Members of Council 2015–2018 triennium

Professor Bruce Robinson is an endocrinologist. He is Chair of the Australian Government’s Taskforce of expert clinicians charged with reviewing the Medicare Benefits Schedule and in 2015 was appointed as Chair of Australia’s peak advisory and funding body for medical research, National Health and Medical Research Council.

Professor Robinson’s research has focused on identifying genetic changes which either predispose or directly cause endocrine tumours. Other 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. He continues to practice at Sydney’s Royal North Shore Hospital.

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.

Professor Kathryn North is Director of the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and the David Danks Professor of Child Health Research at the University of Melbourne.

Professor North is trained as a paediatric physician, neurologist and clinical geneticist.

Her laboratory research interests focus on the inherited muscle disorders. Her clinical research focuses on clinical trials of therapies for muscular dystrophy as well as the development of interventions for children with learning disabilities. In 2012, Professor North was appointed Chair of the NHMRC Research Committee and Member of NHMRC Council.

Professor Ian Olver, AM is the Director of the Sansom Institute for Health Research and was recently Chief Executive Officer of Cancer Council Australia. A renowned oncologist, cancer researcher and bioethicist, Ian has held senior positions in Australia and abroad.

With research interests in anticancer drug studies, symptom control, bio-ethics and psycho-oncology, Ian is the author of more than 200 journal articles and is a regular commentator on cancer issues in Australia and internationally.

Ian was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for service to medical oncology as a clinician, researcher, administrator and mentor, and to the community through leadership roles with cancer control organisations.

Professor Olver is Chair of Australian Health Ethics Committee.

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 Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (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.

She was the local co-chair of the International AIDS Conference (AIDS2014) which was held in Melbourne July 2014 which was the largest health conference ever held in Australia. In 2014, she was named Melburnian 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 is active internationally in advocating for increased investment from the public and private sector in HIV cure research and is on the leadership team of the International AIDS Society’s Strategy Towards an HIV Cure. She is a member of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Blood Borne Viruses and Sexually Transmitted Infections, which is the peak advisory body on HIV infection to the Australian Minister of Health.

Chair of Health Translation Advisory Committee.

Professor Graeme Samuel AC is a Vice Chancellor’s Professorial Fellow in Monash University’s Business School and co-director of the Monash Business Policy Forum. He is also Chair of the Victorian Taxi Services Commission, a Commissioner of the National Rugby League, a Councillor of the Australian National University, President of Alzheimer’s Australia, and Chair of the South Eastern Melbourne Primary Health Network.

Professor Samuel has held a number of roles in public life including former Chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1998. In 2010 he was elevated to a Companion of the Order of Australia.

Chair of Health Innovation Advisory Committee.

Professor Brendan Murphy is the Chief Medical Officer for the Australian Government and is the principal medical adviser to the Minister and the Department of Health. He also holds direct responsibility for the Department of Health’s Office of Health Protection. 

 Apart from the many committees he chairs, co-chairs and participates, he is the Australian Member on the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) Governing Committee and represents Australia at the World Health Assembly.

Prior to his appointment Professor Murphy was the Chief Executive Officer of Austin Health in Victoria.

Dr Chant is a Public Health physician, Chief Health Officer for New South Wales 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.

Professor Charles Guest is presently Chief Health Officer Victoria.  He has  worked in government and academic public health medicine in Australia and overseas, and as Chief Health Officer in the Australian Capital Territory in 2005 and 2007–11. He originally trained at the University of Melbourne.

He has academic appointments at University of Melbourne, Monash University and the Australian National University. 

Dr Young has been the Chief Health Officer for Queensland since August 2005. Prior to this she held the position of Executive Director of Medical Services at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane and previously worked in a range of positions in Queensland and Sydney. Her clinical background is in emergency medicine.

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. She is an adjunct professor at Queensland University of Technology and at Griffith University.

Dr Young is a member of numerous state and national committees and boards, including the Council of the QIMR Berghoffer Medical Research Institute, the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee and the Australian National Preventive Health Agency Advisory Council.

Professor Phillips is Chief Medical Officer for South Australia. He was previously Chair of the South Australian Clinical Senate, Chair of the South Australian State-wide Clinical Network in Cardiology, and Professor and Head of Medicine, Flinders University, Flinders Medical Centre and Repatriation General Hospital, Adelaide.

Before that Professor Phillips held senior clinical academic posts at the University of Melbourne, followed by Oxford University. His interests are in building a better health system through innovation, collaboration and leadership. He remains clinically active in acute general medicine.

Chief Medical Officer; Assistant Director General – Clinical Services and Research – WA Health

Professor Gary Geelhoed is a Paediatric Emergency Physician who received his qualifications locally at the University of WA.

Prior to commencing as Chief Medical Officer, Professor Geelhoed worked as Director of the Emergency Department at Princess Margaret Hospital for Children for 21 years.

He is a past President of the Australian Medical Association WA, and current Federal and Western Australian AMA Councillor.

Professor Geelhoed’s main research interest lies in acute respiratory illness in children.

TAS Chief Medical Officer, Anthony is the Director of Acute Health Services Planning and Design within the Department of Health and Human Services. 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 and Tasmanian Branch President of the Australian Medical Association.

Anthony is a practising Specialist Emergency Physician and Director and President-Elect of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine. He is a Director of HealthDirect Australia, and of the Postgraduate Medical Education Council of Tasmania.

Dr Kelly is a public health physician, Chief Health Officer for the ACT and Executive Director of Population Health, ACT Government Health Directorate. He is an adjunct professor at the Australian National University and at the University of Canberra. He has worked in government and academic public health in four Australian jurisdictions and in several other countries. He is a member of two World Health Organization committees.

Dr Kelly has a particular research interest and expertise in respiratory infectious diseases, including tuberculosis and influenza, health services research and systems approaches to chronic disease prevention.

Dr Hugh Heggie currently is the Chief Health Officer for the NT Department of Health and is a member of the Executive Leadership Team. He has representational roles in a number of national committees and advisory groups around public health, health protection and prevention as well as governance, safety and quality, indigenous health, digital health, health workforce and research to mention some. His current portfolio includes Centre for Disease Control, Environmental Health, the Medical Education and Training Centre and has been deeply involved in digital health reforms across the NT.  

Having been a pharmacologist previously Dr Heggie has been a rural generalist practitioner, with advanced skills in obstetrics and emergency medicine, since 1980 and has worked in remote settings in the Northern Territory as a resident Rural Medical Practitioner since 2002, in both Central Australia and the Top End, joining the NT Department of Health Remote Health branch in 2009 in the Chronic Disease portfolio.  He was appointed as the Senior Rural Medical Practitioner – Operations for Top End Remote Health in May 2011, Acting Chief Rural Medical Practitioner for the NT in 2013 and was the Director of Medical Services, Primary Health Care Branch, Top End Health Service up until 2016.

Professor Sandra is an Associate Dean (Indigenous) for the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics within the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health at The University of Melbourne.
 
Sandra, whose family are Noongar from the Minang, Goreng and Kaniyang clans in south-west Western Australia, has made outstanding contributions to the epidemiology of Indigenous child health in Australia, as well as national leadership in Indigenous health research. 
 
In 2003, Sandra was Australia's first Aboriginal medical doctor to be awarded a Doctorate of Philosophy, at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, in Perth. That same year, she was recognised as NSW Woman of the Year for her work in paediatric and perinatal epidemiology, identifying links between social factors, such as housing, and infant health.
  
Sandra is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Science.

Karen Carey has represented consumers for more than a decade across all levels of the healthcare system. She is the Chair of the NHMRC Community and Consumer Advisory Group, the immediate past Chair of Consumers Health Forum and former Chair of Health Consumers Council of WA.

Karen’s focus is on building a healthcare system that highly values prevention and in which consumers can meaningfully partner with service providers to deliver safe, effective and cost-effective care, from individual patient episodes to system-wide strategic planning and design.

Professor Michael Kidd AM is a general practitioner, primary care researcher, medical educator and author. He is the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at Flinders University. He is the current president of the World Organization of Family Doctors and a past president of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. He is an elected fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.

He is a member of the Australian Therapeutic Goods Advisory Council, chair of the South Australian Government’s Clinical Training Council, and a member of the board of directors of beyondblue, Therapeutic Guidelines, Flinders Fertility, FCD Health, and the Channel 7 Children’s Research Foundation.

Professor David Story is Foundation Chair of Anaesthesia at the University of Melbourne; and Head of the Anaesthesia, Perioperative and Pain Medicine Unit. He promotes research, teaching and engagement at the 14 hospitals affiliated with the University. His clinical work involves perioperative care for all surgical specialties including liver transplantation.

Professor Story is a senior investigator with the Clinical Trials Network of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA), sits on the ANZCA Research Committee, and is Deputy Chair of the ANZCA Safety and Quality Committee. His research is focused on effective approaches to reduce short term and long term perioperative risk, complications, disability, and mortality. He is committed to integrating research evidence and methodology into safety and quality in health care.

Professor Brendan Crabb is the Director and CEO of Burnet Institute and Immediate-Past President of the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes. Professor Crabb is a molecular biologist with a particular interest in infectious diseases and in health issues of the developing world. His personal research is the development of a malaria vaccine and the identification of new treatments for this disease. He is the current Chair of the US-based Malaria Vaccine Science Portfolio Advisory Committee, the oversight group for the major malaria vaccines under development.

He holds Professorial appointments at The University of Melbourne and Monash Universities and is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.

He was awarded a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in the 2015 Australia Day Honours 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.

Professor Carapetis is the Director of the Telethon Kids Institute in Perth, Western Australia.
He holds separate qualifications as a medical practitioner (MBBS), specialist paediatrician (FRACP Paediatrics), specialist infectious diseases physician (FRACP Infect Dis), and specialist public health physician (FAFPHM), as well as a PhD.

His research interests include Rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease, Other group A streptococcal diseases, Vaccine preventable disease, Indigenous child health, Child development and education, Youth health and education and Skin sores and scabies.

Previous positions include Director of the Menzies School of Health Research in Darwin, Northern Territory from 2006-2012, terms as Director of the Centre for International Child Health at the University of Melbourne, Theme Director at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute in Melbourne and Clinical Fellow in Paediatric Infectious Diseases at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada. Professor Carapetis holds a clinical position with the Princess Margaret Hospital for Children and is a Professor at The University of Western Australia.

Professor Scheffer is a paediatric neurologist and professor at the University of Melbourne and Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health. Professor Scheffer is helping to transform the diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy. She is a founding fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences and currently its Vice-President.

Professor Sullivan is a public health physician, medical epidemiologist and health services researcher. She is Assistant Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research) and Professor of Public Health, University of Technology Sydney. Her research focuses on vulnerable reproductive populations, surveillance systems, justice health and health inequality among mothers and the impact on their infants.

Previous positions include Professor of Perinatal and Reproductive Health and Director, AIHW National Perinatal Epidemiology and Statistics Unit, University of New South Wales, and Head of Research, Family Planning NSW.