OUR SPEAKERS

Suzie Hooper is a nursing leader with a passion for leading nursing teams to develop their potential in order to deliver excellent specialist nursing care.  Suzie has worked in a variety of leadership roles throughout her career, including Nurse Manager, Project Manager, CEO and Director of Clinical Services. She has a particular interest in the learning and development of nurses in the specialty areas of mental health and rehabilitation and through leading research and innovation projects has mentored staff to develop a sense of inquiry and pride in their area of specialised nursing care.  Her current role as Director of Clinical Services at Epworth Continuing Care and Support Services, has her leading a team of over 300 nurses across three campuses at Epworth Health Care in Victoria.  

Daryl is the Senior Psychologist at Dhauwurd-Wurrung Aboriginal & Community Health Service, Portland. His employment history includes community health, acute response, public psychiatry, and disability.Daryl experienced multiple MVA rehabilitation journeys. The benefit of these events was time to read. His ground-up approach to rehabilitation and change was borne out of experience plus subsequent qualifications in Psychology, Human Biology, Family and Trauma Therapy. His personal interests include narrative, neuroplasticity, and biopsychosocial interactions.He has presented in various conference themes of indigenous health, neurocognition, trauma, disability, and drug & alcohol. His Master’s Thesis was Coping with Disability and Labour Force Participation.

Antonio Vecchio has a background in psychological science, with a particular interest in the social impact of trauma. He is currently the Community and Consumer Engagement Manager at the Spinal Research Institute, where he is widely recognised, both in Australia and internationally, as an emerging leader in the field of consumer involvement in spinal cord injury research. His work has been published in leading academic journals, underscoring his commitment to aligning research with lived experience. Antonio serves on several key committees, including the Executive Committee of the Australia and New Zealand Spinal Cord Society and the Governance Committee for the Engagement and Peer Support Special Interest Group of the International Spinal Cord Society. He is highly active in delivering presentations and education on consumer engagement and is passionate about the potential of digital and social media to transform the way academia connects with communities. He has also contributed to policy development, having advised the Transport Accident Commission and, more recently, the Victorian Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions.Antonio has strong ties to the community through nearly two decades of involvement in peer support and wheelchair rugby, bringing both professional insight and personal experience to his work in advancing inclusive and impactful research practice.

Dinesh was the first quadriplegic medical intern in Queensland. Dinesh is a doctor, lawyer, disability advocate, and researcher. While in medical school, he was involved in a car accident that caused a spinal cord injury. Dinesh works in the emergency department at the Gold Coast University Hospital. He is a researcher and senior lecturer at the Griffith University and assistant professor at Bond University. Dinesh is a researcher in spinal cord injury, co-leading the BioSpine research team. He is a doctor for the Gold Coast Titans physical disability rugby team. Dinesh was a senior advisor to the Disability Royal Commission. He is an ambassador to the Human Rights Commission’s Includeability program. He is a founding member of Doctors with Disabilities Australia, and an advisory board member to HealthyLife, a Woolworths company. He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2019, the Queensland Australian of the Year for 2021, and was the third Australian to be awarded a Henry Viscardi Achievement Award. In 2022, Dinesh was listed as number 33 in the Courier Mail’s top 100 power list for Queensland’s most influential in health and wellbeing. His autobiography, Stronger, was published by Pan Macmillan in 2022. 

Associate Prof Jeanette Tamplin is Head of Music Therapy at The University of Melbourne and Senior Music Therapist at the Royal Talbot Rehabilitation Centre - Austin Health. She has over 25 years clinical experience in neurorehabilitation and her research focuses on the therapeutic effects of singing for speech and language rehabilitation and therapeutic songwriting to support adjustment following neurological injury or illness. Jeanette is widely published, with a career total of over AUD$5 million in grant funding and has co-authored a book on Music Therapy in Neurorehabilitation.