Biography and expertise
Biography
Dr Alana Gall is a Truwulway and Litamirimina woman from the east/north-east coast of Lutruwita (Tasmania, Australia). Dr Gall is passionate about Indigenous Peoples' holistic health and wellbeing, globally. She believes that the wellbeing and identity of Indigenous Peoples are strongly centred around strong connections to Country/land, culture, spirituality and each other.
Dr Gall is a Senior Lecturer in Indigenous Traditional Medicine, at the National Centre for Naturopathic Medicine, a NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow (2026-2030), and an Honorary Research Fellow at both the University of Queensland and Menzies School of Health Research.
Dr Gall is a member of SCU's Research Clusters:
- Harvest to Health
Dr Gall's work contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals
Research
At Southern Cross University, Dr Gall leads a research program called Tunapri Ngini, Tunapri Rrala (Old Knowledge, Strong Knowledge), a program that centres around protecting and preserving Indigenous Traditional Medicines for future generations and improving accessibility for all Indigenous communities across Australia.
Dr Gall has over a decade of experience in research, health education, and community engagement, with a background in Nutritional Medicine. Her expertise includes First Peoples’ health, Indigenous Traditional Medicines, co-design methodologies, and PROMs/PREMs development. She pioneered the ‘think-aloud yarn’ method and co-developed the Key Principles to Co-Design with First Nations Peoples, which informed Cancer Australia's Australian Cancer Plan and the Our Mob Our Cancer website.
Links
Honours
Organisational affiliations
Highlights - Output
Magazine article
Published 03/06/2024
The Conversation
Last week, at a conference in Geneva, the member states of the World Intellectual Property Organisation agreed on a new treaty aimed at preventing the for-profit piracy of traditional knowledge.
So-called “biopiracy”, in which companies lift ideas from traditional knowledge and patent them, is a significant problem. In one case a US company patented derivatives of the neem tree as pesticides, when the plant’s properties were already well known to local communities in India. There have also been attempts to patent traditionally cultivated plant varieties, such as basmati rice and jasmine rice.
The main purpose of the new Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge is to ensure patent applications disclose any involvement of traditional knowledge.
At last week’s conference, we contributed advice on the treaty text to the Indigenous Caucus, member states and advisors, and gave presentations at side events. The final text of the treaty, while it does contain some compromises, is an important step for protection of traditional knowledge after 24 years of deliberation.
Blog
Published 06/09/2023
Croakey Health Media
Amid a global focus on the importance of traditional medicines, stronger protections are needed for Indigenous Knowledges in Australia, according to Dr Alana Gall, a Pakana woman who was recently elected Vice-President, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, of the Public Health Association of Australia.
Journal article
Published 22/12/2022
International journal of environmental research and public health, 20, 1, 1 - 19
Background: While co-design offers potential for equitably engaging First Nations Australians in findings solutions to redressing prevailing disparities, appropriate applications of co-design must align with First Nations Australians’ culture, values, and worldviews. To achieve this, robust, culturally grounded, and First Nations-determined principles and practices to guide co-design approaches are required. Aims: This project aimed to develop a set of key principles and best practices for co-design in health with First Nations Australians. Methods: A First Nations Australian co-led team conducted a series of Online Yarning Circles (OYC) and individual Yarns with key stakeholders to guide development of key principles and best practice approaches for co-design with First Nations Australians. The Yarns were informed by the findings of a recently conducted comprehensive review, and a Collaborative Yarning Methodology was used to iteratively develop the principles and practices. Results: A total of 25 stakeholders participated in the Yarns, with 72% identifying as First Nations Australian. Analysis led to a set of six key principles and twenty-seven associated best practices for co-design in health with First Nations Australians. The principles were: First Nations leadership; Culturally grounded approach; Respect; Benefit to community; Inclusive partnerships; and Transparency and evaluation. Conclusions: Together, these principles and practices provide a valuable starting point for the future development of guidelines, toolkits, reporting standards, and evaluation criteria to guide applications of co-design with First Nations Australians.