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Academic Council

The Academic Council is the peak academic governing body at Endeavour. It reviews and monitors the performance of all academic areas to assist with quality management and continual improvement of those operational processes.

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Michael Weir

Professor. Michael WeirChair of Academic Council

Biography

Michael has broad professional experience as a solicitor in private legal practice in commercial and property law. In his academic career Michael has published extensively on Land Law, Planning Law and Complementary Medicine and the law. He is a co- author of the textbook Real Property Law in Queensland, LBC (4th edition, 2015). Michael has a research interest in Medicine and the Law with a focus on complementary and alternative medicine and law and ethics. This interest is reflected in the textbook Law and Ethics in Complementary Medicine Allen and Unwin (5th edition 2016).

Rachel Canaway

Dr. Rachel CanawayCollaboration and Network Manager, Research, University of Melbourne - External Academic Representative

Biography

Rachel is a health systems and services researcher interested in policy and health systems development of medical pluralism and the governance of secondary use of health data. She has worked as a naturopath, massage therapist, academic and as a consultant for the World Health Organization (WHO) advising on integration of traditional medicine with national health systems. Rachel is currently involved in increasing capacity for primary care research, including through strengthening VicREN, a practice-based research network based at the Department of General Practice, the University of Melbourne, and she is a long-time member of the Naturopaths and Herbalists Association of Australia.

Florin Oprescu

Dr. Florin OprescuAssociate Professor in Public Health, Health Promotion, University of the Sunshine Coast - External Academic Representative

Biography

Dr Florin Oprescu is a health promotion and communication specialist. His formal qualifications include medicine (MD), public health (MPH, PhD), business management (MBA) and education (Grad Cert). He works on initiatives including health promotion education, health communication, injury prevention, and translation of scientific findings into practical and accessible public health content, especially for vulnerable populations and limited resource settings. For example, his doctoral work explored health communication in online communities, including knowledge management and sharing for disability care. A recent health communication research project was in collaboration with the national health promotion charity Hello Sunday Morning led by USC graduate Chris Raine.

Florin’s experience encompasses a range of projects across topics and disciplines including medicine, nursing, paramedic science, occupational therapy, information technology, communication and education. He is currently contributing to programs and research designed to enhance teaching and learning in higher education, particularly in health disciplines. Examples include action research, first-year experience, assessment as learning and use of information technology in education. A research project example is Expert in my pocket: A mobile-enabled repository of learning resources for the development of clinical skills in student health professionals.

Sophy Athan

Sophy AthanChair, Health Issue Centre; Chair, Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre Community Advisory Committee; Director, Euroforce Music - Community Health Organisation Representative

Biography

With a strong interest in mental health, disability, the aged and women’s health, Sophy has been an advocate in the health sector for over 13 years. She has presented at conferences and workshops on consumer and carer perspectives. She is also a member of several health service committees and chairs a number of consumer and carer committees.

She is the Director of her own company, Euroforce Music. Prior to this, Sophy was a senior public servant in both state and local governments.

Ema Souness

Ema SounessBachelor of Health Science (Naturopathy), Melbourne campus - Student Representative

Biography

Ema is a third year student of the Bachelor of Health Science (Naturopathy) at Endeavour. She has successfully undertaken a range of subjects through her degree, completing each with distinction or high distinction grades. Ema came to the College after being granted Endeavour’s Academic School Leaver’s Scholarship in 2019, an award granted in respect to outstanding academic performance and demonstrated leadership throughout the duration of her Higher School Certificate studies. Ema believes that, in order to facilitate the ongoing development of outstanding healthcare practitioners, and to support the evolution of highly respected career pathways, it is vital to ensure the highest quality learning standards and diversification of career opportunities for our students. Her positive rapport and dedication to her fellow peers and future coworkers has always been a high priority, driving her involvement in Student Reps since the commencement of her degree. She loves to represent the student voice, and to aid in ensuring the fruition of our professions in allied health.

Bianca Potenta

Bianca PotentaClinic Director & Naturopath, The Health & Wellbeing Studio, Victoria - Alumni Representative

Biography

Bianca has been in clinical practice for 9 years and is the founder of The Health & Wellbeing Studio, a multidisciplinary Natural Health Clinic with 13 practitioners and staff, who are focused on providing a collaborative and integrative health care model for their patients. Bianca has been a guest speaker and lecturer at a range of Educational Institutions and her patient cases have been published, clinical resources and seminar manuals for Metagenics.

Bianca has been on the board of a not for profit organisation, was featured on Industry Leaders on Foxtel in 2016 and Network Ten 2018. Bianca is a so the co­founder of Natural Business Tools, an online resource for practitioners to support them in delivering an exceptional standard of care to their patients. She is an advocate for supporting practitioners in their transition from student to becoming a successful natural healthcare practitioner and has hosted several webinars and mentoring programs both privately and for Endeavour College around this. In 2018 Bianca was nominated for Naturopath of the Year for her work in supporting the profession and was the guest speaker at the Endeavour College Graduation in 2019.

Dr. Jenny WilkinsonDirector of Education

Biography

Dr Jenny Wilkinson holds several qualifications in education leadership and science, along with over 25 years’ worth of experience working in the higher education field.

Upon completing a Bachelor of Science and Honours in Physiology and Pharmacology, Jenny went on to achieve a PhD in Vertebrate Physiology and the role of heat shock proteins in caffeine's embryotoxicity. Following on from this, she went on to complete a Graduate Diploma Further Education & Training, Master in Higher Education (Leadership & Management), Graduate Certificate in Biostatistics and is currently studying a Graduate Certificate in Higher Education (Quality Assurance).

Prior to joining Endeavour as the Director of Education, Jenny held a multitude of positions at Charles Sturt University including Sub-Dean Research, Acting Head of School and Course Director working with various teams to develop courses which meet professional, institutional and student needs.

Jenny’s primary research interest is in the pharmacology of essential oils, herbs and other plant-based products and the nexus between complementary and conventional healthcare, and she serves on editorial boards for several journals including BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies, and Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Deirdre Mathias

Deirdre MathiasDirector of Student Operations

Biography

Deirdre has a diverse background across Asia and Australia in operational management, with a focus on strategically building, managing and innovating service structures that add value to the customer and the business through operational integrity.

Deirdre has worked with Endeavour for eight years in a variety of roles, and now sits in a strategic role leading all the service support departments. Across her time at the college she has been particularly focused on re engineering and improving the student experience and student engagement, with a focus on system improvement and delivering a service experience that engages, inspires, and supports the student body.

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