Dr Kate Wylie is a GP and the executive director of Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA), a not-for-profit advocacy organisation that recognises that human health depends

upon a healthy environment. In all her work, Dr Wylie applies a medical model to the climate crisis and as such offers a treatment plan for climate change. She seeks to activate her audience so they can help create the paradigm shift that we need to combat the climate crisis.

Donna Burns is the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Indigenous Doctor’s Association. She is a proud Wiradjuri descendant with extensive experience in executive leadership and Governance, mainly focusing on improving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health outcomes.

This experience is underpinned by Donna’s many decades in the healthcare sector as a Registered Nurse with postgraduate qualifications in Emergency Nursing. She previously used this experience to lead her own consultancy work, specialising in organisational change and leadership development.

As a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Donna is a non-executive Director on several Boards, including Headspace National and Gayaa Dhuwi (Proud Spirit).

Donna is currently focused on growing and advancing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander medical workforce while championing a culturally safe health system for all our people.

Dr Kate Wylie is a GP and the executive director of Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA), a not-for-profit advocacy organisation that recognises that human health depends

upon a healthy environment. In all her work, Dr Wylie applies a medical model to the climate crisis and as such offers a treatment plan for climate change. She seeks to activate her audience so they can help create the paradigm shift that we need to combat the climate crisis.

Sarah Ripley is an experienced perioperative nurse and sustainable healthcare consultant.  As a values-driven leader, changemaker, and climate change advocate, Sarah integrates sustainability into healthcare practices with a dual focus on people and planet. Committed to innovative solutions and evidence-based strategies, Sarah is dedicated to driving transformational change in healthcare, promoting ecological responsibility and health equity. Sarah actively engages in advocacy and education to develop an environmentally conscious and sustainable workforce that integrates sustainability into all aspects of their work.

Brian O’Connell is a dual trained FACEM and General Practitioner. 

He is the medical lead for the NSW SustainableED Program with Ministry of Health, the clinical lead for the MNCLHD Sustainable Healthcare and the state ED coordinator for the Sustainable Pathology with NSW Health Pathology. 

Brian is the deputy chair of ACEMs Sustainable Emergency Medicine and Climate Advocacy Network (sEMCAN) and a board director with Climate and Health Alliance. He works with Real Zero, UNSW and USyd teams in research and education programs.

As Chief Executive, Monika is driving health system improvements to support primary health care access, healthy ageing, mental health, population health and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health. Monika played a key leadership role in supporting response efforts over the last three years to fires, floods and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Monika has nearly 20 years’ experience leading social policy strategy and health service delivery and holds a Master of Public Policy from the University of Sydney. She has worked at the local, state, national and international levels in government and not-for-profit organisations.

In her earlier career Monika worked for Anthony Albanese MP and later as a policy adviser for Tanya Plibersek MP during the Rudd and Gillard Governments. Among her achievements as an adviser, Monika was responsible for leading the development of Australia’s inaugural National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children on behalf of Minister Plibersek in 2008-2010.

Monika, her husband and two children love living in Bundjalung Country and enjoy spending time bushwalking, camping and learning about the natural environment. She has been with Healthy North Coast for 10 years.

Maja van Bruggen has worked in Health for over 15 years in service development, policy and health funding roles prior to becoming the inaugural Director Sustainability Action for NT Health in January 2023. Since that time she established the NT Health Sustainability team, launched NT Health’s first Sustainability and Climate Adaptation Strategy and Sustainability Road Map, established a Sustainable Healthcare Network and become actively engaged in a number of national and international efforts including as Chair of the ESG Working Group under the Australian and New Zealand Health Procurement Roundtable. She is a Fellow of the Australasian College of Health Service Management and, prior to entering the health sector, she worked across a range of government and non-government organisations in workforce and leadership development, governance and organisational change.

Toby is the Planetary Health Data Manager for Northern Sydney Local Health District. He coordinates the collation and analysis of emissions data to track the district’s carbon footprint and inform its pathway to net zero. With a PhD in Public Health and years of government sector experience, Toby’s work has advanced health policy and outcomes on issues such as regional food insecurity, domestic violence, youth gambling, and chronic disease in priority populations. His foray into healthcare sustainability is driven by a passion to tackle climate inequality, focusing on reducing emissions in high-carbon systems through data-driven actions and policy changes.