Christopher has been with the organisation for five years. As the Digital learning Manager, he oversees the management of ASHM’s online learning platform, and the development of ASHM's suite of over 20 self-paced online learning modules for clinicians across the BBV and SRH sector. Chris also manages ASHM's monitoring and evaluation team ensuring ASHM's educational offerings are always high quality and fit for purpose. National BBV and SRH Worker Needs Assessment In 2024, ASHM conducted a national needs assessment of 143 health workers in HIV, BBV, and sexual and reproductive health. Using a Best-Worst Scaling survey, the study identified key gaps in perceived competence relative to importance of key aspects of the workforce's scope of practice including sexual violence, syphilis management and trans and gender diverse health. Participants preferred accessible self-paced training, complemented by in-person training during work hours and considered ongoing CPD as part of their work. Findings will inform tailored professional development to strengthen workforce capacity and improve health outcomes.

Dr Horas Wong is a Senior Lecturer at the Sydney Nursing School, University of Sydney. He brings a transdisciplinary background in nursing, public health, anthropology, and health social sciences, with community-based, clinical, educational, and research experience in HIV, sexual and reproductive health, and rights across Australia and the Asia-Pacific. Preparing a Socially Responsive Nursing Workforce in HIV and Sexual and Reproductive Health The 2025 ASHM National HIV, BBV and SRHR Needs Assessment reveals clear gaps between the importance placed on HIV and SRHR competencies and the workforce’s confidence in delivering them. For nurses, these gaps are most evident in areas such as HIV prevention and care, trans and gender diverse health, First Nations health, and responding to sexual violence. These areas demand cultural safety, stigma reduction and advocacy alongside clinical expertise, yet remain underdeveloped in practice. This presentation argues that embedding a social critical lens in nursing education is vital to closing these gaps. Through critical reflection, inclusivity, interprofessional learning and valuing lived experience, graduates can move beyond technical care to provide person centred, culturally safe practice. In doing so, they will be equipped to meet the complex challenges of HIV and SRHR while also advocating for equity and driving systemic change in healthcare.

Deborah is Professor of Practice in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at The University of Sydney and former Medical Director of Family Planning NSW. Her current focus is on equitable elimination of cervical cancer in Australia and the Indo-Pacific region. She was Chair of ASRHA in 2015 – 2016. Supporting Elimination of Cervical Cancer in the Pacific: workforce challenges and opportunities Supported by the Australian government and philanthropy, countries in our neighbouring Indo-Pacific region are implementing services across the three pillars of cervical cancer elimination: HPV vaccination; HPV screening; treatment of pre-invasive and invasive cancer and palliative care. This brief presentation will consider the workforce challenges faced by Ministries of Health in the region as well as the opportunities to help ensure the sustainability of cancer control initiatives and strengthening of health services more broadly.

Dr. Jason Leo Lane Mitchell (MBBS, MPH, MMed) is a Fijian public health leader with 16+ years’ experience advancing HIV, STI, and sexual health responses across the Pacific and Asia. He has shaped laws, policies, and programmes, and founded regional organisations strengthening rights-based, community-led health systems. HIV and Sexual Health in the Pacific Fiji’s recent HIV outbreak a 13-fold increase in diagnoses since 2021 has exposed critical weaknesses in the Pacific’s sexual and reproductive health (SRH) workforce. These include clinical shortages, limited training, fragmented services, and the undervaluing of community-led roles. Drawing on Fiji’s outbreak response, this presentation explores the urgent need for a future SRH workforce that is integrated, inclusive, culturally grounded, and rights-based. It calls for the formal recognition of peer-led service models and Pacific-driven workforce development not as a stopgap, but as a long-term solution. The Pacific cannot wait for global systems to respond; we must build our own.

Iryna is a Co-Director of the Postgraduate Program in Sexual and Reproductive Health at the University of Sydney. She is an epidemiologist working on the public health issues of HIV and STIs and education of public health professionals in this area. She has helped building healthcare capacity in HIV prevention with pre-exposure prophylaxis in Australia and across Asia and the Pacific region. Public Health Futures and SRH in the Region Iryna will reflect on the future of public health in Australasia and the Pacific, with the focus on sexual and reproductive health (SRH). She will highlight the gaps in the public health workforce and explore how digital, demographic and epidemiological shifts demand investment in a resilient, culturally competent workforce to ensure equitable and sustainable public health across the Region.

Shailendra is the Director of postgraduate Coursework at the Sydney Medical School and an international leader in health professional education and global health. He works at the intersection of clinical and public health in Sexual Health and HIV which has helped provide unique perspectives to shape the future health workforce. Changing HIV/STIs paradigm in Australia and the Region Shailendra will outline clinical workforce challenges in the context of changing epidemiology, new developments in diagnostics and therapeutics and its impact on clinical practice in the STIs and HIV field in Australia and the Region.