Professor Dawn Bessarab is the Director of the Centre for Aboriginal Medical and Dental Health at University of Western Australia and principle investigator on the Good Spirit Good Life Centre for Research Excellence in Indigenous Ageing. Professor Bessarab is a proud Bard/ Yindijibarndi woman with a social work background. She is a highly regarded and sought-after leader in Indigenous methodologies and participatory action research. Professor Bessarab developed the framework on clinical yarning as an Indigenous conversation which is now widely applied across the Australian and International communities.
She has championed Indigenous and non- Indigenous researchers to build their capacity to deliver high impact research. CI Bessarab is the current principal lead for the Good Spirit Good Life Centre for Excellence (CRE) in Indigenous wellbeing and Ageing and CIB on a CRE on Indigenous brain health and dementia.