Members of Council 2018–2021 triennium

Chairperson

Professor Bruce Robinson is an endocrinologist. He was appointed as Chair of the Council of NHMRC in 2015 and is also Chair of the Australian Government's Taskforce of expert clinicians charged with reviewing the Medicare Benefits Schedule.

Professor Robinson's research has focused on identifying genetic changes, which either predispose or directly cause endocrine tumours. Other career highlights include the formation of an international consortium of families from around the world to study medullary thyroid carcinoma and phaeochromocytoma.

He has been Head of the Cancer Genetics Unit at the Kolling Institute of Medical Research, Royal North Shore Hospital, since 1989, where he continues to practice. Professor Robinson was the Dean of Sydney Medical School from 2007 until 2016. Since 2001, he has been Chairman of Hoc Mai Foundation, a major program in medical and health education and exchange with Vietnam.

Professor Robinson has supervised 37 PhD students and has more than 300 research publications.

Chair – Health Translation Advisory Committee

Professor Sharon Lewin is the inaugural director of the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, a joint venture between the University of Melbourne and Royal Melbourne Hospital; consultant infectious diseases physician, Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Australia; and an NHMRC Practitioner Fellow. She is an infectious diseases physician and basic scientist. She leads a large multi-disciplinary research team that focuses on understanding why HIV persists on treatment and developing clinical trials aimed at ultimately finding a cure for HIV infection.

Professor Lewin has published over 250 papers and given over 100 major international invited talks on the topic of HIV cure. She is an elected member of the Governing Council of the International AIDS Society (IAS), and represents the Asia Pacific region. She is co-chair of the IAS’s Strategy Towards an HIV Cure, which advocates globally for increased investment from the public and private sector in HIV cure research. In 2014, she was co-chair of the 20th International AIDS Conference – the largest health conference ever held in Australia with over 14,000 participants.

In 2014, Professor Lewin was named Melbournian of the Year, an annual award from the City of Melbourne to an inspirational role model who has made an outstanding contribution to the city in their chosen field. She received the Peter Wills Medal from Research Australia in 2015.

Chair – Health Innovation Advisory Committee

Dr Katherine Woodthorpe is a professional company director on a number of government, corporate and not-for-profit boards. Prior to this she was the Chief Executive of AVCAL, the Australian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association for seven years. Prior to AVCAL, she held a broad range of management and board positions, both in Australia and overseas.

She has deep knowledge of the private equity industry and the superannuation industry in the financial sector and a strong track record in a broad range of technology orientated industries including mining and healthcare. Dr Woodthorpe has considerable experience, expertise and a long track record in public affairs including government relations. She has deep knowledge of the private equity and superannuation industries in the financial sector and a strong track record in a broad range of technology orientated industries including mining and healthcare. Katherine has a strong background in commercialisation and R&D.

Dr Woodthorpe has a BSc (1st Class Hons) from Manchester University and PhD in Chemistry. She is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (and sits on their NSW Council), Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering and was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Technology Sydney.

Chair – Australian Health Ethics Committee

Professor Ingrid Winship is a clinician scientist in Clinical Genetics, Cancer Genetics and Dermatology. In 2006, she became the Inaugural Chair of Adult Clinical Genetics at the University of Melbourne and the Royal Melbourne Hospital. She was also at this time appointed as Melbourne Health’s Executive Director of Research and during her 12-year tenure launched the Melbourne Health Clinical Trials Research Centre. She is Director of Genomic Medicine at Melbourne Health.

Professor Winship is currently a member of the Victorian Cancer Agency Reference Group and a Director of the Boards of the Australasian College of Dermatologists, the Australian Genome Research Facility and Global Variome. She is a member of the Health Research Strategy External Advisory Group for New Zealand.

Chair – Research Committee

Professor Steve Wesselingh is the inaugural Executive Director of the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI). Prior to that appointment, he was Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at Monash University, from 2007–2011. Prior to taking up the Deanship, he was Director of the Burnet Institute.

He is an Infectious Diseases Physician and researcher in HIV, vaccine development and the impact of the microbiome on human health.

Professor Wesselingh has consistently worked towards the integration of high quality medical research with health-care delivery, leading to improved health outcomes for Australia and the poorly resourced countries of the region.

Chair – Principal Committee Indigenous Caucus
Expertise in the health needs of Aboriginal persons and Torres Strait Islanders

Professor Sandra Eades is the Dean of Medicine at Curtin University and former Associate Dean (Indigenous) at the University of Melbourne's Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences. She is a Noongar woman from Mount Barker, Western Australia, and is Australia's first Aboriginal medical doctor to be awarded a Doctorate of Philosophy (2003).

Her research career has focussed on Indigenous health including child and adolescent health, CVD and diabetes, dementia and mental health within primary care and community settings. Over the past 20 years, Professor Eades has made substantial contributions to the area of Aboriginal health and has provided leadership at a national level in Aboriginal research. Professor Eades is Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, Chair of the NHMRC Principal Committee Indigenous Caucus and a Member of the NHMRC Council.

Chair – Community and Consumer Advisory Group
Expertise in Consumer Issues

The Hon Judi Moylan AO was elected as the federal Member for Pearce in 1993 and served until her retirement from politics in 2013. Her Ministerial portfolios included Family Services and the Office of the Status of Women.

In 2013, she was appointed Independent President and Chair of the Board of Diabetes Australia, retiring from that position in December 2018. Mrs. Moylan is now the Government Affairs Adviser to Diabetes Australia.

With a long involvement in health advocacy, especially in diabetes, from 2013–15 Mrs Moylan was co-chair of the National Diabetes Strategy Advisory Group (NDSAG) and is currently co-chair of the Implementation Reference Group of NDSAG.

In January 2018, Mrs Moylan was appointed to the Advisory Board of Access Care Network Australia (ACNA), a subsidiary company of the Silver Chain Group. Mrs Moylan is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Her awards include: an Order of Australia (AO) in 2016, the Sir Kempson Maddox award, Diabetes Australia Outstanding Services award, the Alan Missen Medal for "serving democracy with integrity" 2013, and lifetime achievement awards from Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and Novo Nordisk.

Expertise in Medical Research Issues

Since 2008, Professor Brendan Crabb AC PhD FAHMS FASM has been the Director and CEO of Burnet Institute, a research organisation focused on the health of especially vulnerable populations.  He is the past-President of the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes (AAMRI), the peak body for independent medical research institutes in Australia.

Professor Crabb is a molecular biologist with a particular interest on infectious diseases and on health issues of the developing world more generally. His personal research is the development of a malaria vaccine and the identification of new treatments for this disease.

He is currently a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (FAHMS) and of the Australian Society for Microbiology (FASM).

He also serves on the International Advisory Boards of the Sanger Institute (UK) and on the WHO Malaria Vaccine Advisory Committee (MALVAC) in Geneva. Professor Crabb was the Co-Founder of the 1st Malaria World Congress and of the Molecular Approaches to Malaria Conferences. In his home state of Victoria, is President of the Victorian Chapter of AAMRI.

Professor Crabb was awarded a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2015 for eminent service to medical science as a prominent researcher of infectious diseases, particularly malaria, and their impact on population health in developing nations, as an advocate, mentor and administrator, and through fostering medical research nationally and internationally.

Expertise in Medical Research

Professional medical standards

Dr Michael Gannon is Head of Department, Obstetrics and Gynaecology at St John of God Subiaco Hospital in Perth. He is an obstetrician and gynaecologist specialising in medical problems in pregnancy. He works in the Perinatal Loss Service at King Edward Memorial Hospital and sits on the WA Perinatal and Infant Mortality Committee.

He graduated from the University of Western Australia, before training at Royal Perth Hospital, KEMH, the Rotunda Hospital Dublin and St Mary's Hospital London.

Dr Gannon was President of the Australian Medical Association from 2016 to 2018. Between 2014 and 2016 he was also President of AMA (WA) and Chair of the Federal AMA Ethics & Medicolegal Committee. Dr Gannon is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and a Board Member of MDA National Insurance.

Medical research and other appropriate expertise

Professor Ingrid Scheffer is a paediatric neurologist and laureate professor at The University of Melbourne, Director of Paediatrics at Austin Health, and a paediatric neurologist at the Royal Children's Hospital. She is an Honorary Fellow at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.

Professor Scheffer's research has focused on the genetics of the epilepsies and epilepsy classification; her work has helped to transform the diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy. In 2014, she was elected to the Australian Academy of Science and as a founding fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences; she is currently its President-Elect.

Among her many awards, Professor Scheffer received the Prime Minister's Prize for Science in 2014 with her collaborator Professor Sam Berkovic AC for their work on the genetics of epilepsy. She was also appointed as an Officer for the Order of Australia in 2014. In 2018, she was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of London.

Expertise in the nursing and midwifery profession

Professor Caroline Homer is Co-Program Director of Women and Children's Health at the Burnet Institute in Melbourne and Visiting Distinguished Professor of Midwifery at the University of Technology Sydney. She is the immediate Past President of the Australian College of Midwives.

She has more than 25 years of experience as a midwife in clinical practice, research, education and international development. She has been involved in the development and evaluation of maternity services in Australia and other countries, including Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Cambodia and Timor Leste. She has held grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council, Australian Research Council, and the Wellcome Trust (UK). She has more than 220 publications in peer reviewed journals and has supervised to completion more than 40 PhD, Masters by Research and Honours students.

Professor Homer has previously been a member of NHMRC's Research Committee and has chaired more than 20 grant review panels for NHMRC. She is a member of the Women and Health Science Committee and was a member of NHMRC Track Record Working Party.

Other appropriate expertise – mental health

Professor Maree Teesson is Professor and Director of The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, Director of the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Prevention and Early Intervention in Mental Illness and Substance Use (PREMISE) and an NHMRC Principal Research Fellow at The University of Sydney.

Her vision is to build the world's leading dedicated translational research program for the prevention and treatment of comorbid mental health and substance abuse.

In 2018, Professor Teesson was awarded a Companion of the Order of Australia for eminent service to medicine, particularly to the prevention and treatment of substance use disorders, as a researcher and author, to innovate mental health policy development, to education and as a role model for young researchers. She is also a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences and the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, and a National Mental Health Commissioner. She is also a founding member of TheMHS Management Committee since 1991.

Expertise in Public Health

Professor Alison Venn is the Director of the Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania, and a Professor of Epidemiology. She has a diverse background including immunology and epidemiology. Her breadth of experience from lab to policy has seen her take on a number of leadership roles, identifying multidisciplinary approaches to solving complex problems.

Professor Venn's current research interests are in the causes, prevention and management of chronic disease. She has a particular focus on the factors in childhood that lead to the development of cardiovascular disease and diabetes later in life. Professor Venn holds positions on a number of committees and is Director of the Tasmanian Data Linkage Unit and the Tasmanian Cancer Registry, both based at the Menzies Institute for Medical Research.

Expertise in medical profession and postgraduate medical training

Professor Carol Pollock is an academic nephrologist with more than 390 publications in basic research and clinical medicine. She was awarded an Order of Australia (AO) in 2021 for distinguished service to medical research, education and science, to nephrology, and to clinical practice and governance. She is an inaugural Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (2015), was conferred a Vice Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Research Supervision (2012) and was recognised as a 'Distinguished Professor' by the University of Sydney (2012).

Professor Pollock was the 2014 recipient of the Ministerial Award for Excellence in Cardiovascular Research. She was Scientific Chairman of the 2013 World Congress of Nephrology, held in Hong Kong. She is Chair of Kidney Health Australia, Deputy Chair of the Board of the Australian Organ, Tissue and Transplant Authority; Chair of the NSW Cardiovascular Research Network and inaugural Chair and then co-chair of the Research Advisory Committee of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Nephrology in 2017–2018.

Health leadership roles include inaugural Chair of the NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation, immediate past Chair of the NSW Clinical Excellence Commission, remaining as a director of both organisations till April 2016. She was Chair of the Northern Sydney Local Health District Board since its inception in 2011 till December 2016, was appointed to the Board of the NSW Bureau of Health Information in April 2016 and assumed Chairmanship of the Bureau in November 2016.

She is the current Convenor of the NSW Council of Board Chairs of Local Health Districts and Specialty Networks. She is on the scientific advisory committee of Australian Biotech Company Pharmaxis Pty Ltd, is a Director of Certa Therapeutics and a clinical advisor to Quantium Health. In November 2018 she was made an Ambassador of Business Events Sydney.

Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer

Professor Paul Kelly is the Chief Medical Officer at the Australian Government Department of Health. Prior to this appointment, he was the Acting Chief Medical Officer, leading the Government's health response to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. A public health physician and epidemiologist by training, Professor Kelly first joined the Department in March 2019 as the Chief Medical Adviser, Health Products Regulation Group and became the Deputy Chief Medical Officer in February 2020 following the response to the Summer 2019–2020 bushfires. Prior to these appointments, Professor Kelly spent 8 years as Chief Health Officer for the Australian Capital Territory and Deputy Director-General of Population Health in the ACT Government Health Directorate.

Chief Health Officer, New South Wales

Dr Kerry Chant is a public health physician, Chief Health Officer for New South Wales (NSW) and Deputy Director-General, Population and Public Health, NSW Health. Prior to this she was Director, Health Protection and Deputy Chief Health Officer, NSW Health.

Dr Chant has extensive public health experience, having held a range of senior positions in New South Wales public health units since 1991. She has a particular interest in blood-borne virus infections, communicable disease prevention and control, and Indigenous health.

Chief Health Officer, Victoria

Dr Brett Sutton is Victoria's Chief Health Officer. He is a medical graduate from Melbourne University with extensive experience in tropical medicine and infectious diseases as well as emergency medicine. He has also worked in complex humanitarian environments including Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Kenya and Timor-Leste.

As Chief Health Officer, Dr Sutton has unique statutory functions under health, food and emergency-related legislation. He is responsible for developing and implementing strategies to promote and protect public health; providing advice to the Minister and the Secretary; publishing a comprehensive report on public health and wellbeing in Victoria every two years; and performing the functions or powers specified in the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008.

Chief Health Officer, Queenslan

Dr Jeannette Young has been the Chief Health Officer for Queensland since 2005 and is also the Deputy Director-General for the Prevention Division in Queensland Health. Prior to this she held the position of Executive Director of Medical Services at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane and has worked in a range of positions in Queensland and Sydney.

Dr Young has specialist qualifications as a Fellow by Distinction of the Faculty of Public Health of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom and is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators. She is an adjunct professor at Queensland University of Technology, Griffith University and the University of Queensland.

Dr Young is a member of numerous state and national committees and boards, including the Council of the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee and the Queensland Clinical Senate.

Assistant Director General, Western Australia

Dr James Williamson is Assistant Director General in Western Australia (WA) leading the Clinical Excellence Division of the Department of Health. After completing a PhD at the Walter & Eliza Hall Institute, he continued specialty training and post-doctoral research in Edinburgh and Sydney, where he was a Laboratory Head. He moved to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth where he became Medical Co-Director and also set up the Department of Medicine at Joondalup Health Campus.

Dr Williamson established the WA Drug Evaluation Panel and was appointed Clinical Lead for the State eHealth Program and the Musculoskeletal Health Network. He has served the Royal Australasian College of Physicians as Chair of the Specialist Advisory Committee in General Medicine and as a member of the Committee for Physician Training.

Chief Medical Officer, Tasmania

Professor Anthony Lawler is the Chief Medical Officer with the Tasmanian Department of Health. He is also Professor in Health Services at the University of Tasmania and a member of the Australian Medical Council's Special Education Accreditation Committee. He was previously the Medical Advisor to the Minister for Health, Deputy Head of the Tasmanian School of Medicine, Tasmanian Branch President of the Australian Medical Association and Director of HealthDirect Australia.

Professor Lawler is a Specialist Emergency Physician and is a Board Member and Immediate Past President of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine. He is a Director of the Postgraduate Medical Education Council of Tasmania.

Chief Health Officer, Northern Territory

Dr Hugh Heggie currently is the Chief Health Officer and Executive Director of Public Health and Clinical Excellence for the Northern Territory (NT) Department of Health.

Dr Heggie having been a research pharmacologist has been a rural generalist practitioner for 40 years, with advanced skills in obstetrics, emergency medicine and indigenous health and has worked in remote settings across the NT since 2002. He has held a number of leadership positions over the last 10 years, participates in a wide variety of local forums, including the Clinical Senate and has led public health reforms across the NT.

Dr Heggie represents the Northern Territory at a number of national committees and advisory groups including the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, the Clinical Principal Committee, the Council of the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency and the Digital Health Agency.