Prof Calma is an Aboriginal elder from the Kungarakan tribal group and a member of the Iwaidja tribal group whose traditional lands are south west of Darwin and on the Coburg Peninsula in the Northern Territory of Australia, respectively. He has been involved in Indigenous affairs at a local, community, state, national and international level and worked in the public sector for over 40 years. Prof Calma is currently on a number of boards and committees focusing on rural and remote Australia, health, mental health, suicide prevention, education, justice reinvestment, research, reconciliation and economic development. He is an Ambassador for Suicide Prevention Australia, Co-Chair of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Advisory Group, a member of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Leadership in Mental Health Group, Senior Consultant National Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention and Patron of the National Indigenous Suicide Prevention Conference 2018 and World Indigenous Suicide Prevention Conference 2018. Prof Calma was appointed National Coordinator Tackling Indigenous Smoking in March 2010 to lead the fight against tobacco use in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Prof Calma was appointed a Professor at the University of Sydney Medical School from 1 January 2015 to perform the role of Chair and Patron of the Poche Indigenous Health Network.