Dr Graeme Browne is a senior lecturer in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, is the Program Convener for the Masters in Mental Health Nursing and the senior academic at the Port Macquarie Campus. He is a credentialed Mental Health Nurse. Early in his career Graeme saw limits for nurses practicing under a bio-medical model so undertook studies in community health nursing. For much of his clinical career he worked as community health nurse in mental health, NGOs, domiciliary nursing and bush nursing as well as in private practice. Graeme’s research focuses on primary health care mostly in mental health settings. Addressing the power structures in health is one of the cornerstones of the development of primary health care. The declaration of Alma Ata (1978) and the Ottawa Charter (1986) committed to the ‘bottom up’ delivery of health services. As can be seen from Graeme’s publications he is committed to this. His personal leadership and teaching styles are inclusive and respectful of the input from consumers, colleagues and students. On his wall he has written ‘education is more about lighting a fire than filling a bucket (Yeats)’. Graeme’s academic leadership includes: developing and coordinating undergraduate, honours and masters level programs and leading successful research teams.

Nursing