2010 Australian of the Year Professor Patrick McGorry AO will deliver the Violet Marshman oration at the Mackay Lecture Theatre on Wednesday, November 20.

Violet Vines Marshman was born in western Victoria, and trained as a nurse before dedicating much of her life to the health and improved wellbeing of regional and rural Australians.

In 2004, together with her three sons, she established the VV Marshman Charitable Trust, a $3 million investment in the Violet Vines Marshman Rural Health Initiative at La Trobe University.

She passed away in 2014, but her legacy lives on through the Trust and ll its endeavours.

Professor McGorry is the executive director of Orygen, Professor of Youth Mental Health at the University of Melbourne, and a founding director of the National Youth Mental Health Foundation (headspace).

He is also a world-leading researcher in the area of early psychosis and youth mental health, and has been directly involved in research and clinical care for homeless people, refugees and asylum seekers.

Professor McGorry was a key architect of the headspace model and has been successful in pushing for its national expansion. He backed the establishment of a national early psychosis program based on the Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centre model, and advises on early intervention and youth mental health policy.

Professor McGorry serves as editor-in-chief of Early Intervention in Psychiatry.

He is also a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Science, president of the International Association of Youth Mental Health and past President of the Society for Mental Health Research (2013-2017) and the Schizophrenia International Research Society (2016-2018).

Professor McGorry' will deliver the Violet Marshman Oration from 6:00pm on Wednesday, November 20. The event is free, with registration at www.eventbrite.com.au