Associate Professor Ted Wilkes is a Nyungar man from Western Australia.He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Social Science and his professional background includes working for the Western Australia  Museum, the Centre for Aboriginal Studies at Curtin University of Technology, and sixteen years as the Director of the Derbarl Yerrigan  Aboriginal Health Service in Perth. He is currently employed at the National Drug Research Institute at Curtin University where he is a leader of the Aboriginal Research Program and plays an active role in Aboriginal capacity building, and research and its application.