Dr Kim O’Donnell is a Malyangapa/Barkindji woman from far Western NSW, mother, aunty, and a naughty nanna to 3 beautiful grandchildren, a Senior Research Fellow and lead of an NHMRC funded project; Aboriginal Kidney Care Together, Improving Outcomes Now (AKction2), located at Adelaide University, on Kaurna Country, SA.
Kim has led an adventurous life, that began as a primary school teacher in the 1980s in NT, teaching English in Japan, owning and managing a small business in the early 1990s making bush bling jewellery (Namaku Bush Creations). Kim then went on to become a flight attendant based in Darwin, returned to university in 2002, to complete a Master of Primary Health Care, followed by a Doctor of Public Health at Flinders University. Kim has led national initiatives to grow Indigenous community researchers, contributed to major policy and community projects, and remains committed to decolonising the health care system, with a lifelong commitment to improve the health and wellbeing strengths of our people.