Senior Doctor Conference

Professor Nancy A. Pachana

2025 Senior Doctor Conference keynote speaker 

The Senior Doctor Conference's keynote speaker will be Professor Nancy A. Pachana, a Professor of Clinical Geropsychology in the School of Psychology at The University of Queensland. She is Co-Director of the UQ Ageing Mind Initiative, and Program Lead of UQ’s Age Friendly University Initiatives. Her main research interests include anxiety in later life, early assessment of dementia and driving safety and healthy retirement strategies. She has published over 350 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and books on various topics in the field of ageing. She is an avid birdwatcher and traveller.

Dr Catherine McDougall 
Chief Medical Officer, Queensland Health 

Dr McDougall trained and worked as a physiotherapist prior to undertaking her medical degree at the University of Queensland and went on to train in orthopaedics, receiving her Fellowship with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (FRACS) at the end of 2013. Dr McDougall held leadership roles in the Orthopaedic Department at The Prince Charles Hospital (TPCH) and as the Clinical Director of Surgery at the Surgical Treatment and Rehabilitation Service (STARS) MNHHS prior to commencing as the Queensland Health Chief Medical Officer in March 2023.  

Dr McDougall is passionate about public health and delivering high-quality care to patients within a sustainable environment. She has a particular interest in clinician wellbeing and culture and improving the patient journey through the system. Catherine completed a Graduate Certificate in Safety, Quality, Informatics and Leadership at Harvard University in 2021, and a Masters of Public Health in 2024.

Dr McDougall is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD), is a reservist with the Australian Defence Force, Air Force and is an Associate Professor at the University of Queensland Medical School.  

Major General Professor John Pearn AO RFD 
Senior Paediatrician, Queensland Children's Hospital 

Major General Professor John Pearn AO RFD is a senior clinician based at the Queensland Children’s Hospital in Brisbane and has served as a senior paediatrician in Queensland's children’s hospitals for six decades. He is a former Bancroft Orator of the Australian Medical Association. He was awarded the Citation of the Australian Medical Association (1995) for distinguished services to medicine and to the community and in 2006 was created a Fellow of the AMA. He received the AMA Queensland President’s Award in 2012 and Honorary Life membership in 2015. In a second and parallel career in military medicine, he served on operational service as the senior physician and intensivist in Papua New Guinea (1966), Vietnam (1970) and in the United Nations emergency response to the genocide in Rwanda in 1994-95. He served as the Surgeon General in the Australian defence force for a triennium from 1998 to 2000. His has published extensively in the domains of clinical medicine, medical genetics, preventive medicine and medical history; and is the author of 65 books and booklets relating to clinical medicine, preventive medicine and medical and Australian history. 

Professor Genevieve Dingle
Professor, Clinical Psychology 

Genevieve Dingle is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Queensland. Her research focuses on understanding how groups and communities support our mental health and wellbeing, particularly around life transitions. This includes clinical groups such as group therapy and therapeutic communities, as well as non-clinical groups such as choir singing and other arts based programs.