Past Events

Advocacy in pedatrics means speaking out on behalf of children and young people. This not only implies to the individual children and families that we see, but also applies to development of health policy and organisations. How can advocacy be used by pediatricians in the global fight to improve child health and children’s rights? 

Chaired by Dr Alicia Mitchell and Dr Vicky Timmis 

Speakers include: 

Dr Camilla Kingdon

Immediate Past-President Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, Consultant Neonatologist, UK

Associate Professor Angela Migowa 

President of the Paediatric Society of the African League Against Rheumatism, Assistant Professor Aga Khan University-EA, National Vice Chair Kenya Paediatric Association 2020 - April 2024, and Alumni Breakthrough Mastery Leadership, Kenya  

Professor Margie Danchin

Consultant Paediatrician and Clinical Scientist, The Royal Children’s Hospital, University of Melbourne and Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Australia 

Dr Maria del Carmen Calle Davila 

Executive Secretary of the Andean Health Organism ORAS-CONHU, past Vice Minister of Public Health in Peru, President Peruvian Society of Adolescent and Youth SPAJ, Special Advisor for International Association for Adolescent Health, Peru  

To be an effective leader we first need to understand and manage ourselves. Increasing self-knowledge and emotional intelligence can help us with relationship management and the building of successful teams. Team leadership for the pediatrician: developing insights into group and individual behaviours, how to influence a positive work culture and develop performance management skills. 

Chaired by Associate Professor Richard McGee

Speakers include:

Dr Robyn Lawrence 

Chief Executive of the Department for Health and Wellbeing, South Australian Health and Deputy Chair of the Health Chief Executives Forum. She is responsible to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing for the governance, leadership and management of the South Australian health system. This includes being the direct employer of more than 45,000 staff and managing a budget of $7.4 billion.

Professor Tina Tan
President-elect of Infectious Diseases Society of America, Professor of Paediatrics at the Feinberg School of Medicine at North-western University, Medical Director of the International Patient and Destination Services Program, Medical director of the International Adoptee Clinic and medical co-director of the Travel Medicine Clinic at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, USA. 

Dr Ruth Mitchell
Paediatric and Adult Neurosurgeon, awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), Australia 

Professor Ju Lee Oei

Editor in Chief, Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health. Senior Neonatologist at the Royal Hospital for Women, Randwick, Australia; Conjoint Professor at UNSW Sydney; and Honorary
Associate Professor at the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, University of Sydney. 

Dr Sanjay Suri
Retired Consultant Paediatrician. Previous Training Programme Director at the School of Paediatrics in Yorkshire and Humber in the UK for over 10 years. He is a fully trained mindfulness teacher who qualified from the University of Bangor, Wales, Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice (CMRP) in 2022. 

Leading through developing cultures of listening and psychological safety. How we develop an open culture, within and across teams, to improve patient safety? Learning to cope in stressful situations, managing work life balance and developing resilience are all key stills that need to be developed to have a successful pediatric career. 

Chaired by Professor Kevin Forsyth

Speakers include:  

Dr Jacqueline Small 

Immediate Past-President of Royal Australian College of Physicians, Australia  

Dr Ilisapeci Vareti

Pacific Paediatrics Association President, SRVC/SRCC CHAIR Subregional Pacific, Paediatric Consultant  

Dr Camilla Kingdon

Immediate Past-President, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, Consultant Neonatologist, UK 

Dr Constantinos Kanaris,

Paediatric Critical Care and Retrieval Consultant at Cambridge University NHS Foundation Trust and NWTS, Clinical Associate Professor at University of Nicosia, Associate Editor of the Journal of Child Health Care, UK 

Professor Sue Woolfenden

Director of Community Paediatrics Sydney Local Health District and Professor of Community Paediatrics University of Sydney

Academic structures within countries represent an important resource for advancing the health, wellbeing and health care of children and youth. Academic institutions have a primary responsibility for education, research and translation of research to policy and practice as well as delivery of clinical care, often being an important source of tertiary care services within the health care system of a country. Together with the professional society of pediatrics they are an important national voice for children and youth. 

It is with this background that a successful workshop was held in Kenya organized by Dr. Angela Migowa to focus on academics as part of the annual meeting of the Kenya Pediatric Society. The topics covered by the workshop included: IPALA and the Global Agenda, Inclusivity & Equity in Academic Leadership, Establishment of Fellowship Programs, Leadership in Medical Education, and a lively panel discussion on Cultivating Individual Success in Research for Child Health.

There was broad interest and engagement in the workshop and particular strength in the mix of Kenyan senior and younger members of the academic and broader pediatric community as presenters and in the participation of the audience. Follow-up from the ideas generated by the meeting will focus on how IPALA can support national strengthening of the academic pediatric institutions.