Dr Balaji Motamarri is a qualified psychiatrist from one of the premier institutes of India and moved to Australia in 1998. He has more than 15 years’ experience in Psychiatry since completing his postgraduate qualifications.

Dr Motamarri acquired his fellowship of RANZCP in 2003 and since has held senior clinical and managerial positions both in Adelaide and in Queensland.

Dr Motamarri has a keen interest in teaching and holds a clinical title of Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland and University of Adelaide, Australia. He is also an accredited examiner for the college. Dr Motamarri has been involved in development and improvement of district wide mental health services and services as an administrator within hospitals in Adelaide and Queensland. He is keen about research activities and has been involved in various research projects resulting in publications in peer reviewed journals.

Mr Geoff Lau has worked extensively in adult mental health as an occupational therapist, clinical supervisor and manager since 1992; across acute to tertiary, inpatient and community-based services in Queensland and overseas. His core training in occupational therapy at The University of Queensland, combined with post graduate training in social science at the Queensland University of Technology, guided his clinical practice towards evidence-informed assessment and intervention. In 2006, Mr Lau was appointed the Acting Director of a large tertiary Occupational Therapy Department at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, in Brisbane.

In 2010, Mr Lau was appointed the Director of Therapies and Allied Health, MSAMHS.  As a member of the Executive, this role leads allied health and other addiction and mental health professionals in the creation of contemporary clinical practice, whilst strengthening partnerships with Metro South Allied Health, consumer and carer networks, universities and primary health agencies.

Mr Lau graduated from the Australian Mental Health Leadership Program, The University of Melbourne in 2011.  He has fulfilled roles such as President of OT Australia Queensland, the Mental Health Australia delegate for Occupational Therapy Australia and a panel advisor for the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency.  He is completing PhD studies at The University of Queensland, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.  His research thesis is a mixed methods evaluation of the implementation of the Therapy Capability and Practice Framework, and its impact on the provision of psychosocial therapy in a large public mental health service.

Ms Liz Powell's career in mental health nursing spans 30 years with experience in clinical practice, clinical and operational management, and state and national policy.

She is a Registered Nurse with postgraduate qualifications in Advanced Psychiatric Nursing and Health Administration.

Ms Powell led a number of significant change initiatives through the reform of Mental Health Services in Victoria.

She then became the Executive Director of the Gold Coast Mental Health, Alcohol and Other Drug Service for four years.

Ms Powell then took on a role in the Mental Health Alchol and Other Drugs Directorate, overseeing the agenda of strategic policy and relationships.

Prior to coming to Metro South Addiction and Mental Health Services, Ms Powell led the successful establishment of the first Queensland Mental Health Commission, an independent statutory body to drive mental health reform and innovation.

Dr David Lie has been the Director of the Older Persons Mental Health Service at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane since 2001. 

Following general practice and specialist training, he set up the first public geriatric psychiatry service on the Gold Coast in 1999 and has had a role in developing psychogeriatric services elsewhere in Queensland.

His special interests include mental health services in residential aged care, dementia care, telehealth, electroconvulsive therapy and service development.  He received a Queensland Health Mental Health Week Award in 2011.

Dr Faizal has worked as a Consultant Psychiatrist in the UK for about eight years following the completion of his psychiatric training there. He is dually qualified with certificates of specialist training in General Adult and Substance Misuse Psychiatry.

He has completed an MBA (Health Executive) from Keele University (UK) and worked as a Clinical Director leading a large addiction service in Merseyside (UK) for nearly six years prior to taking up his current role in the RAS ACU which he commences in early 2015.

Dr Faizal has worked and developed services in a range a clinical settings such as community, inpatients, prison mental health and community criminal justice systems. He has a keen interest in service transformation with a key focus on quality, safety, consumer experience and outcomes. In his practice Dr Faizal promotes a recovery-based approach to providing care for consumers and has a keen interest in developing recovery oriented service provisions. 

Dr Faizal has published in high-impact journals and authored Cochrane reviews. He was appointed to the MRCPsych board of examiners for MRCPsych Clinical Assessment of Skills and Competencies (CASC) examinations in 2011 and served as a speciality regional representative (Merseyside) for the Addictions Faculty in The Royal College of Psychiatrists for 6 years. He has won clinical excellence awards for leading and managing services during his tenure as a Clinical Director in the UK. 

Ms Prasad-Ildes has led the Queensland Transcultural Mental Health Centre since 2001.

With qualifications in social work, health program evaluation and management, she has worked for the past 30 years in the multicultural sector particularly in the areas of women’s health, refugee health and mental health.

Ms Prasad-Ildes is a founding member of several key Queensland multicultural sector organisations and has led a number of organisations in immigrant and refugee settlement.

She also freelanced for several years in the area of cross cultural health and human service program development and evaluation.

Ms Prasad-Ildes’ key area of interest include addressing the health system as a key determinant of health and  mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention and she has delivered a number of invited conference key notes on this topic area.

Ms Prasad-Ildes is a founder and current director of World Wellness Group, a social enterprise multicultural health clinic dedicated to reducing health inequity for marginalised migrants, refugees and people seeking asylum.