You are invited to the very first, annual SEQ Herbs Christmas Event! Our presentation for the evening will be by the esteemed Associate Professor Jon Wardle on the challenges and opportunities facing Natural Medicine with Private Health Insurance.

TOPICS THE TALK WILL FOCUS ON:
- What is the political climate for naturopathy in Australia and globally? What are the challenges and what are the opportunities?
- How does the profession rise to political challenges such as the recent private health insurance reforms? What can the profession do to counter such developments?
- How does the topic of registration fit into these issues? Is registration likely to occur for the profession? What would it mean for the profession if it did or didn’t happen?
- How can the profession become more politically involved and politically influential? What are the practical steps for associations and practitioners?

Jon is in a unique position to speak on the topic, as he is a core committee member of the Public Health Association of Australia's Research Advisory Group, convenor of its Evidence, Research and Policy in Complementary Medicine Special Interest Group and Policy Committee member for the Integrative and Complementary Health Practices section of the American Public Health Association. Jon has taken an active role in professional development and formation within the integrative medicine professions.

Jon has worked on primary care, research and complementary medicine issues with government and non-government organizations on four continents, including major projects in Brazil, Germany, Hong Kong, Nicaragua, the United Kingdom, the United States and Zambia. As Jon serves as editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed journal Advances in Integrative Medicine, and serves on the editorial boards of a further eight Medline-listed journals. Jon has more than 120 published peer-reviewed journal articles, more than 20 book chapters and has published 4 scholarly books. Jon is also co-editor of Clinical Naturopathy, the first comprehensive textbook on naturopathic medicine now in its 3rd edition, translated into 3 languages, and used as a core text in over 12 countries. Currently Jon supervises research projects and doctoral students in Africa, Asia and the USA, as well as Australia.