CMO and Legal Forum

21 October 2025

For the first time, in 2025, the Legal and Chief Medical Officer forums will be held jointly to bring to life the intersection between medicine and the law. The one-day program will explore topics including Diversity in Medicine, Developments in AI in Medical Law, Innovation in the Management of Claims, Ethical Issues in Human Genomics and Reproduction, Chronic Health Conditions, End of Life and an update of recent Case Law. The program will provide a cross section of medical and legal topics of interest to international and local medical and legal practitioners.

The registration fee is $500, which includes access to the joint CMO and Legal Forum, all Legal Forum sessions, a name tag, lunch and afternoon refreshments on Tuesday, and entry to the Welcome Reception. Delegates attending the full conference can register at a discounted rate of $250.

The Japanese poet Mizuta Masahide wrote, “My barn having burned down, I can now see the moon.” To find happiness, sometimes, we have to let go of what we have. This is the story of a journey of discovering happiness through a career between law, medicine, depression, and a spinal cord injury. Through that journey, the story shares some ideas on how we can think differently in our professions to drive resilience, innovation and strength through diversity and culture.

Dr Dinesh Palipana OAM

Dr Dinesh Palipana OAM is a senior resident doctor at Gold Coast University Hospital. Despite facing numerous barriers, he became the first quadriplegic medical graduate and medical intern in Queensland. He was recently admitted as a lawyer.

As co-founder of Doctors With Disabilities Australia, Dinesh has worked with the Australian Medical Association to create first-of-kind national policies for inclusivity in medical education and employment.

The Honorable Justice David Boddice, The Supreme Court of Queensland

Justice Boddice is a graduate of The University of Queensland — Bachelor of Laws (Honours) (1983).

In 1984 Justice Boddice was admitted as a barrister of the Supreme Court of Queensland and appointed Senior Counsel in 2001.

His Honour previously served as a member of the Queensland Anti-Discrimination Tribunal (2006–2009), chair of the Queensland Nursing Tribunal (2007–2009), director (1993–2010) and chairperson (2006–2010) of Barristers’ Chambers Limited.

Professor Clair Sullivan, UQ Digital Health Centre

Professor Clair Sullivan is an internationally recognised leading practising and academic clinical informatician, and is helping drive digital health transformation in Queensland.

Clair is Director of UQ’s Queensland Digital Health Centre, a collaboration across UQ and major Australian and international partners. She is a Consultant Endocrinologist at Metro North Hospital and Health Service. Clair serves on several national advisory boards for digital health and has generated $66M in funding. Clair is widely published in clinical informatics and is ranked in the top 1% of Medical Informatics researchers globally.

Professor Marie Bismark, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne

Panel Chair

Dr Marie Bismark is a public health physician and health lawyer. Her research focuses on the role of clinical governance, regulation, and patient complaints in improving the quality and safety of healthcare.

Chris Malla, Kennedys London

Discussion: NHS Pre-Litigation Pilot

Christopher is the global head of Healthcare. In England, he leads a Band 1 team of clinical negligence lawyers that operate as a national service across five UK offices: Birmingham, Cambridge, London, Newcastle and Sheffield.

Claire Petts, Clyde and Co

Discussion: Data-Driven Insights in Claims Management

Claire advises on a wide range of healthcare matters, including providing representation at inquests, representing clinicians before their regulatory body, medical device/product liability work and general advisory work. She has successfully defended many matters at trial, including several multimillion-pound claims.

Natasha Lannin, Alfred Health and Monash University

Discussion: Costs of care/models of care

Professor Natasha Lannin is an internationally recognised clinician-researcher with a joint appointment at Alfred Health and Monash University, where she is the Head of the Brain Recovery and Rehabilitation Research group in the School of Translational Medicine.

Domenic Crolla, Partner Gowling WLG, Canada

Discussion: Claims Management Initiatives in Canada

Domenic Crolla is a partner in Gowling WLG’s Ottawa office. His practice emphasizes professional and product liability, health law, and information technology matters. He counsels clients in a litigious and non-litigious setting. Additionally, he has an active interest in the application of information technology to professional practice, particularly in relation to the practice of law and medicine.

Domenic is an advocate before all levels of courts and administrative tribunals. He has appeared in a number of complex matters in both a trial and appellate capacity.

The interplay between developments in genetics/IVF/medically assisted reproduction and the law, both here and overseas with an emphasis on whether the law is keeping up with the advances in the medicine and the expectations of the community who wish to access these developments.

Associate Professor Karinne Ludlow, Monash University

Karinne ’s research takes a multidisciplinary approach and focuses on the integration of science, commercialisation challenges and law, particularly regarding biotechnology, genetic technologies and nanotechnology in all their applications, including health, agriculture and industry.

A key feature of Karinne’s research is its incorporation of law reform recommendations that have been acted on by relevant bodies.

Professor Roger Magnusson, Sydney Law School, University of Sydney

Roger Magnusson, BA/LLB(Hons), PhD, Grad Dip Managing Development, is Professor of Health Law & Governance at Sydney Law School, The University of Sydney. His research interests are in health law, public health law and governance; and health development. He was the lead author of Advancing the Right to Health: the Vital Role of Law (WHO: Geneva, 2017) and Co-chair of the Working Group on Implementation, Monitoring and Accountability for the WHO’s Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity, which reported in 2016.

Professor Ben White, Faculty of Business & Law, Queensland University of Technology

Ben White is Professor of End-of-Life Law and Regulation and an Australian Research Council Future Fellow (Professorial level, 2020-2024) in the Australian Centre for Health Law Research at the Faculty of Business & Law, Queensland University of Technology. His area of research is end-of-life decision-making with a particular focus on voluntary assisted dying.

Ben graduated with first class Honours and a University Medal in Law from the Queensland University of Technology.

Neill Murdoch KC, Barrister at Law, Victoria

Neill specialises in Professional Indemnity Litigation (especially Medical Negligence), Insurance and Commercial Litigation, Common Law Personal Injuries and Torts other than Personal Injuries and Coronial Inquests.

Articled and employed as a Solicitor with Phillips Fox from 1988 to 1992. Employed as a Solicitor with Barlow Lyde & Gilbert in London from 1992 to 1995.