2026 David Maddison Memorial Lecture

We warmly invite you to celebrate David Maddison's legacy with an inspiring in-person lecture!

The event will be held in Industry Engagement Space located on the Ground Level of the University of Newcastle's Central Coast campus - Gosford Central.

Doors open at 5:30pm for networking and canapes followed by the lecture at 6pm.

Click here to register

'The Unfinished Revolution: Systems Thinking and the Soul of Medicine'

The David Maddison Memorial Lecture returns in 2026 to commemorate the contributions to medical education made by Professor David Maddison. Join us for this special lecture, as keynote speaker Conjoint Professor Joachim Sturmberg discusses 'The Unfinished Revolution: Systems Thinking and the Soul of Medicine'.

This year’s lecture will provide a thought-provoking exploration of how systems thinking can reshape the future of healthcare. Drawing on decades of clinical practice and pioneering research, this talk examines the complexity of health, the importance of genuine doctor–patient partnerships, and the urgent need to redesign health systems to be more person-centred, equitable, and sustainable.

Conjoint Professor Joachim Sturmberg, University of Newcastle

After more than thirty years in active family practice at Wamberal Surgery on the NSW Central Coast, Joachim has retired from general practice while continuing to provide care for nursing home patients, maintaining the commitment to continuity of care that first animated his research three decades ago. He is Foundation President of the International Society for Systems and Complexity Sciences for Health (ISSCSH), and co-editor-in-chief of the Forum on Systems and Complexity in Medicine and Healthcare in the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice. He remains actively involved in the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and co-leads special interest groups in complexity in both WONCA and NAPCRG.

His research has been foundational in establishing systems and complexity sciences as a rigorous framework for understanding health, healthcare delivery, and health system design. He is the co-editor of the Handbook of Systems and Complexity in Health and author of Health System Redesign: How to Make Health Care Person-Centered, Equitable, and Sustainable. Recent work spans the interconnected physiological dimensions of multimorbidity, the philosophy of causation in clinical medicine, the conditions for genuine physician–patient partnership, and the application of systems thinking to pandemic preparedness and long-term care policy. He has been invited to speak on these themes across Europe, Asia, and North America, and has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals and contributed numerous book chapters to the field.

The David Maddison Lecture

The biennial David Maddison Memorial Lecture commemorates the contributions to medical education made by Professor David Maddison, the Foundation Dean of Medicine of the Newcastle Medical School. Professor Maddison was a remarkable person. He had the vision for a new and radically different approach to medical education and the leadership skills to achieve that vision.

Professor Maddison felt that students should see each patient as a person, that undergraduate education should embrace community health issues rather than concentrate on hospital medicine, and that students should be encouraged to solve problems, develop good communication skills and to take responsibility for their further education.

He served on the boards of the three major hospitals in the Newcastle area, maintaining an intense interest and input into the more academic aspects of his own specialty of psychiatry. He published extensively and took great interest in the College of Psychiatrists. He was a concert pianist and maintained strong support for the arts and the media. His priorities were the ethics of medicine that respected the personhood of every patient, and the principles of humane, effective medical education liberated from time-worn traditions and the punitive tutorial style.

In 1984, a major appeal set up the David Maddison project. Its aim was to promote the exploration of the broad role of medicine with which he was particularly concerned, including ethical aspects of clinical and population practice and the law.

In 1986, the Faculty Board approved the establishment of the David Maddison Memorial Lecture. A generous donation from the Newcastle Herald, of whose board Professor Maddison was once Chairman, enabled us to launch the series.

The inaugural lecture on 12 October 1987 was titled Health for All or Some – Who Cares? It was delivered by Professor Stephen Leeder, previously Foundation Professor of Community Medicine at the University.

Event details

Date: Wednesday 5  August

Time: 5:30pm to 7:30pm

Location: Industry Engagement Space, University of Newcastle Central Coast Campus - Gosford Central, 299 Mann St, Gosford NSW.

Parking: The venue is a short walk from Gosford train station and a 10 minute walk from Gosford Hospital. If you plan to drive, bear in mind that there are limited public parking spaces available.

The University of Newcastle is committed to a sustainable transport strategy, which promotes active and public transport.

Register: https://davidmaddison2026.eventbrite.com.au

Online option:

A livestream link is available for those unable to make it to the event in person: https://play.streamshark.io/r/ne/csmdmvyyw/university-of-newcastle-2026-david-maddison-pju131

For those tuning in online, proceedings will commence at 6pm.