Still a thing Conference 2026

Lineup

• More details about Dr. Ezequiel Antonio de Deus Gomes

  Dr. Ezequiel Antonio de Deus Gomes

  Dr. Ezequiel Gomes is a medical doctor and public health professional from Timor-Leste. He currently serves as Senior MERL Coordinator at Misaun Lepra Timor-Leste, where he leads monitoring, evaluation, reflection/research, learning, and strategic project implementation across leprosy programs. A member of the organisation's Senior Management Team, Dr. Gomes also represents Timor-Leste as the MEL Lead within The Leprosy Mission Global Fellowship. His work focuses on health systems strengthening, leprosy elimination, operational research, and the use of data to improve decision-making and community health outcomes. Dr. Gomes has collaborated extensively with the Ministry of Health Timor-Leste and international partners on research and program development. Several studies he co-led were selected for presentation at the 2025 International Leprosy Congress in Bali, Indonesia. He is passionate about developing effective health systems, empowering local leadership, and ensuring that vulnerable communities have access to quality healthcare services. Through his work, he seeks to contribute to a future free from leprosy and its associated stigma. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with his family, mentoring young professionals, and occasionally playing piano at church

• More details about Santosh Nepali

  Santosh Nepali

  Santosh Nepali is the Nepal Programs Manager at International Nepal Fellowship Australia, a Christian organisation that has served communities in Nepal for over 70 years. In his current role, he provides leadership in the design, oversight, and performance of community health and development programs. He works closely with local partners to ensure projects are delivered effectively, achieve intended outcomes, and meet compliance requirements, including DFAT’s Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP). He also leads program planning, budgeting, reporting, and partner agreements, and serves as a key liaison with stakeholders and DFAT. Since joining INF Australia in 2021, Santosh has progressed through several roles, contributing to strengthened program quality, accountability, and cross-cultural collaboration. He brings prior experience in humanitarian and disaster response with Baptist Global Response. Grounded in his Christian faith, Santosh is committed to holistic, values-driven development and to empowering local partners to deliver sustainable change in their communities.

• More details about Nicole Bishop

  Nicole Bishop

  Nicole is a public health practitioner with over 20 years of experience in project management and behaviour change across the Asia-Pacific. She has led campaigns and programs with local, international and intergovernmental organisations, and currently works with community health and disability initiatives in India. A passionate linguist, Nicole lives in the bush of north-west Victoria, where she and her family use just two of those languages in their off-grid home.

• More details about Om Satija

  Om Satija

  Om Satija is a 23-year-old Melbourne-based physiotherapy student, ultra-runner and musician who became the youngest person to run the length of India — 5,035km from Kanyakumari to Kashmir in 111 days, averaging 50km a day through six weeks of 40°C+ heat. Born in Australia to Indian parents, the run was also a way of reconnecting with his roots. Every kilometre raised funds for Udayan Kolkata, supporting children from leprosy-affected communities — inspired by a memory of encountering leprosy at age 10 in Rishikesh. Anchored by a philosophy of "radical acceptance," Om hopes people remember the courage and compassion behind the run, not just the distance.

• More details about Rev Dr Canon Brian Rosner

  Rev Dr Canon Brian Rosner

  Rev Dr Canon Brian Rosner is a New Testament scholar of international reputation and the former Principal of Ridley College (2012-24). Brian grew up in southwest Sydney and spent 16 years studying and working overseas before returning to Australia in 2000. He has worked as an electrician’s off-sider, a public servant, a school teacher, and a university and theological college lecturer. His ministry experience has ranged from student work and the local church to theological education, a field in which he has been serving for most of the last twenty years. Brian’s father was an Austrian Jew who became a Christian while living with his parents as a refugee in Shanghai. Brian was raised in a Christian family, but it wasn’t until his university years that the Lord took hold of his life, and his faith and trust in Christ crucified and risen took root. He is also passionate about promoting the gospel in the public sphere and is a fellow of The Centre for Public Christianity. In recent years his articles have appeared in The Age and The Australian and he has been interviewed on Compass and The Spirit of Things. Brian’s many publications cover a range of subjects across fields of biblical ethics, theological anthropology, and New Testament commentaries. He has recently co-authored a study for The Leprosy Mission Australia on understanding the poor, outcast and stigmatised in Scripture.

• More details about Gillian Whitely

  Gillian Whitely

  Gillian is Executive Director of The Leprosy Mission New Zealand, where she has served for 19 years. She leads an organisation delivering health, disability inclusion and community development programmes across leprosy-endemic countries in the Asia-Pacific region, while also overseeing fundraising and supporter engagement that enables this work. Passionate about locally led development, Gillian is committed to strengthening partnerships that build sustainable, long-term impact and empower local organisations to lead change. She believes effective fundraising is about connecting supporters with authentic stories of transformation and demonstrating the lasting impact of their generosity. Gillian also contributes through governance roles, serving on the Board of the Emergency Alliance, as Secretary of a newly chartered Rotary Club, and on the Governance Committee of a budgeting association.

• More details about Joel Fernandes

  Joel Fernandes

  Joel works as a ‘Game Changer’ for Sporting Wheelies in Southeast Queensland and at an inclusive café in Brisbane. Joel grew up in Timor Leste and acquired a spinal cord injury during the 2006 civil crisis. He was unable to access rehabilitation services or a wheelchair for two years. Joel then worked with The Leprosy Mission Timor Leste, and Ra’es Hadomi Timor Oan (the national Organisation of Persons with Disability in Timor Leste). Joel has been involved in advocacy and promoting inclusion in Timor’s electoral process; water and sanitation infrastructure and helping people with disabilities access sporting opportunities. Joel has previously worked for Spinal Life and regularly maps accessibility infrastructure for councils, as well as providing peer support. Joel currently serves on Virgin Australia’s Accessibility Advisory Panel and spends all his free time playing wheelchair sports (AFL, Basketball, Pickleball).