DEA Management Committee
Chair
Bill Castleden, WA
wmc@iinet.net.au
Secretary
David Shearman, SA
mountlofty@ozemail.com.au
Treasurer
John Stokes, WA
john@dea.org.au
Grant Blashki VIC
grant@blashki.com
Colin Butler, TAS
butler@deakin.edu.au
Graeme Horton NSW
graeme.horton@newcastle.edu.au
David King, QLD
D.King@uq.edu.au
Irene Kirczenow, WA
russalka@iprimus.com.au
Gilles Rohan, ACT
grohan@pcug.org.au
Michael Schien, NSW
mike_sal@bigpond.com
David Strong, TAS
David.Strong@dhhs.tas.gov.au
Nick Towle, TAS
nj_towle@tassie.net.au
Profiles of DEA Committee Members
Grant Blashki MD MBBS FRACGP is a practicing GP and Senior Research Fellow at Monash University, University of Melbourne and Kings College London working in primary mental health care research, teaching and policy. He was one of the founding members of DEA and is very passionate about the practical simple changes that doctors can implement to improve the current environmental situation. He also believes that the medical profession has a key leadership role in changing the community attitudes towards environmental issues.
Colin Butler is Senior Research Fellow in Global Health at Deakin University. He also works part time in rural general practice, in Tasmania. In 2002 he completed a multidisciplinary PhD at the Australian National University. This thesis argued that the unequal distribution of global political and economic influence facilitates "environmental brinkmanship" whereby the wealthy and powerful risk global environmental change of such degree that it threatens the fabric of civilisation. He has also trained in tropical medicine, and is co-founder of a Third World development NGO called BODHI (www.bodhi.net.au ). He was extensively involved with the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, and has published over 100 letters, papers and chapters concerning sustainability and health.
Bill Castleden was Associate Professor of Surgery at University of WA, Chairman of Surgery and Vascular Surgeon at Fremantle Hospital. He has made a major contribution to the preservation of old growth forests in Western Australia
Graeme Horton is a GP from Newcastle who has worked on the Western Plains of NSW and in remote NT communities. He lectures in rural general practice at the University of Newcastle and likes to explore how the health problems of human populations relate to the health of their ecosystems particularly in rural localities. In 2006 he will complete a Masters of Environmental Studies. He enjoys visiting wilderness areas and playing violin in the local orchestra.
David King is an academic general practitioner with the University of Queensland. A keen cyclist and bushwalker, he has converted many of his academic colleagues to cycle commuting. His house has gradually been modified with energy saving features and photovoltaic cells. He has coordinated a bush regeneration project since 1993, and enjoys using the chainsaw (on introduced weed species!). He briefly experienced the Terania Creek forestry blockade, northern NSW, in the early 1980's.
Irene Kirczenow is a Perth General Practitioner, commuting cyclist, rogainer and bushwalker. Her fondest childhood memories include holidays spent Banksia spotting and walking with family in the biodiversity rich South West of WA. She believes future human health will be determined by our efforts to control climate change and achieve sustainability. She feels that every consultation is an opportunity to effect positive change.
Gilles Rohan has worked as a general practitioner in Australia and overseas, and currently works mainly in occupational health. He has a graduate diploma in resource and environmental management.
Michael Schien; graduated in 1980; previously a rural GP who moved to Newcastle in 2005 and is in full time clinical practice. .He has a long term association with the peace and environment movements . He has a particular interest in the health and cost benefits of sustainable housing , having built, designed or modified several dwellings over the past decade. Believes that the wellbeing of humankind is irrevocably bound to the heath and wellbeing of our planet, and that doctors have a duty to speak out when that balance is threatened. Enjoys surfing, curry, and a nice drop of red.
David Shearman is Emeritus Professor of Medicine, University of Adelaide, and Visiting Research Fellow in the Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences and in the Law School. He was involved in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Third Assessment Report and will be an Expert Assessor for the Fourth Assessment Report. At present his research is on the legal aspects of Climate change. He has a lifelong involvement is environmental issues and is a former President of the Conservation Council of South Australia.
John Stokes is a GP from Western Australia who has worked in rural and urban practice. More recently he has been working interstate and on several of Australia’s off shore islands (Christmas, Cocos, Rottnest and KingIslands). He has, in the past also been involved in Medical Education at an undergraduate and postgraduate level. John has a love of nature and wildlife which he combines with his travels to fuel his passion as a landscape and wildlife photographer.
David Strong FRACP is Staff Specialist in Paediatrics in the Women’s and Children’s Health Service, Launceston General Hospital. He has the qualification of Master in Public Health and has a strong interest in international health, intercultural studies, infectious diseases and poverty alleviation. Having been born in Kenya he has travelled widely and lived in China for six years with his wife Tania. He has two adopted daughters and enjoys healthy living, forests, music and mountain walking.
Nick Towle is a recent graduate from the University of Tasmania and has spent the last few years working in regional Tasmania. He has undertaken further studies in Social and Environmental Accounting and has been involved in teaching environmental medicine at Monash University. He has a passion for a broad range of sustainability issues and will be taking time away from clinical practice to undertake Cycle for Sustainability, an educational campaign from Brisbane to Hobart in the latter half of 2005.
Advisors:
Mariann Lloyd-Smith is the Coordinator of the National Toxics Network Inc (NTN), a public interest non government organisation which is the Australian focal point for the International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN). Marian has a PhD from the Faculty of Law at the University of Technology (UTS), Sydney. She has worked in the area of chemical and waste management for over two decades, including co-authoring Australia's national management plans for persistent organic pollutants (POPs), developing information systems to support environmentally sound chemical management and representing the community sector in a range of technical advisory groups and regional/international chemical negotiations.