The LiverWELL Annual General meeting was held online on 14 November 2023, and Board directors, community members, supporters and staff joined to hear about our activities over the past year.
Maria Marshall, President of the Board, reviewed the Board activities, welcomed new Board members and thanked the outgoing members.
Joining the Board are Associate Professor Paul Gow, Sharon Bates and Daphne Saulwin. We express our gratitude to outgoing members Phoebe Van Lambaart, Kiryu Yap and Jarrod McMaugh for their valuable contributions and commitment and during their time with the Board.
More about our Board.
CEO Elaine Montegriffo spoke about our strategic goals and outcomes for 2022 and 2023 and our longer term strategies to 2030 towards the elimination of viral hepatitis.
The Financial Reports were accepted.
Ariane Boulanger presented the Recognition Awards, which were awarded to:
Mark Farmer Memorial Award – Kay Dufty (posthumously)
Kay was a key LiverWELL staff member whose work was characterised by an energetic and optimistic commitment to empowering community to have better liver health and support. Her work with young people through the Streetshot program was especially commendable.
Kay was brave and positive through her health journey and will be remembered for her outstanding contribution to the sector and being passionate, kind, and considerate in her engagement of community.
Individual Contribution Award – Simon Brisbane
Simon was awarded for his commitment to hepatitis elimination through health workforce education to get key testing, vaccination, and treatment messages out to community.
As a registered nurse and nurse educator with North Richmond Community Health and the Medically Supervised Injection Room, Simon is very pro-active in the hepatitis space and seeks to collaborate with organisations such as LiverWELL and Burnet to drive the push towards elimination.
Organisational Collaboration Award – Yarraville Community Centre
YCC were awarded for their commitment in providing all their AMEP students accessible information about Hepatitis B and Liver Health For their commitment in providing all their AMEP students, many of whom come from endemic Hepatitis B countries, accessible information about Hepatitis B and Liver Health.
Yarraville Community Centre, AMEP/SEE team worked collaboratively with LiverWELL to deliver 14 hepatitis B workshops, including 2 online sessions. The sessions were well organised and communicated and teachers were very active during the sessions to drive home the message of getting tested, vaccinated and treated.
We acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands where we work - the lands of the Woi-Wurrung Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nations. We express our gratitude to them for their continued care and curation of these lands and waters. We pay our respects to Elders past and present.
LiverWELL observes and honours the Kulin Nation's intrinsic connection to land, sky and water, and the creator Bunjil. LiverWELL is committed to being led and informed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders on bridging health outcomes for communities and improving liver health.