Roianne West

Academic career

West's early clinical and policy career included serving as an Indigenous Health Liaison Officer and later as a Clinical Nurse specializing in Indigenous Mental Health for Queensland Health between 2000 and 2004. She entered academia in 2005 as a lecturer for the Indigenous Health Unit in James Cook University's Faculty of Medicine. Her career includes serving as the inaugural Nursing Director of Indigenous Health at the Townsville Hospital and Health Service, making her the first Indigenous nurse to hold such a position in a Queensland tertiary hospital.

In 2014, West moved into academic leadership through a joint appointment between the Townsville Hospital and Health Service and Griffith University, marking the first time a joint Hospital/Health Service and University appointment was established for a Professor of Nursing for Indigenous Health in Australia. In 2015, she became the Foundation Professor of First Peoples Health at Griffith University's School of Nursing and Midwifery and then the faculty. During this time, she initiated the development of the university's First Peoples Health Unit, and going to become the first Dean of First Peoples Health at a Queensland university and among the first in Australia. Throughout her career, she became the first Aboriginal Professor of Nursing in Queensland and one of the first in Australia, holding the distinction of being the first Aboriginal Professor of Nursing appointed at Griffith University, the University of Sydney, and James Cook University.

West was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives (CATSINaM) in 2020, becoming the first CEO of the organization to hold both a PhD and the rank of full Professor. During her tenure, she spearheaded the GENKE II educational reform initiative, established the Muliyan Indigenist Health and Cultural Safety Education Research Consortium, and directed the "In Our Own Right: Black Australian Nurses and Midwives Stories II" national exhibition. She also designed Murra Mullangari, an e-learning program focused on cultural safety and humility endorsed by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA), and played a leading role in advocating for a National Apology from the nursing and midwifery professions to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. West serves as the Chairperson of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council (ANMAC), becoming the first Aboriginal person to hold the role.