As the new chief executive of the Lowitja Institute, Australia's national Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research, Romlie Mokak says he's still brushing up on aspects of the Institute's inner workings and nutting out a strategic roadmap for the next five years. But his ambitions are large.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mokak, who was appointed by the institute on the back of a rigorous three month-long recruitment process, is keen to advance the organisation's goal of achieving equity in health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
It's been a rewarding experience so far, he says.
"In an organisation that values, as a core, the importance of Aboriginal people being at the forefront of the work is so fundamentally important," he says. "This isn't about things being done to or for Aboriginal people, but really being led by Aboriginal people." Mokak has a bachelor of social science and a postgraduate diploma in special education. He spent 15 years of his career in the public sector, working in community, state and national roles that focused on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues in disability, ageing, population health and substance abuse.
In 2005, he made the switch to the not-for-profit sector, becoming chief executive of the Australian Indigenous Doctors' Association (AIDA), advocating for better indigenous health outcomes and encouraging greater numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to have careers in medicine.
Mokak says his career highlights include developing a 2005 petrol-sniffing strategy that led to the introduction of Opal low aromatic fuel and drastically reduced incidences of petrol sniffing in targeted communities in remote Australia. In 2011, as the chief executive of the AIDA, he was a driving force behind the number of indigenous students in Australian medical schools rising to 2.5 per cent of total students, mirroring the general ratio of indigenous to non-indigenous population in Australia.
"We'll have a lot more Aboriginal doctors in this country in the future, making enormous contributions wherever they are," he says.
As a Djugun man from Western Australia, Mokak says his present career objective to continue creating a better future for indigenous Australians is a personal one. "This is the stuff that drives me," he says. "It's about building on the foundations of those who have come before and making that contribution. Our obligation as indigenous people is to make a contribution to an improved future for our children and our children's children. That's at a very personal level."
