YSAS Board

Professor John Catford, Chairperson

Dean of the Faculty of Health, Medicine,

Nursing and Behavioural Sciences,

Deakin University.

Professor Catford has qualifications in paediatrics and public health and over 20 years’ experience in the planning, management, and evaluation of health services, both nationally and internationally. Between 1998 and 2002 he was Chief Health Officer and Executive Director of Public Health for the State Government of Victoria where he was responsible for health promotion, disease and injury prevention and early intervention, and drugs policy and services.  

In 1984 Professor Catford was appointed the first Professor of Health Promotion in Europe and Director of the Heartbeat Wales Programme in Cardiff, UK. During 1994 and 1995 he worked for the World Health Organisation as Health Policy and Public Health Adviser to Ministers of Health in Central and Eastern Europe. He has produced more than 200 publications and was co-author of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion in 1986 and the recent Bangkok Charter for Health Promotion in a Globalized World. He is Editor-in Chief of the journal Health Promotion International, published by Oxford University Press, which he helped to set up in 1986.

Professor Catford’s current interests include child and youth health, social exclusion and health inequalities, whole of government approaches, chronic disease prevention (with a focus on nutrition, tobacco and physical activity), and mainstreaming public health approaches into health services.  He brings a wealth of experience and insights into the ‘science of delivery’ of public health services.

Recent national roles include: Chair of the Child and Youth Health Intergovernmental Partnership of the National Public Health Partnership; Member of the National Obesity Taskforce and Chair of its Scientific Advisory Committee; Vice President (Medical) of the National Heart Foundation; and Chair of Kinect Australia which is a new not-for-profit national organisation which seeks to promote ‘active living for healthier communities’.

 

Anne Winstanley, Deputy Chairperson

Clinical Psychologist

Anne Winstanley has been a clinical psychologist for 30 years, most recently working in private practice as a psychologist and consultant. She was Chief Executive Officer of Odyssey House Victoria for five years, has served as a board member of the Australian Therapeutic Communities Association and has contributed to a number of consultative committees between the Department of Human Services and the non-government sector in the alcohol and drug area.

Anne maintains an active interest in clinical work through a collaborative research project with the Centre for Adolescent Health. She was involved in the design, implementation and evaluation of a parent training program for parents stressed by youth drug abuse. A manual for this program has been published by ACER. In addition, she has written a number of publications on clinical work within the alcohol and drug area.

Anne has substantial interests in the area of bereavement and grief, and has provided training and supervision in this area both privately and as a facilitator for the Centre for Grief Education. She has provided customised training workshops on the topics of grief and bereavement, disenfranchised grief, adolescence and loss/grief, stress management for therapists and counsellors dealing with loss and grief.

 

James O’Brien

Senior Consultant - Enhance Group

James O’Brien is an Associate Director with the Enhance Group, a government relations and market research firm in Melbourne. Prior to joining Enhance Group, James worked as Chief of Staff to the Victorian Minister for Children and Community Services, during which time the State Government enacted significant reforms to the operation of Victoria’s child protection and family support systems. James has extensive experience in public policy development, advocacy, strategic communications and market research.

 

James Cook

Legal Counsel - Aconex

James Cook was admitted to the practice of law in 1999. He has built a career as an in-house lawyer in Australia and Europe and his particular interest is in risk management systems. James is currently General Counsel of Aconex Limited, a multinational IT company. Before moving to Aconex, he worked for Hewlett-Packard and Accenture. James brings to the YSAS Board a focus on compliance and risk management and is a member of the Board’s Risk Management and Audit Committee.

 

Chief Commissioner Simon Overland

Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police

Simon Overland was promoted to Chief Commissioner, Victoria Police in 2009.  Prior to that he was Deputy Commissioner, Victoria Police and had been the Assistant Commissioner Crime from February 2003 to July 2006.  In this role he became widely known for his leadership of the Purana Task Force; investigating a series of violent murders and associated offences within entrenched organised crime networks.

Prior to joining Victoria Police in February 2003, Simon served 19 years with the Australian Federal Police.  He rose through the ranks to become the AFP’s Chief Operating Officer.  He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Administration, a Bachelor of Laws with first class honours, and a Graduate Diploma in Legal Studies.  He is a Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration of Australia and was awarded the Australian Police Medal in 2007.

 

Judge Liz Gaynor

Judge of the Victorian County Court

Judge Gaynor was appointed to the County Court of Victoria in 2002. She began her law career as a criminal defence advocate in 1984 when she began work as duty solicitor with the Legal Aid Commission. Prior to this, she worked for three years as a journalist with Australian Associated Press in Melbourne, Canberra and London. She signed on to the Victorian Bar Roll in 1985, working as a criminal defence counsel in the Children’s, Magistrates', County and Supreme Courts. She appeared regularly before the Psychologists' Registration Board, Guardianship and Administration Tribunal and for the Attorney General in Supreme Court applications under Crimes (Mental Impairment) Act applications. Currently, Judge Gaynor is serving as a member of the Forensic Leave Panel.

 

Professor Nick Crofts

Senior Research Fellow, Nossal Institute for Global Health, University of Melbourne

Professor Nick Crofts spent 12 years in community medicine in Collingwood, followed by 19 years at Fairfield Hospital and the Macfarlane Burnet Institute, where he was instrumental in founding the Centres for Harm Reduction, International Health and Research into Population Health. Professor Crofts’ research career has concentrated on the epidemiology and control of blood-borne viruses, especially Hepatitis C among injecting drug users and prisoners in Australia. His major programmatic focus has been in the development of harm reduction responses to HIV epidemics among injecting drug users in almost every country in Asia. Professor Crofts was awarded the International Rolleston Award for Harm Reduction in 1998. From 2004 to 2007, he was Director of Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre and is currently Senior Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne’s Nossal Institute for Global Health.

 

Professor Johanna Wyn

Director - University of Melbourne - Youth Research Centre

Professor Wyn is Director of the Australian Youth Research Centre. She leads the Life Patterns project and is involved in much of the Centre’s other research. She teaches in the Masters in Youth Health and Education Management and supervises research students who are working on youth, health and educational topics. Her book, Youth and Society: Exploring the social dynamics of youth experience, written with Professor Rob White from the University of Tasmania, was published in 2004 by Oxford University Press.