Community
13 November, 2025
Home sweet home for Professor of Nursing and Midwifery
Professor Roianne West is returning to her Country to lead the way for the future generation of health practitioners.
James Cook University has welcomed home one of Australia’s leading First Nations nursing and midwifery advocates, marking a major step forward in its mission to grow an Indigenous health workforce across North Queensland.
Professor Roianne West, a Kalkadunga and Djunke woman, has joined JCU as Professor of Nursing and Midwifery.
Her appointment represents a return to where her journey began – and a continuation of a lifelong commitment to building a strong, sovereign and self-determined First Nations nursing and midwifery workforce grounded in community, culture and Country.
“Coming home to teach and lead from my own Country is deeply significant,” Professor West said.
“This is where my family, my ancestors, and my community are. My work has always been about ensuring that our people – and all who work with us – can do so in ways that are culturally safe, respectful, and guided by First Nations knowledges.”
Professor West graduated with a Bachelor of Nursing on Country at Mount Isa 25 years ago, alongside her brother and sister, and comes from a long line of healers.
Her mother worked as an Aboriginal Health Worker for more than four decades and was the first Aboriginal Health Worker in Queensland to be registered as a health practitioner.
Her father’s three sisters were hospital-trained nurses, and her mother’s eldest sister was among Mount Isa Base Hospital’s first Aboriginal graduates in 1965.
After completing her PhD at JCU in 2012, Professor West developed a model of excellence to strengthen the Aboriginal nursing workforce nationally.
Her research identified that increasing the number of Aboriginal nursing academics was critical to improving Aboriginal student completion and success rates – a principle that continues to underpin her leadership today.
“In previous roles, I’ve theorised, politicised, intellectualised – but this is about coming home to do the real work on the ground,” she said.
“My focus is on strengthening pathways for First Nations nurses and midwives, supporting our students to succeed, and embedding cultural safety and accountability across nursing and midwifery education.”
Her family’s legacy continues through her twin daughters – one a JCU Bachelor of Nursing graduate and the other a first-year Midwifery student at the Australian Catholic University and cadet with the North West Hospital and Health Service.
Together, they represent the next generation of First Nations women carrying forward their family’s proud tradition of care and leadership in health.
Professor West is Queensland’s first Aboriginal Professor of Nursing and currently serves as chairperson of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council (ANMAC), helping to ensure cultural safety remains embedded as a core professional standard.
Alongside her teaching responsibilities, she is leading a review of JCU’s Bachelor of Nursing and new Bachelor of Midwifery programs.
Professor Pauline Calleja, Dean of the College of Healthcare Sciences, said Professor West’s return symbolised both a homecoming and a reaffirmation of JCU’s commitment to working alongside First Nations leaders and communities.
“Professor West’s work is guided by deep respect for Country, community, and the next generation of First Nations nurses and midwives,” she said.
“Her leadership and scholarship are transforming how cultural safety is lived, taught, and sustained across the country and now within our University and across the nursing and midwifery education and health systems.”