The Vernon Collins Oration, entitled “From Paternalism to Partnership – the Opportunity for Indigenous Health Research” was delivered on November 2nd by Prof Jonathan Carapetis AM, Executive Director of the Telethon Kids Institute in Perth, Western Australia. With passion and humility he outlined the problems and the successes of working with Australia’s First Peoples when conducting health research projects, often in communities where the deeply embedded culture limits access and language differences add to the difficulties. Prof. Carapetis stressed the importance of not imposing health research projects on the communities involved, but rather of identifying, fostering and supporting community members to lead the projects. Despite the many challenges in this area, we were left with a feeling of optimism after learning of the outstanding members of local communities engaged in indigenous health research.
Please see link below for the recording of the oration: