Our Australia Day ambassador

Narrabri Shire Council has announced that the shire’s Australia Day ambassador is Mr Clyde Campbell AM, founder of the Shake It Up Foundation.

Shake It Up Australia Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation established in 2011 and in partnership with The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research promotes and funds Parkinson’s disease research in Australia aimed at better treatments and ultimately a cure.

Mr Campbell will attend events in Wee Waa, Narrabri, and Boggabri.

He has been an Australia Day ambassador since 2011.

Each year, the Australia Day ambassador program sees more than 150 inspirational Australians speaking about what it means to be Australian at events across NSW.

Drawn from diverse fields such as the arts, sport, science, business, government and entertainment, they can be of any age but they all share the common traits of achievement through hard work, talent and a strong sense of patriotism.

Clyde Campbell started out as an industrial electronics apprentice in country NSW.

Today he runs his own company, Machinery Automation and Robotics.

Mr Campbell’s team of 70 staff services leading Australian and international clients from offices in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.

His vision to provide the latest world-leading technology and turnkey automation and robotics solutions to industrial clients looking for a competitive technology edge was the driving force behind his rapid progression from apprentice to CEO.

Mr Campbell is described as a man who likes to ‘get things done’.

He lives with his wife and three children in Sydney.

At age 44 he was diagnosed in 2009, after noticing a tremor in his left hand holding notes when presenting at a company meeting.

The question he asks himself is one that more than 100,000 Australians with Parkinson’s have no doubt asked: “Why me?”

After coming to terms with his prognosis, Mr Campbell set out to learn as much as possible about Parkinson’s and what was being done worldwide to find a cure.

He has an entrepreneurial spirit and a vision for the future.

He decided not to sit back and wait for the rest of the world to find a cure but to join the action.

Following his diagnosis, Mr Campbell set out to learn as much as he could about Parkinson’s to determine what he could do in a practical sense to assist.

His search led him to the Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) for Parkinson’s Research in the United States and the remarkable work they do to fund medical research around the world targeted at finding better treatments on the path to finding a cure for Parkinson’s.

The approach MJFF take to assessing, funding and project managing world’s best research all over the globe eliminates redundancy, ensures efficiency and unites the global community in the quest to find a cure.

Mr Campbell realised that funding Parkinson’s research in partnership with MJFF was the best thing that he could do to help himself, his family and more than 200,000 Australians living with the disease.

With that clear in his mind he founded Shake It Up Australia Foundation to give other Australians the opportunity to join his quest, launched Shake it up Australia Foundation and partnered with The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, to increase awareness in Australia and increase funding towards finding a cure.

Mr Campbell was made a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia (General Division) ‘in recognition of his significant service to community health, particularly to people living with Parkinson’s disease.’

A driving force behind the establishment of the Australian Parkinson’s Mission, he understands the importance of international collaboration in accelerating our understanding of Parkinson’s.

“Decades of research focused on unravelling the Parkinson’s puzzle is now paying off as we see the science progress at a more rapid pace,”Mr Campbell responded in accepting his AM.

“Whilst the Parkinson’s new drug pipeline is more active than it has been previously, much work remains to be done in the quest to understand better the connection between Parkinson’s pathology and the daily lived experience of the disease — and to translate this understanding into new therapies.”

Australia has some of the world’s leading scientists specialising in Parkinson’s.

What Australia needs now is financial assistance to get its research up and running.

Support, funding and people like Mr Campbell are what will make the difference.