Invited Speakers

Adjunct Professor Kath Riddell

Adjunct Professor Kath Riddell, is the Executive Director Nursing Services and Chief Nursing Officer at the Royal Children’s Hospital.

Kath is a highly regarded executive nursing leader who is passionate about improving patient outcomes and experiences of care, supporting transformational change, and advocating for the importance and value of the nursing profession.

At RCH, Kath is the professional lead for all our nurses, including nursing education, research, and workforce. She also holds accountability for Clinical Governance, including the RCH Quality team and systems, and the Infection Prevention and Control service.

Alicia Bell

Alicia is a Paediatric Nurse Practitioner, Senior Lecturer at Flinders University, and mum to three boys. With over 20 years’ experience across neurology, rehab, and rural nursing, she spent 14 years in Paediatric Emergency and was South Australia’s first Nurse Practitioner in the field. In 2020, she moved into primary health care and developmental screening, focusing on supporting families through the health system. Alicia holds a Graduate Diploma in Emergency Nursing and a Master of Nurse Practitioner, and is currently undertaking a PhD exploring the role of Nurse Practitioners in child development.

Professor Maria Mackay

Professor Maria Mackay has an extensive clinical background in paediatric nursing and midwifery, which deeply informs her approach to practice, education and leadership. She is a passionate educator and researcher whose teaching philosophy challenges traditional healthcare education by foregrounding the art alongside the science of nursing practice, with a strong commitment to culturally safe, person‑centred care. Maria integrates Indigenous knowledges and ways of knowing into pre‑registration nursing curricula, embedding planetary health, relationality, and respect for Country within health professional education. Her scholarly work focuses on culturally responsive and transformational learning that prepares future practitioners to respond ethically to the health needs of individuals, families, and communities.

Professor Tracey Moroney OAM

Professor Tracey Moroney OAM is an accomplished higher-education leader with more than 26 years of experience across the Australian tertiary sector. She currently serves as Dean at ACAP University College. Her leadership is marked by a commitment to transforming learning environments, supporting staff development and advancing professional standards in higher education. Professor Moroney was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in recognition of her significant service to medical education and the community.

Astrid Tiefholz

Federal Vice President, ANMF

Astrid Tiefholz is an experienced Registered Nurse, Midwife, Credentialed Mental Health Nurse, and Registered Counsellor with a diverse twenty-year career spanning clinical practice, research, education, and healthcare leadership. Astrid completed her dual Bachelor of Nursing and Midwifery at La Trobe University in 2006. She was a midwife at Box Hill Hospital’s Birralee Unit and a clinical support and research midwife at Mercy Hospital for Women before relocating to Hobart in 2011.

In Tasmania, Astrid’s extensive clinical portfolio has encompassed midwifery and lactation consultancy, midwifery clinical education, paediatric and neonatal nursing, and mental health. She is currently the statewide clinical nurse navigator for Tasmania in ForWhen’s national perinatal and infant mental health program. 

Astrid holds a Graduate Diploma in Clinical Teaching, and Master’s degrees in Counselling, Mental Health Nursing, and Nursing Management. She also serves as the Federal Vice President of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF), although she is presenting at this conference in an independent, individual clinical capacity.

Astrid has a deep professional interest in the lived experiences of neurodivergent clinicians within the nursing and midwifery workforce. She is passionate about promoting universal design in clinical education and cultivating neuroaffirming workplaces that protect workforce retention while directly enhancing the safety, trust, and care provided to vulnerable children, young people, and their families.