Conor Gilligan is Chair of Assessment in the Joint Medical Program at the University of Newcastle and the Australian representative for the International Association for Communication in Healthcare (EACH). Conor has a passion for teaching health professional students and practitioners the skills of effective, patient-centred communication, and a keen interest in researching healthcare communication and approaches to assessing and evaluating effective communication. Conor is bringing these areas of interest and expertise together in the Academic Partnership between Ottawa and EACH, with opportunities to explore the assessment of communication skills across the spectrum of health professions education.