2022 Australian Pain Society 42nd Annual Scientific MeetingIn the IASP Global Year for Translating Pain Knowledge to Practice10 - 13 April 2022 | Hotel Grand Chancellor, Hobart TAS

Independent Member for Murchison

TAS Australia

Hon Ruth Forrest MLC is the Independent Member for Murchison.

Ruth was born and educated in North Western Tasmania. She completed her General Nurse training in 1982, an Intensive Care Course in 1983 and Midwifery in 1984, working as a nurse and midwife since 1982, primarily as a midwife a caseload model of care that she and a colleague established in Tasmania in 1989.

Ruth has been a member of the Australian College of Midwives (ACM) since 1989, holding executive positions including Tasmanian Branch President and National Delegate.  Ruth was awarded Fellowship of the ACM in 2001. She has also served on a number of midwifery/health related committees and councils.

Ruth worked for Family Planning Tasmania as a Clinical Nurse Educator and delivered antenatal education programs to pregnant teenagers and conducted sex education to primary and high school students from 1993 – 2005.

In May 2005, Ruth was elected to the Tasmanian Parliament in the Legislative Council as an Independent Member, representing the rural and remote electorate of Murchison.  She was re-elected unopposed in May 2011 and re-elected in 2017. In 2018 Ruth was elected Deputy President and Chair of Committees in the Legislative Council. Ruth is currently a member of a number of Parliamentary committees, holding the position of Chair for many including an Inquiry into the legalization of Medicinal Cannabis in Tasmania.

Ruth has a strong commitment to lifelong learning. She completed a Master of Midwifery Degree (Flinders University, Adelaide) in 2010, the Tasmanian Leaders Program in 2011, the Australian Institute of Company Directors Course in 2012, a Graduate Certificate in Business (University of Tasmania) in 2013, the Australian Futures Project Parliamentary Leaders Program in 2017 and has participated in the Interdisciplinary WD Joske Colloquium since 2010.

In 2019, Ruth was named as one of the AFR’s 100 Women of Influence, and a finalist in the public policy category. She maintains a strong interest in health policy and service delivery, especially with regard to sexual and reproductive health services. She advocates strongly for social justice and the rights of women, girls, marginalized groups and vulnerable or disadvantaged communities. She comments regularly in the media on a broad range of issues including health, education, tax reform, long term strategic infrastructure planning, the State economy and women’s issues. Her speeches and media comments are available at www.ruthforrest.com.au.

University of Sydney

NSW Australia

Iain McGregor is Professor of Psychopharmacology and Academic Director of the Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Therapeutics in the Brain and Mind Centre at the University of Sydney, Australia.

Iain's research is focused on the discovery and development of new medications for the treatment of disease and spans medicinal chemistry, in silico pharmacology, cellular and preclinical animal models of disease, human psychopharmacology and clinical trials. His inventions around the use of oxytocin-like molecules to treat addiction and social withdrawal led to the successful spinoff company Kinoxis Therapeutics. Iain has more than 300 peer-reviewed publications, multiple patents, and an h-Index of 74.

Iain has a strong research interest in the repurposing of natural products for therapeutic purposes. He is currently Academic Director of the Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Therapeutics which was formed in 2015 with a gift of unprecedented generosity from the Lambert family to the University of Sydney. The Lambert Initiative has a strong international reputation for leading research into the therapeutic benefits of cannabinoids in epilepsy, pain, cancer, addictions and mental health conditions. It has also developed a large library of proprietary small molecules.

The Lambert Initiative is also engaged at a social and political level to improve community and professional education around medicinal cannabis and to bring about evidence-based regulatory change and improved patient access. His team has recently published educational articles around medicinal cannabis for health professionals in Australian Prescriber, MJA Insight and the Australian Journal of General Practice.

Recently Iain and his team have diversified into psychedelic research and are currently developing plans for a research program around psychedelic drug discovery and a clinical trial of psilocybin in the treatment of eating disorders.

Consumer Representative

TAS Australia

Alison Park spent over 32 years as a Registered Nurse, Registered Midwife and lastly as Director of Nursing for Women’s and Children’s Services at the Royal Hobart Hospital.  She really enjoyed her work and was devastated when due to ill health was forced to retire early.

In the year 2000, Ms Park developed an acute onset of rheumatoid arthritis that over the next seven years took a substantial toll on her health, body and capacity/ability to continue to work.  Due to this impact, she had to retire at the age of 50 and spend the next few years recovering and healing. 

She investigated what community-based supports were available and luckily, found Arthritis and Osteoporosis Tasmania (AOT). They provided information specific to her needs and access to a warm water program.   

Since that time, she has become an active member of AOT.  Ms Park is a qualified volunteer leader of a smoother mover’s program and runs a weekly session for others with musculo-skeletal conditions. She volunteers as a Community Speaker and with Infoline - a service that provides information and support to all Tasmanians with musculo-skeletal conditions.  

Ms Park is a consumer representative on the Board of AOT and a member of Arthritis Australia’s Consumer Arthritis Panel.  

Pain Matrix Pty Ltd

VIC Australia

A/Professor Michael Vagg, is a consultant in rehabilitation and pain medicine. He graduated from Monash University in 1994 and spent several years as a uniformed Medical Officer in the RAAF before undertaking vocational training. Michael completed a Fellowship of the Australasian Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine (AFRM) in 2004 and gained Fellowship of the Faculty of Pain Medicine of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists in 2006. Michael is also a Director of Pain Matrix and Pain Matrix Eastern.

He holds an appointment as Conjoint Clinical Associate Professor at Deakin University School of Medicine. For the Faculty of Pain Medicine (FPM), he has been a Board member since 2013 and is currently the Vice Dean. Michael is a regular contributor to the media discussing various medical-related topics.

Queen Elizabeth Hospital

SA Australia

Sam is a senior consultant rheumatologist at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Adelaide, South Australia, a senior lecturer at the University of Adelaide and an adjunct senior research fellow at Monash University. His clinical interests include fibromyalgia and spondyloarthritis. He is currently an ANZMUSC Practitioner Fellow, researching living evidence, and has led the development of the Australian Living Guideline for the Pharmacological Management of Inflammatory Arthritis (www.mskguidelines.org). 

He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Australia & New Zealand Musculoskeletal Clinical Trials Network (ANZMUSC), a member of the Cochrane Musculoskeletal editorial board and sits on the Steering Committee of the South Australian Statewide Chronic Pain Clinical Network. He has recently completed a term as a Board member of the Australian Rheumatology Association and President of the South Australian branch of the ARA.