Keynote Speakers

Major-General John Cantwell AO, DSC

Major-General John Cantwell AO, DSC (Retired) joined the Australian Army as a private in 1974, rising through the ranks to become a General.

He commanded troops at almost every level in the Army. He saw combat action in the first Gulf War in 1991 and again served on operations in Baghdad in 2006.

In 2010 he was the commander of all Australian forces in Afghanistan and the wider Middle East area of operations, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for leadership in action.

He has twice been recognised in the Order of Australia awards, and received the United States Legion of Merit. He retired from the Army in 2012 after 38 years of service.

His book "Exit Wounds" is the compassionate and deeply human account of his combat experiences and resultant struggle with emotional trauma. Major General Cantwell is the Patron or Ambassador for several veterans' health organisations and is a prominent advocate for the care of veterans suffering emotional trauma resulting from their military service.

Colonel Timothy J. Hodgetts CBE OStJ

Colonel Hodgetts was educated at Woodhouse Grove School, Bradford, and Westminster Medical School, from where he qualified with distinction in 1986; he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps as a cadet in 1983. He graduated from Joint Command & Staff College (psc[j]) in 2011.

Colonel Hodgetts was first appointed as Professor of Emergency Medicine in 1998 at the European Institute of Health and Medical Sciences, then at the University of Birmingham from 2001 to date. He was the inaugural Defence Professor of Emergency Medicine with the College of Emergency Medicine (2007-2010) and the Penman Foundation Professor of Surgery for 2011.

Within the Defence Medical Services Colonel Hodgetts has been responsible for nurturing the specialty of emergency medicine from infancy to maturity. He has implemented concept, doctrine, equipment and practice changes to transform the early management of combat injury (point of wounding to the field hospital). He introduced and led major trauma governance in UK Defence from 1997-2010.

His clinical leadership appointments have been Specialty Adviser in EM to the Defence Secondary Care Agency (1997-2000); Defence Consultant Adviser in EM to Surgeon General (2000-2008); and Consultant Adviser in EM to DGAMS (2001-2009). He has served on operations as a practising emergency physician in hospitals in Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Oman, Afghanistan (3 tours), Kuwait and Iraq (4 tours). On 6 of these tours he was appointed the hospital’s Medical Director, including the multinational Danish-UK-US hospital in Afghanistan in 2009. Since 2011 he has been the Medical Director within NATO’s Allied Rapid Reaction Corps.

Colonel Hodgetts has published extensively (over 30 books & 110 papers/editorials) and has been the clinical leader for medical research projects generating >£12 million of funding. He was named in a British Medical Association dossier as one of the most innovative doctors in the country.

Colonel Hodgetts’ passion for medical education has led to the development and propagation of an international ‘comprehensive approach’ to disaster medical preparedness in Europe, Asia, Australasia and NATO (Major Incident Medical Management and Support); since 2002 he has developed the National Disaster Preparedness Course for Hospitals within India, supported by the British Council, British High Commission and the United Nations. He has led the development of Battlefield First Aid and Battlefield Advanced Trauma Life Support programmes, as well as numerous civilian emergency care curricula.

Colonel Hodgetts was made Officer of the Order of St John of Jerusalem in 1999 and Commander of the British Empire in 2009; he received the Danish Defence Medal for Meritorious Service in 2010. He was Queen’s Honorary Physician from 2004 to 2010.

In 2010 he received the Defence Scientific Adviser’s Commendation and has been awarded 16 academic medals, including the prestigious Mitchener Medal of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. His academic department was twice recognised nationally as the “Training Team of the Year” and in 2006 he was honoured with the personal accolade of Hospital Doctor of the Year throughout the UK.

Dr Brendan Nelson

Dr Brendan Nelson commenced as Director of the Australian War Memorial on 17 December 2012. Prior to this, he was the Australian Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg, the European Union and NATO (2009–12). Apart from overseeing a major transformation in Australia’s relationships with the European Union and NATO, Dr Nelson forged deep links with the communities of Flanders, where almost 13,000 Australians lost their lives during the First World War. He regularly made the trip from Brussels to the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial at Ieper, where the names of 6,190 Australians who died in the First World War and have no known grave are listed.

Born at Coburg, Victoria, in 1958, Dr Nelson studied at Flinders University, South Australia, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery. He worked as a medical practitioner in Hobart from 1985 to 1995. In 1993 he was elected unopposed as National President of the Australian Medical Association (AMA), becoming the youngest person ever to hold this position. He had previously served as National Vice President, and Tasmanian Branch President, of the AMA. During his time as National President, he campaigned on a wide range of social policy issues, including Aboriginal health and immunisation, and led the campaign against tobacco advertising and sponsorship of sport. He was also a relentless advocate for private health insurance. In 1995 Dr Nelson retired as president of the AMA following his preselection as the Liberal candidate for the Sydney seat of Bradfield.

On 2 March 1996 Dr Nelson was elected to the Federal Parliament of Australia. After the 2001 election, he was promoted from parliamentary secretary to the Minister for Defence to Cabinet in the the senior portfolio of Minister for Education, Science and Training driving major reforms to universities and a focus on school standards and reporting. In 2006 he became Minister for Defence when troops were deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, East Timor and the Solomon Islands. He oversaw major new investments in defence including the decision to purchase 24 FA-18F super hornets, three air warfare destroyers, two Landing Helicopter Docks (LHDs), two additional battalions for the Australian army and a multibillion dollar recruitment and retention package. In November 2007 Dr Nelson was elected leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, serving as Leader of the Opposition until September 2008. The following year he retired from federal politics before taking up his ambassadorial appointment.

In 1995 Dr Nelson was awarded the AMA’s highest honour, the Gold Medal for “Distinguished Service to Medicine and Humanity”. In recognition of his commitment to public health, he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, and in 2011 he received an Honorary Doctorate from Flinders University.

Dr Nelson is married and has three adult children; his interests include Australian military history, music, motorcycles, and tennis.