A shared vision for child and adolescent health
The program will draw on diverse voices to address the cutting-edge clinical and health and social policy issues facing child and adolescent health. It builds on our vision to:
promote the health and wellbeing of every newborn, child and young person, in order that they may meet their potential.
Agenda
Thursday 6 May 2027
| Time | Stream 1 | Stream 2 |
|---|---|---|
| 9:00 | Conference opening | |
| 9:30 | Plenary: Health and wellbeing of children in Australia | |
| 10:30 | Panel: Impact of the Australian social media ban for children under 16 years old | |
| 11:30 | Morning tea | |
| 12:00 | Unravelling rare diseases: Paediatrician contributions to 35 years of the Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit | Research presentations |
| 13:00 | Lunch | |
| 14:00 | Panel: Top 3 research papers and discussion | Research presentations |
| 15:15 | Afternoon tea | |
| 15:45 | Plenary: Decontextualised diagnosis and impact for children and families | |
| 16:15 | Can we move away from medicalisation and disorderism? |
Friday 7 May 2027
| Time | Stream 1 | Stream 2 |
|---|---|---|
| 8:30 | Plenary: Child and adolescent health in Australia and New Zealand | |
| 9:30 | Panel: Climate change | |
| 10:30 | Morning tea | |
| 11:00 | Plenary: Early diagnosis of cerebral palsy | |
| 11:30 | Panel: Exploring the most important issues for young people. | |
| 12:30 | Lunch | |
| 13:15 | Symposium: Rare diseases | |
| 14:00 | Panel: Wellbeing and education: partners in care | |
| 14:45 | Afternoon tea | |
| 15:15 | Symposium: Population vaccine rates and vaccine hesitancy | Research presentations |
| 16:15 | Indigenous health |
Saturday 8 May 2027
| Time | Stream 1 | Stream 2 |
|---|---|---|
| 8:30 | Plenary: Social prescribing | |
| 9:00 | Panel: Integrated models of care and social prescribing | |
| 10:00 | Morning tea | |
| 10:30 | Plenary: Neuroimmunology | |
| 11:00 | Panel: Reading books and storytelling for children | |
| 12:00 | Close and wrap up | |
| 12:45 | Lunch | |
| 14:00 | Trainee and student: Narrative Medicine | |
| 15:00 | Trainee and student: Speed dating | |
| 15:30 | Trainee and student: Clinical pearls |
*Note: The program is currently under production and is subject to change.
Special Guest Speakers
Meet our expert speakers
Abstract submissions
The Abstract Submission Portal for ACAH27 is opening soon. We welcome submissions from everyone working in child and adolescent health. Abstracts accepted for oral and poster presentation are eligible for prizes.
Abstract submission guidelinesWhat ACAH27 will feature
Three days in Sydney bringing the whole child and adolescent health community together.
Leading speakers
Leading local, national and international speakers across clinical practice, research and policy.
Voices that matter
Important voices at the centre, especially Indigenous colleagues and community members.
Research presentations
Opportunities to share and discuss new research in child and adolescent health.
Every discipline
Paediatricians, allied health, nursing, trainees and students, together in one room.
Connect & reconnect
Social events to build friendship and reconnect with colleagues from across the country.
…and more to come
Full program, speakers and registration to be announced. Register your interest to be first to know.
Interested in helping shape ACAH27? Get in touch to get involved.
Convenors
Dr Jacqueline SmallChair
Amelia LewisConvenor
Shanti RamanConvenor
Devin DeoConvenor
Sahani JayawardaneConvenor
Past sponsors








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Dr Tycho J. Dekkers
Special Guest
Psychologist and senior researcher at University Medical Center Groningen/Accare Child Study Center.
Dr Dekkers is an expert coordinator for ADHD at Levvel, Academic Center for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. His research primarily focuses on children and adolescents with ADHD and behavioral issues. His research interests include the effectiveness of psychosocial ADHD interventions, examining the potential negative effects of receiving an ADHD diagnosis, and risk-taking behaviors in adolescents with ADHD. Tycho is also an editor for Child and Adolescent Mental Health and the Journal of Attention Disorders.
Professor Michael Kidd AO
Day 2
Chief Medical Officer for Australia.
Professor Kidd is the Chief Medical Officer for Australia. He also holds appointments as Director of the International Centre for Future Health Systems at the University of New South Wales, and as Professor of Global Primary Care and Future Health Systems at the University of Oxford. He is a past President of both the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and the World Organization of Family Doctors.
Professor Dame Helen Stokes-Lampard
Special Guest
National Clinical Chief Medical Officer for Health New Zealand / Te Whatu Ora and Specialist General Practitioner (GP).
Professor Stokes-Lampard, has been the National Clinical Chief Medical Officer for Health New Zealand / Te Whatu Ora since November 2024 and also works as a Specialist General Practitioner (GP). Until late 2024 she lived in the UK and was an NHS GP, Professor of GP Education at the University of Birmingham and a Non-Executive Director on the board of NHS England. She has held several prestigious positions in the medical field, most notably serving as the Chair of the UK Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC 2020-2023) and Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners (2016-2019). She was the founding Chair of the National Academy for Social Prescribing, founding Chair of the Dames Commander Society and a trustee at Macmillan Cancer. Her personal clinical interests include holistic approaches to health and care, disease prevention, authentic medical leadership and embracing innovation in healthcare in safe responsible ways. Her contributions were recognised by award of DBE (New Year Honours 2022).
Professor Paul Kelly
Day 2
Founder and Principal, PK Public Health Advisory; Honorary Enterprise Professor, University of Melbourne.
Professor Kelly is a widely recognized leader in population health with over three decades of experience spanning communicable and non-communicable disease control, public health policy and health emergency management. He was Australia’s Chief Medical Officer (2020–2024) where he was the primary medical advisor to the Australian Government through the COVID-19 pandemic and led major national reforms in environmental health, climate change policy, and communicable disease control.

Professor Andrew Baillie
Expert Speaker
BSc(Hons) UNSW, MPsychol(Clin) UNSW, PhD Macq, FCCLP.
Professor Baillie is a clinical psychologist, Professor of Allied Health with Sydney Local Health District (SLHD), and Senior Advisor with Sydney Health Partners. He works in SLHD to build Allied Health Research Capacity and with Sydney Health Partners on their Implementation Science Academy and Clinical Academic Groups. He also works with Drug Health Services at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and the Psychology Team at Sydney Virtual.

Shankari Chandran
Day 3
Writer and lawyer; 2023 Miles Franklin Literary Award.
Shankari Chandran is an Australian Tamil writer and lawyer. Shankari is the winner of the 2023 Miles Franklin Literary Award for Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens and has published five novels. Her next book, Daughters of the Red Earth (Ultimo Press, 2027) focuses on religious extremism and its intersection with ethno-nationalism and transcendence. Shankari has previously led the pro bono legal teams for Allen & Overy (globally) and Ashurst (Australia).

Professor Elizabeth Elliott AM MD FRACP FRCP FRCPCH
Expert Speaker
University of Sydney and Consultant Paediatrician at the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network.
Professor Elliott leads the NSW fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) assessment service. In 1993, she established the Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit and remains its Director. APSU has conducted over 75 studies on rare childhood diseases that have informed policy and practice. She was instrumental with colleagues from the UK and Canada in developing the International Network of Paediatric Surveillance Units and was elected Convenor in 2000. Her research, clinical work and advocacy involve disadvantaged children living with rare diseases, in remote Aboriginal communities, in immigration detention and in South East Asia. FASD has been a major focus and she chairs the Australian Government’s FASD Advisory Group. Elizabeth is an elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences and the Royal Society of NSW. She was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2026 King’s Birthday Honours.

Professor Sharon Goldfeld AM
Day 1
Director, Centre for Community Child Health (CCCH) the Royal Children’s Hospital, and Theme Director, Population Health at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.
Professor Goldfeld has a decade of experience in state government as a senior policymaker in the Victorian health and education departments. Her research program is made up of complementary, synergistic and cross-disciplinary streams of work focused on investigating, testing, and translating sustainable policy relevant solutions that eliminate inequities for children. In 2024 she received an Order of Australia (AM) and was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (AAHMS).

Professor Raghu Lingam
Day 1
Paediatrician, population health researcher and Professor of Paediatric Population Health, UNSW Sydney.
Professor Lingam leads the Population Child Health and Health Services Research Group at UNSW and the GenV Intervention Hub, a national platform within Generation Victoria that accelerates the development, testing and implementation of interventions to improve outcomes for children and families at scale. His research focuses on prevention, health-system innovation, integrated care and implementation science, with the goal of improving child health outcomes and reducing inequities. Working across primary care, community, hospital and policy settings, he develops and evaluates models of care that strengthen health systems and support children and young people to thrive.

Professor Sue Woolfenden
Day 3
Director of Community Paediatrics; co-chair, Sydney Institute for Women, Children and their Families, SLHD; Professor of Community Paediatrics, University of Sydney.
Professor Woolfenden is Director of Community Paediatrics and co-chair the Sydney Institute for Women, Children and their Families at Sydney Local Health District and Professor of Community Paediatrics at the University of Sydney. Her clinical, service development and research work addresses child health inequities in Australia and globally through integrated health–social care models, including hubs and social prescribing working in partnership with Priority Populations. She has > 200 publications.

Professor Shanti Raman, MBBS, FRACP, MAE, PhD
Expert Speaker
Director- Department of Community Paediatrics, South Western Sydney Local Health District; Senior Clinical Advisor-Child & Family Health, NSW Ministry of Health, Conjoint Professor, University of New South Wales, School of Women’s & Children’s Health.
Shanti Raman is a Consultant Paediatrician, with training in epidemiology and public health. As the Director of Community Paediatrics - South Western Sydney, she is responsible for clinical services in Child Development and Child Protection across the region, providing leadership and directing research and training. In her Ministry of Health role, she supports the quality, safety, and integration of child and family health services through the development of statewide healthcare policy. Her research and teaching interests include health of migrants and refugees, indigenous child health, child rights and child maltreatment, quality and safety in health, global maternal, newborn and child health. She is involved with policy development at State, national and international levels promoting a rights-based perspective to child health and child rights. She is the Editor-in-Chief of BMJ Paediatrics Open; over the past two years the journal has pioneered several specialised collections that explore critical issues impacting child and youth health globally. On the community engagement front, Dr Raman has been involved with a range of civil society organisations, responding to social justice, gender issues, human rights and support to refugee and migrant groups.

Dr Amelia Lewis
Expert Speaker
Senior Clinical Neuropsychologist at the Disability Specialist Unit, Sydney Local Health District and a Board Member of the Academy of Child and Adolescent Health.
Dr Amelia Lewis holds a Doctorate of Clinical Neuropsychology and a Master of Philosophy (Psychology) from Macquarie University as well as a Master of Health Policy from the University of Sydney. She is also a traditionally-published children’s picture book author. With over a decade of experience supporting children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental differences and disabilities, she brings expertise in clinical neuropsychology, clinical research, and health policy alongside a deep commitment to child and family-centred care. Her work is guided by a passion for storytelling that fosters connection, identity, and joy.

Lesley Bruce
Expert Speaker
Principal, Cairnsfoot Special School, Brighton Le Sands.
During her forty working years with the Department of Education, she has gained vast experience in the following fields of education – Early Childhood, Primary and Special Education. As Principal of Cairnsfoot, she is committed to supporting students with complex needs and their families by working through an interagency model. Her knowledge in working with students with disability and their families, is regularly sought by her mainstream colleagues.

Professor Ju Lee Oei
Day 1
Chair of Neonatology Mater Research/University of Queensland
Editor in Chief Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health
Research interests - neonatal resuscitation, prenatal drug exposure.

Dr Manjekah Dunn
Day 2
Manjekah is an advanced metabolic and clinical genetics trainee and PhD candidate researching accessible and inclusive genomic testing for people with intellectual disability. Her work bridges research and clinical practice, co-producing practical resources with people with intellectual disability and health professionals to drive equitable genomic healthcare for all Australians. Manjekah has helped create world-first co-produced resources to support shared decision making for genomic consent for people with intellectual disability.

Felicity Wright, PhD
Day 2
Dr Felicity Wright is the Director of Pharmacy at Sydney Children’s Hospital. She trained as a paediatric cellular therapy and oncology pharmacist, is a Board Certified Oncology Pharmacist (USA), has a Master of Public Health Policy and a PhD in pharmacogenetics. Felicity leads a team of pharmacists, technicians and support staff practising at top of scope across clinical, production, and leadership domains. She has driven innovation in pharmacy-led models of care, integrating decentralised clinical pharmacy services, specialised pharmacy production, and the adoption of automation and robotics within pharmacy services to improve efficiency, quality, and workforce sustainability.
Felicity also plays the Trombone in the Sydney Children’s Hospital band, The Night Shift.

Dr Karl Pobre
Day 3
Dr Karl Pobre is a Paediatric Emergency Physician and Co-Director of Emergency Medical training at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead. He has a strong interest in medical education, simulation, and improving emergency care for children with neurodevelopmental disability. He leads Motivated for Change, a multidisciplinary, co-designed program focused on improving the experience, safety and quality of emergency care for children with disability and their families.
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The Academy of Child and Adolescent Health acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.


