2024 Spine Society of Australia 35th Annual Scientific Meeting5th - 7th April 2024 | International Convention Centre, Sydney

ANU Medical School

Steve is the current federal president of the AMA.

One of Australia’s most highly-qualified doctors, Professor Steve Robson has been practising medicine for 35 years.

A Professor at the Australian National University Medical School, Steve works in both public and private practice in Canberra.

He grew up in small regional towns in Queensland and was the first member of his family to attend university.

Before training as a specialist obstetrician and gynaecologist, Steve served as a Medical Officer in the Royal Australian Navy and has medals and a citation for war service.

Trained in Australia, the UK, and Canada, Steve is a Fellow of learned colleges in the UK and the US, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine. He was also President of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. 

In addition to these roles Steve currently works with the NHMRC and the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator and has been a part of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on out-of-pocket costs, the National Endometriosis Taskforce, and the Australian Medical Council. He is one of the authors of the Oxford Textbook of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and has authored more than 200 research papers and articles and two other textbooks.

Steve is passionate about equitable access to healthcare , the economics of preventive care, and the mental health and wellbeing of doctors. He holds two research doctorates and master’s degrees in public health and genetics. He is currently researching the effects of socioeconomics on access to healthcare. 

Steve has recently completed a Master’s degree in Health Economics. He is a member of the Economic Society of Australia, the Australian Health Economics Society, and the International Health Economics Association.

Professor Robson first joined the AMA in 1984 as a medical student in Queensland. He has served as ACT President and is in his fifth term on the AMA ACT Board and is a Federal Councillor. He has also been President of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. 

Orthopaedic Spine Surgeon, NZ

Rowan Schouten (FRACS) is a New Zealand trained Orthopaedic spine surgeon based in Christchurch (NZ).

He provides consultation on the management of lumbar stress injuries for multiple international cricket associations including India (BCCI), Australia (CA), New Zealand (NZC), England (ECB), South Africa (CSA), and professional franchise (IPL) teams.

Vancouver Coastal Health

Following dual training in both general surgery and orthopaedics, and after completing his PhD in bone repair with the Royal College of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland, Dr. John Street joined the Spine program in Vancouver in 2006.

His clinical practice focused on spinal trauma and on the surgical management of complex adult spinal deformity. He is the Director of the Integrated Ambulatory Spine Program at VGH, overseeing outpatient clinic activity that exceed 12,000 patients per year. He is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Orthopaedics at UBC and served 5 years as the Spine Chair for the Canadian Orthopaedic Association. Dr. Street is the current Program Chair for the Canadian Spine Society.

Dr. Street has an international reputation as a leading researcher in the study of quality of life outcomes, quality improvement initiatives and complications prevention in spine surgery. Dr. Street has authorized over 80 peer-reviewed scientific publications and serves as a peer reviewer for numerous academic publications related to spine and bone biology. He is the recipient of 24 national and international awards for excellence in the field of orthopaedics and spinal surgery research with an emphasis on outcome measurement of spine-related disability and the biomechanics of spine trauma.

Macquarie University, NSW

Professor Johanna Westbrook, PhD, FTSE, FAIDH, FACMI, FIAHSI, FAHMS is Director of the Centre for Health Systems and Safety Research, Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University. She is internationally recognised for her research evaluating the effects of ICT in health care, which has led to significant advances in our understanding of how clinical information systems deliver (or fail to deliver) expected benefits. Her highly applied research has supported translation of this evidence into policy, practice, and IT system design changes. She presented to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety regarding the contribution that ICT can make in improving quality. Prof Westbrook has recently been working with a large health care provider to evaluate a multi-hospital organisational culture change intervention designed to reduce unprofessional behaviour between hospital staff. 

Prof Westbrook has received several awards for her research. In 2014 she was named Australian ICT professional of the year, in 2019 as the national research leader in the field of medical informatics and in 2022 she was awarded the Health Services Research Award by Research Australia and a Telstra Health Brilliant Women in Digital Health Award. Johanna has over 500 publications and been awarded >$70M in research grants. In 2019 she received the Elizabeth Blackburn Investigator Award from the NHMRC. In 2020 Westbrook was appointed as a Co-Director of the Safety, Quality and Informatics Leadership program, by the Harvard Medical School.