Dr Nancy Stout

Dr Nancy Stout is the Director of the Division of Safety Research, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. She joined NIOSH in 1985 and has held various scientific and managerial positions with the NIOSH Division of Safety Research, primarily conducting and directing surveillance and epidemiologic research of occupational injuries. She became Director of the division in 1998. She has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in sociology and a doctorate in quantitative methods from West Virginia University, where she was also on the research faculty before joining NIOSH. She has published extensively on occupational injury research and prevention.

Mr Bruce Esplin

Bruce Esplin has more than twenty years experience in the emergency management sector. He was appointed Victoria’s first Emergency Services Commissioner in June 2000. The commissioner provides a conjugate for communities to contribute to the planning and policy of the way emergencies are managed.

Bruce is an advocate for an inclusive approach to emergency management and encourages continuous dialogue between community, government departments, agencies and organisations to lead the way in sector standards. Bruce has played a central role in the whole of government response to many major emergencies in Victoria including bushfires, gas explosions, extreme storms and floods, and critical infrastructure failure. He has conducted a number of independent, highly sensitive inquiries into the activities of government agencies and the appropriateness of the State’s emergency management arrangements.

Her Honour Judge Jennifer Coate

Her Honour initially worked for four years as a teacher in Victoria’s primary schools and also completed an Arts degree at Monash University majoring in Linguistics and English Literature. After teaching and travelling theworld, she returned to complete a Law Degree at Monash University.

After completing her Articles, Her Honour worked as an employee solicitor and later entered a partnership practising in Fitzroy and East Melbourne in family law, criminal law, crimes compensation and Children’s Court work. She then worked as a duty lawyer for the Legal Aid Commission, then in Policy and Research in the Attorney-General’s Department and was appointed as a Magistrate in March 1992.

In 2000, Her Honour was appointed as a judge of the County Court and the first President of the Children’s Court of Victoria. Her Honour commenced sitting at the County Court on a full time basis in April 2006 and was appointed as the State Coroner on November 2007.

Professor Stephen Cordner

Stephen Cordner graduated in Medicine from The University of Melbourne in 1977. In 1981 he took up an appointment as Lecturer, and later Senior Lecturer, in Forensic Medicine at Guy’s Hospital in London. During this period he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia and gained his membership of the Royal College of Pathologists of Great Britain.

Stephen was appointed Foundation Professor of Forensic Medicine at Monash University and Foundation Director of the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine in 1987. In more recent years, Stephen has developed his interest in the intersection of Forensic Medicine and Human Rights. He has been delighted that in recent years the Institute and the Victorian State Coroners Office have been able to help identify and clarify opportunities for death and injury prevention.

Professor Cordner was recently awarded Member (AM) of the Order of Australia for service to forensic medicine, particularly as a contributor to the development of forensic pathology in Australia and internationally.