Chair 

Dr. Ann Aitken 

Chair of the CRANAplus Board of Directors 

Ann has been a registered nurse for more than 40 years. She worked in specialist oncology and palliative care settings at the Royal Brisbane Hospital before moving to the bush in the early 1990s. She has worked in rural and remote settings in north Queensland since that time. Ann is currently the Director of Nursing, Midwifery and Facility Manager at Atherton Hospital, and in this role is the manager of five rural and remote single nurse clinics in the local health service. Ann is passionate about rural and remote health, and a strong advocate for safe and quality health services in these diverse areas of service provision. The success of any health service depends on the effectiveness of the team, and Ann believes the safety and appropriate preparation and development of the health care team is paramount to that. Ann completed her PhD in 2016. Her thesis explored the lived experience of rural and remote nurses working in Queensland who cared for people with cancer who had died. Ann has a Masters Degree in Rural and Remote Health, a Masters Degree in Conflict Management and Resolution, and is an accredited mediator.

Speakers

Dr. Robert Blum 

Clinical Director, Bendigo Health Oncology Unit and the Loddon Mallee Integrated Cancer Services 

Dr Blum has over 18 years' experience in general medical oncology and clinical trials, with special interests in breast, gynae-oncology, lymphoma and urological malignancies. Dr Blum's undergraduate degree was obtained at the University of Melbourne, where he did one year as a researcher at the Austin Research Institute before commencing his speciality training at St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. This was followed by a two-year fellowship at Peter Mac, which included further experience in breast cancer, gynae-oncology, melanoma and clinical studies. Dr Blum was also involved in PET imaging research and its role in cancer therapeutics and staging.

Dr Blum has been the Director of the Oncology Department in Bendigo since 2003. During that time, he has had the department accredited as a site of oncology training with the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. In 2013, he undertook a sabbatical in breast cancer under the guidance of Dr Angelo Di Leo in Prato, Italy. Dr Blum received a VCCC Alliance Leading for Impact Award for Outstanding Leadership by Example in 2024.

Professor Sabe Sabesan 

Senior Medical Oncologist Townsville Cancer Centre 

Professor Sabesan is a senior Medical Oncologist at the Townsville Cancer Centre and the Clinical Director of the Australian Teletrial Program, Office of Research and Innovation, Queensland Health. As the President of COSA, he plans to advocate for creating equitable health system in Australia and healthier workplace culture as the foundation for workforce wellbeing. Sabe recently led the development of the Healthy Workplace Culture in Health Systems: a National Framework, and was first author on a joint statement with ASCO-COSA- and ECO published in The Lancet Series, as a unified call to foster healthy workplace cultures to sustain the health workforce.

Melissa Sheldon

Lived Experience Leader 

Melissa Sheldon is a Wamba Wamba woman living on Yorta Yorta country. She has lived with melanoma for over a decade, fortunate to ride the wave of new treatments including targeted cell therapy and immunotherapy. She has been in palliative care and learnt to walk and talk again, witnessing the disparities in health equity. A consumer representative for many projects and a leader in the cancer sector for close to 15 years she is passionate about driving equity, lived experienced leadership and transformational change.

Dr. Susan Velovski 

Specialist General Surgeon, Northern NSW 

Sue is a Specialist General Surgeon practising across the Northern Rivers region in NSW. Her clinical interests have developed into a strong focus on surgical oncology, particularly bowel (colorectal), breast, melanoma and head and neck cancers, alongside thyroid and parathyroid disease. Sue has maintained trauma skills that are especially valuable in rural and regional practice. She has been actively involved in surgical education at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels in Australia and overseas, and remains engaged with global health and surgery initiatives. Following the region’s devastating floods, Sue played a major role in the local response and continues to support junior doctors and advocate for a safe workplace culture in medicine. She was a recipient of the RDAA Rural Doctor of the Year Award in 2022.