The Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh Memorial Lecture

Join us for an evening with courageous healthcare workers, brave voices, and people standing up against oppression.

Professor Peter Macdonald is a world-renowned cardiologist. In September 2025, he was suspended from St Vincents hospital at the urging of the Israel lobby, after asking a question about the national intelligence agency of the State of Israel. In July 2026, his lecture at the University of Melbourne was cancelled due to complaints from the Israel lobby. Hundreds of health professionals were denied an opportunity to learn from him.

We don’t require cowardly institutions to platform brave voices. Instead, Prof. Mac has been invited to deliver the inaugural Dr Adnan Al-Bursh Memorial Lecture. Join us to learn about his extraordinary work with Indigenous communities, alongside his groundbreaking work in heart transplantation and the developments that have shaped this field.

The lecture will be followed by a panel discussion about healthcare workers who have the courage to stand up against systems of oppression and the importance of speaking out when it matters most. Our panel will be chaired by Alice Eggleston and the panellists are: Dr. Ruth Mitchell, Dr. Sarah Abdo and Nick Hanna.

The Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh Memorial Lecture is intended to celebrate those who use their knowledge, expertise and position to advocate for human dignity, justice and freedom.

All proceeds from the evening will be donated to:
* Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF)
* the Civil Liberties Defence Centre (founded by Nick Hanna)
* Condoblin Aboriginal Health Service

We've set the pricing modestly to make the event accessible so if you are able to donate to these wonderful organisations, please do.

Come along, hear some brave voices, meet others who believe.

Speakers Biographies
Professor Peter Macdonald AM is a world-renowned senior cardiologist specialising in heart transplants.
Professor Macdonald and his team pioneered a new method of heart transplantation that allows donor hearts that have stopped beating to be reactivated in a machine for up to 12 hours before transplant. Professor Macdonald is currently working on groundbreaking new research, to preserve tissue following heart attacks and strokes. For the past 20 years, Professor Macdonald has been going to Condoblin to volunteer at the Aboriginal Medical Centre, providing medical services to the local Aboriginal community.

Dr. Ruth Mitchell is a neurosurgeon, passionate medical educator, and fierce advocate for global access to safe surgery, peace, security and equity. She chairs the board of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, and has provided leadership to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (Nobel Peace Prize 2017) since its inception in 2007. She served on a medical mission to Gaza earlier this year with the Palestinian Australian New Zealand Medical Association (PANZMA).

Nick Hanna is the principal of Hanna Legal and a co-founder of the Civil Liberties Defence Centre, a community legal service founded in response to the unprecedented crackdown on political expression during the Gaza genocide. Since October 2023, he has acted in numerous high-profile cases for Palestine defenders, including healthcare workers.
Aside from the law, Nick hosts The What & The Why, an investigative journalism project exposing the role of the israel lobby in undermining democratic rights in Australia, and he wrote and directed The Last Sky, a bold documentary about israel’s attacks on Gaza and Lebanon and the people fighting back, previously screened by TPAN.

Dr Sarah Abdo is an endocrinologist and Head of Department with extensive experience caring for vulnerable and diverse communities. Her work as a physician is grounded in advocacy, with a strong commitment to health equity, human rights and equitable access to healthcare for all communities.

Alice Eggleston is a  long term union organiser, branch presdent and workplace delegate for NSW Nurses and Midwives Association. She is currently campainging against AHPRA's adoption of the IHRA definiton of antisemitism.

Civil Liberties Defence Centre:
CLDC is a community legal service dedicated to promoting and protecting Civil and Political Rights, especially freedom of expression.
It was founded in 2026 in response to community concern about the unprecedented curtailing of the civil liberties of people expressing support for human rights in the Middle East.
CLDC was established to address a critical gap in the legal system by:
providing services to people facing legal issues related to Civil and Political Rights who experience barriers in accessing the legal system or where such services are in the public interest, and advocating for the protection and promotion of Civil and Political Rights in Australia.