From idea
to impact

Lisa is a proud Wiradjuri woman from Griffith in NSW and the Aboriginal Health Research Manager, Clinical Trials and Clinical Governance at Murrumbidgee Local Health District (MLHD). With a background in cardiac nursing, aged care, Aboriginal health, research and clinical trials, Lisa is passionate about strengthening Aboriginal participation and leadership in health research.

Lisa holds a Graduate Diploma in Indigenous Health Promotion from the University of Sydney, is a board member of Dyirri-Band-Gu Aboriginal Corporation, and previously served on the board of the Griffith Aboriginal Land Council. She led the development of the MLHD Aboriginal Advisory Governance and Engagement Model for Research and Clinical Trials and is the principal investigator for Marrambidya Murrayalalinya, an Aboriginal-led project exploring the use of culturally meaningful Wiradjuri soundscapes to support wellbeing and engagement with renal dialysis treatment.

Adam is the John Beveridge Professor and Head of the Discipline of Paediatrics and Child Health at UNSW Sydney and is a respiratory paediatrician at Sydney Children's Hospital in Randwick. He chairs the Scientific and Medical Advisory Committee of Rare Voices Australia and sits on the board. Adam also co-chairs the Rare Diseases International Western Pacific Task Force that will help inform the World Health Organisation's Global Action Plan on Rare Diseases.

He helped establish Rare Diseases NSW, the state's only disease agonistic comprehensive centre of expertise for rare diseases.

Yvonne is a proud Wiradjuri woman and she maintains strong ties to her homelands of Cowra and the Riverina areas in NSW. From a young age, Yvonne developed a strong passion and commitment to bringing about positive change for Aboriginal people and communities. She is committed to improving the lives of all through health, social justice, Aboriginal advancement, children’s rights, education, child protection, research and evaluation.

Yvonne is an independent councillor for the City of Sydney, the first Aboriginal councillor in the City's 180-year history. She serves as a board member of the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council, is Deputy Chair of the NSW Australia Day Council and is a board member of Domestic Violence NSW and Redfern Jarjum College. Yvonne has also held key positions with the NSW Government and Aboriginal Community Controlled sectors.

In 2016, Yvonne was also shortlisted for the Queenslander Literary Awards, Unpublished Indigenous Writer – David Unaipon Award category and was awarded the 2017 Allen & Unwin Faber Writing Academy scholarship.

Matthew is the Deputy Secretary of the System Sustainability and Performance Division at the NSW Ministry of Health. Prior to his current role, Matthew was an independent consultant predominantly supporting the health and not-for-profit sectors, and held roles at the University of Tasmania as Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Business and Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor at the Faculty of Health Services. He has also held a group executive position in financial services with a major corporate.

For over 30 years, Matthew has held a broad range of operational, executive and strategic management positions in NSW and Tasmania at Chief Executive, Senior Executive and Head of Agency levels within the health sector to drive strategic and organisational reforms in the delivery of acute, primary and community health services. Working in collaboration with federal and state governments, he has been responsible for supporting the implementation of programs to improve health outcomes.

Jess is the Director of Patient Safety, Quality and Improvement at St Vincent's Health Network Sydney. With more than 15 years of experience in healthcare, Jess commenced her career as a physiotherapist at Sydney Children's Hospital before transitioning into health management and system improvement.

She completed the Australasian College of Health Service Management's Health Management Training Program, undertaking placements with the ACI and Health Infrastructure. Jess has held leadership roles such as Redesign Lead, Operations Manager for Outpatient Services and General Manager of a virtual hospital at Northern Sydney Local Health District. She was also an Associate Director within KPMG's healthcare consulting practice.

Passionate about public health, safety and quality improvement, Jess has built her career around improving healthcare delivery and patient outcomes across clinical, operational and strategic settings.

Prof David Thomas is the inaugural Director of the Centre for Molecular Oncology at the University of New South Wales, and Chief Science and Strategy officer for Omico. As a clinician-scientist, his focus is on the application of genomic technologies to the understanding and management of cancer, particularly sarcoma. He established the not-for-profit company Omico to lead a national precision medicine program for patients with rare and early onset cancers.

Prof Thomas founded the Australasian Sarcoma Study Group, a national research organisation, and established Australia’s leading adolescent and young adult cancer unit at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. Prof Thomas founded and leads the International Sarcoma Kindred Study, the largest ever conducted study of genetic factors in sarcoma, now recruiting from 23 centres in the US, UK, France, India, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia. He led the first international study of denosumab in Giant Cell Tumor of bone, leading to FDA and TGA approval. He also co-led a meta-analysis of whole-body MRI screening for patients with Li-Fraumeni syndrome, changing clinical practice guidelines from the NCCN, AACR and EviQ in Australia. He has held leadership positions within leading international oncology organisations, including serving as President of the Connective Tissue Oncology Society in 2018 and as Scientific Co-Chair of the ESMO Sarcoma and Rare Cancers Congress 2026. He has over 300 research publications, including lead or senior author papers in Science, Cancer Cell, Molecular Cell, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Lancet Oncology, JAMA Oncology, and Journal of Clinical Oncology.

After working in over 20 countries in everything from mergers and acquisitions to global shared services and product innovation, Paul founded Crazy Might Work in Antarctica in 2015. The firm’s mission is to bring leadership and innovation learnings from frontiers like space to the workplace, and it is the leading provider of the Four-Dimensional Leadership program used by NASA, winning the 2025 Australian Space Industry Awards.

Today, Crazy Might Work is a strategic innovation partner to peak bodies like Ageing Australia, and the Global Innovation Management Institute and Paul presents regularly to the Space Generation Advisory Council of the United Nations. He chairs the board of a Community Services not-for-profit, the APAC Chief Strategy Officers’ Summit and the Strategy Circle. He is a sought-after speaker on leadership and innovation, with a pending doctorate in breakthrough innovation.

Rosanna has worked internationally across more than 10 countries in senior finance, business improvement and strategic program management roles for organisations including TNT and Paramount Pictures.

Rosanna is the operational and organisational powerhouse of Crazy Might Work, PRINCE2-certified and known for mobilising diverse stakeholders across complex, multi-country initiatives. She is qualified in accounting, project management and human-centred design.

Get ready to think differently, make the invisible visible and build the future of ACI together with LEGO® Serious Play® (LSP). In this session, you will rediscover forms of human intelligence that conventional meetings and conversations often leave untapped.

Using LEGO, metaphor and storytelling, we will imagine what new forms of collaboration might be possible. Rather than relying on conventional discussion, and encountering the familiar limits of words, hierarchy and habitual thinking, you will build what you think. You will create metaphorical models that make abstract ideas such as collaboration, connection and ways of working tangible and visible. You will then share these perspectives with your peers, combine different points of view and co-create a picture of what the future could look like.