UBC Medicine & The Australian National University: Walking the Path of Reconciliation Together

Associate Professor Stewart Sutherland was born and raised in Wellington, NSW, the heart of Wiradjuri Country. He is the Chair of the Aboriginal Health Unit, School of Medicine and Psychology, at the Australian National University, where he and his team educate the doctors of tomorrow to work alongside Indigenous people for better health outcomes. This work has led to him winning two teaching awards (2023 and 2024).

For over a decade, he worked in Indigenous health (alcohol and other drugs, mental health, and sexual health). In more recent years, he has focused on identity and particularly Social and Emotional Wellbeing through connection to culture. This has led to a focus on understanding the ways in which people think, and One Health.

Stewart completed his PhD at the Australian National University in Canberra, focusing on the interplay between reconciliation (apology) and the social and emotional wellbeing of people forcibly removed from their families due to Indigeneity.

Amanda is Yandruwandha and Yawarrawarrka, of the Cooper Basin Region. She is a lecturer in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health team, under the leadership of Dr. Stewart Sutherland, educating the doctors of tomorrow to work alongside Indigenous people for better health outcomes.

Amanda has spent more than a decade working across Indigenous health fields, including food security; mothers, infants, and children’s nutrition; ear health; and public policy. She is one of very few Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander nutritionists and is currently studying law with the intention of improving the Indigenisation of medicolegal education.

Dr. Jones is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics at UBC. He most recently served as Associate Dean, Fraser, where he supported the successful implementation of medical and health professions education in the Fraser region, including the MD Undergraduate Program’s Fraser Medical Cohort and the Master of Physical Therapy program.

Dr. Jones previously served as Regional Medical Director of Anesthesiology at Fraser Health and currently practices at Delta Hospital.

As Vice Dean, Health Engagement, he works in partnership with provincial health authorities, health system organizations, government, First Nations and Indigenous peoples, communities, and industry to advance shared priorities and further the goals of the Faculty of Medicine’s strategic plan.

Dr. Mike Allard is a third generation settler of Welsh and English ancestry who respectfully acknowledges having had the privilege of living and working on the traditional unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil- Waututh) Peoples as an uninvited guest for most of his life. He is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of British Columbia and was formerly Vice-Dean, Health Engagement in the Faculty of Medicine at UBC. In the latter role, he provided leadership and support to Faculty efforts with respect to Indigenous relationships and reconciliation. These efforts included working with colleagues at The Australian National University to develop a Memorandum of Understanding focused on shared efforts on truth and reconciliation at both institutions. Dr. Allard, who is an alumnus of UBC, was also a Cardiovascular Pathologist at St. Paul’s Hospital for many years and previously served as Head in the UBC Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.