Roianne West

thumb|Picture of Roianne West in 2026 Roianne West is an Australian Indigenous health scholar, nurse academic, and leader. She is a Kalkadunga and Djukunde woman from Queensland. West is recognized as the first Aboriginal nurse to complete a PhD in Aboriginal nursing in Australia. She serves as the first Aboriginal Chairperson of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council (ANMAC). Quotes My career in health very much started at a grassroots level, with some strong Eldership and mentorship from the community and my mum. Interview with ''Australian Nursing & Midwifery Journal Nursing was not only an opportunity for a better life, it was a lifeline. Speakingon what Nursing means to her My commitment to increasing Indigenous people coming through nursing is me paying it forward because had that not happened, God knows where I would be. Her commitment A lot of my work in the very beginning was focused on curriculum development and design and building the capacity of non-Indigenous academics to better teach this type of content. Her focus from the start of her profession When you get cultural safety right, it actually works as a very good retention strategy for Indigenous students in health programs because it validates the reasons why they actually come into a program. how getting cultural safety right influences students' retention I’ve been very deliberate about that in my career; identifying what skills and qualifications I needed in order to be listened to and be able to have more impact for my people. Skills and qualifications identification We really need to start looking at dealing with racism within nursing and midwifery and within the care that we deliver. racism Undertaking a PhD is a privilege and an honour and doing it that way I did didn’t allow for me to appreciate that nor the learning that comes with a PhD. Interview with Pathways to Postgraduate Study for Indigenous Australian Students External links Category:Living people Category:Women academics from Australia Category:Nurses Category:Indigenous Australians