NGIARE BROWN.
FOUNDING DIRECTOR
Ngiare is a Yuin nation woman from the south coast of NSW. She is a senior Aboriginal medical practitioner with qualifications in medicine, public health and primary care, and has studied bioethics, medical law and human rights. She was the first identified Aboriginal medical graduate from NSW, and is one of the first Aboriginal doctors in Australia. Over the past two decades she has developed extensive national and international networks in Indigenous health and social justice, including engagement with the UN system.
Ngiare is a founding member and was Foundation CEO of the Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association (AIDA); is a founding member of the Pacific Region Indigenous Doctors’ Congress (PRIDoC); and is Chair of the Health, Rights and Sovereignty committee of PRIDoC. Along with colleagues from Aotearoa, Hawaii, Canada and mainland US, she is also part of an emerging international network addressing cultural governance protocols, and the ethical and legal impacts of genomic research and Indigenous peoples (the International Indigenous Genomics Alliance). Ngiare is convening a governance council for a newly established biorepository for Indigenous genomic research. She is also undertaking doctoral research in law, addressing Aboriginal child protection systems and practice.
Her interests are largely twofold, addressing i) culturally relevant approaches to child and adolescent health and wellbeing, including building the evidence base through collaborative and multidisciplinary research, translation and service delivery; and ii) a cultural determinants approach to Indigenous health and wellbeing.
Prof Brown has made extensive contributions to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, research process, bioethics, policy, translation and practice. She is dedicated to Aboriginal child and adolescent wellbeing, and supporting communities to develop initiatives focused on cultural education, and breaking the intergenerational cycles of disparity.