 and was part of a team that listened to over 3000 children and young people across Australia to hear their concerns regarding education, mental health, climate change, and discrimination. She has helped to author ‘Children’s Voices in a Changing World’ and presented the Report to Parliament in June 2021 to elevate children’s voices from all corners of the nation, particularly those disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

From 2021 to 2024, Hawa was a Youth Advisory Board Member on the Multicultural NSW Advisory Board, advising the Minister for Multiculturalism on community issues and initiatives surrounding diversity, inclusion, and cohesion. She is passionate about child rights, policy and advocacy, and diversity and inclusion in commercial law.

Gervase Chaney - ARACY Board Director

Professor Gervase Chaney

Board Director

Qualification: MBBS FRACP FAIM

Gervase has been on the Board of ARACY since 2013 and was Chair from 2019-2023. Gervase is the Research and Partnerships Manager at the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation (and a Board member of that Foundation since 2018), and a general paediatrician at Perth Children’s Hospital. He was previously the National Head of School, School of Medicine, The University of Notre Dame Australia, and prior to that the Executive Director (Commissioning) of Perth Children’s Hospital in the Child and Adolescent Health Service (CAHS) in Western Australia.

He has held other senior roles in CAHS and WA Health. He is a past President of the Paediatrics and Child Health Division of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) 2010 – 2012 and he was on the Board of the RACP from 2008 – 2012. He was on the Board of Kidsafe WA from 2004 – 2015 and is a foundation member of the Academy of Child and Adolescent Health (ACAH).

Karen Thorpe - ARACY Board Director

Karen Thorpe

Board Director

Qualifications: PhD

Karen is an Australian Research Council Laureate Professor and leads the Child Development, Education, and Care group at the Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland. Her research highlights the crucial role of early learning experiences in shaping brain development and long-term outcomes in health, social inclusion, and education. Karen focuses on early care and education environments, including parenting and workforce quality. She has led significant studies in early education, including the E4Kids study and a data linkage project tracking students’ educational journeys. Recognised internationally, Karen chairs the Australian Early Years Reference Council and serves on national advisory boards for Beyond Blue and ARACY’s Thriving Queensland Kids Partnership.

Stephen Zubrick

Director

Qualifications: MSc MA PhD FASSA FAAMHS

Stephen currently holds a professorial appointment in the Centre for Child Health Research at the University of Western Australia and is also a Senior Honorary Research Fellow at the Telethon Kids Institute. From 2002 to 2018 he Chaired the Consortium Advisory Group for the National Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. He is currently a Member of the Steering Committee for the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children. From 2014 to 2020 he was the Deputy Director of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Children and Families Across the Lifecourse.

In 2010 he received a Western Australian Citizen of the Year Award for lifetime contributions to children and young people. Stephen holds several national and international competitive research grants and his research interests include the study of the social determinants of health and mental health in children, studies of the genetic and environmental determinants of language development, and large scale psychosocial survey work in non Indigenous and Indigenous populations. Over the past 20 years he has been instrumental in designing and implementing the leading Australian studies (national and state) of child and adolescent mental health.

Anne Cregan

Board Director

Qualification: MCrim(Hons 1) LLB and BA

Anne is a partner in Gilbert + Tobins pro bono practice. She has over 25 years experience acting for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people with disabilities, refugees and asylum seekers as well as the organisations working with those communities.

Anne has acted in public interest and test case litigation in relation to judicial independence, discrimination, the capacity of people with cognitive impairment or mental illness to participate in proceedings affecting them, consumer law and imprisonment without conviction. Anne has been an active contributor to the development of pro bono practice in Australia and is recognised for her expertise in making the law accessible, particularly for hard to reach communities.

Anne has a long standing interest in the law as it affects people with cognitive impairment and/or mental illness and has presented and consulted widely and been actively engaged in law reform on the issuesShe also has an interest in working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to develop legal structures in support of self determination.Currently Anne is on the steering committee of the Gilbert + Tobin Centre for Public Law, the Board of Kingsford Legal Centre at the University of NSW, the Indigenous Issues Committee of the Law Society of NSW, and is a founding member of Justice Reinvestment Inc.