Speaker: Professor Alex Brown, Leader, Wardliparingga Aboriginal Research Unit, SAHMRI
Title: Overcoming Cardiovascular Disease Inequalities in Indigenous Australians
Chair: Dr Yuliy Chirkov, Principal Medical Scientist, Cardiovascular Pathophysiology & Therapeutics Group, Cardiology Unit. Level 2 BHI, TQH. [email protected]
Speaker biography: Professor Alex Brown is an Aboriginal medical doctor and researcher. He grew up on the south coast of New South Wales with family connections to Nowra, Wreck Bay and Wallaga Lake. Alex obtained his Bachelor of Medicine from the University of Newcastle in 1996, and worked in hospitals on the central coast on NSW. In 1999 he completed a Master of Public Health degree and began to work in Alice Springs. In 2007 he was appointed to set up a research program in Central Australia with Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, with a focus on heart disease and diabetes in Aboriginal people. In 2010 Alex completed his PhD on depression and heart disease in Aboriginal men.
Alex has established an extensive and unique research program focused on chronic disease in vulnerable communities, with a particular focus on outlining and overcoming health disparities. He has been heavily involved in engaging government and lead agencies in setting the agenda in Aboriginal cardiovascular disease management. Alex sits on a range of national committees, including the Heart Foundation, chairs the Cardiac Society Indigenous Cardiovascular Council and was a member of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Health Equality Council (2009-2012).
In 2012 Alex joined SAHMRI to lead Aboriginal health research. He was awarded the prestigious Viertel Senior Medical Research Fellowship to further his research into the impacts of psycho-social determinants of cardiovascular disease in Aboriginal communities.
