Speakers
Professor Euan Wallace commenced as Secretary of the Department of Health in November 2020.
An academic obstetrician and gynaecologist, he has more than 30 years' experience in clinical practice and medical research, and 15 years' experience in clinical leadership and governance.
Euan is a strong advocate for healthcare improvement and the consumer voice and was the inaugural CEO of Safer Care Victoria. He was seconded to DHHS as Deputy Secretary, jointly responsible for case management, contact tracing and outbreak management.
Formerly the Carl Wood Professor and Head of Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Monash University. His research interests are in fetal development, maternal health, stem cell biology and patient safety.
Professor Wood trained in Geriatric and General Medicine in the Northeast of England and underwent a 2-year teaching and research fellowship studying falls in Parkinson’s disease obtaining a doctoral degree.
He became a Consultant Physician and Geriatrician with an interest in Parkinson’s disease and developed a large Parkinson’s disease service looking after over 600 patients. In addition, he has major interests in medical management and the management of education. Director of Training of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and Director of Specialty Training in Health Education England, he emigrated to Queensland in 2016 and became Divisional Director of Medicine and Emergency at Logan, before moving to a Senior Staff Specialist role at Redland Hospital in 2019. He currently works in the Metro South Movement Disorders service and is one of the Medical Director's for the Physician Training network and has gained an honorary title of Professor at Griffith University. He has had several roles with RACP including Accreditor, Chair Queensland committee, College Policy and Advocacy council and President Elect of the Adult Medicine Division.
Associate Professor Amany Zekry is a clinical academic at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), and Director of Gastroenterology and Hepatology services at St George Hospital UNSW. She has an active research agenda in basic research and clinical medicine. Her current basic research agenda focuses on combining human and animal experiments to delineate the role of the microbiome in liver cancer. She leads a national project funded by MRFF to develop biomarkers for the early detection of liver cancer. Her clinical research agenda has underpinned collaborative strategies, translating into improving screening and treatment uptake for viral hepatitis to meet the national strategy targets. The core aspiration of her clinical work is to bridge gaps in health care delivery for marginalised populations underpinned by collaborative initiatives and community-based models of care for preventing liver cancer, whilst improving access to treatment and reducing clinical variations. In 2018 she was presented with the NSW top 50 public sector women award recognising exceptional female leaders, building high-performing teams and transforming their communities.
A/Prof Tim Walker
Director, Damion Drapac Centre for Equity In
Health Education, Deakin University
Associate Professor Tim Walker is an academic gastroenterologist with a career focused on improving care for under-served people in Australia and Africa. He has a multi-faceted approach to this, involving direct clinical care, education and mentoring of undergraduate and postgraduate doctors, academic program innovation, public health policy development and clinical research focused on viral hepatitis, dyspepsia and other non-communicable diseases. He has have significant clinical and academic leadership experience in Australia and Rwanda, including in curriculum redesign and governance.
Adjunct Professor Graeme Maguire is the Director of Medical Education for WA Country Health Service (WACHS). He was previously the Deputy Dean of Medicine at Curtin University, head of General Internal Medicine at Western Health, Melbourne and a Divisional Director at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne and Alice Springs. Additionally, he has lived and worked as a general and respiratory physician and researcher across regional Australia and continues to provide remote physician outreach services whenever he can. He is also the President of the Adult Medicine Division of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and Chair of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s expert advisory group on asthma and other chronic respiratory conditions.
Mr Rick Garotti
Deputy CFO, Northern
Health Rick Garotti is a senior finance leader in public health. Rick is currently the Deputy Chief Financial Officer at Northern Health with responsibilities for financial management governance, budget control, financial and commercial analysis and reporting.
Clinician and researcher, previously Chair of the Victorian Regional Committee and of the Victorian Committee of Medical Chairs.
Dr Luis Prado – MBBS, FRACGP, FRACMA, GAICD, FCHSM, FAAQHC, FISQua, FCMQ, FACHE, Grad Dip Sports Medicine
Chief Medical Officer – appointed July 2023
Highly experienced senior health care executive and medical leader.
Previous senior leadership roles include Chief Medical Officer and Executive Director Academic and Medical Services at Epworth HealthCare and Chief Medical Officer at UnitingCare Health.
Professor Deakin University Affiliate academic appointment, Doctor of Medicine Clinical School.
Skilled in clinical governance, health systems innovation, change management, and strategic plannin.
A/Professor Christina Johnson is the Director of Monash Doctors Education, and a Consultant in General and Geriatric Medicine at Monash Health, and Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at Monash University. Her PhD focused on developing practical guidance for educators during feedback conversations with learners in clinical practice, with the development of the Feedback Quality Instrument. Her other main research interests include optimising workplace learning, assisting junior doctors with performance concerns, promoting psychological safety, and implementing EPAs (entrustable professional activities) as part of the new National Framework for Prevocational Medical Training.
Dr Anthony Deacon
Intestinal Failure & Ibd Fellow, Princess Alexandra Hospital
Clinician and researcher, previously Chair of the Victorian Regional Committee and of the Victorian Committee of Medical Chairs.
Prof Allen Cheng is Professor/Director of Monash Infectious Diseases at Monash Health and the School of Clinical Sciences at Monash University. He has research interests in clinical infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance, influenza and other vaccine preventable diseases and communicable diseases control. He was previously Co-Chair of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation and the Chair of the Advisory Committee for Vaccines, and during the COVID-19 pandemic was Acting Victorian Chief Health Officer.
Dr Sidney Chandrasiri
Executive Director Medical Services, Flinders & Upper North Health NetworkRead more
Dr Sidney Chandrasiri MBBS MHM FCHSM FRACMA CHIA GAICD CHE, is a Certified Health Executive (CHE), a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators (FRACMA), a Fellow of the Australasian College of Health Service Management (FCHSM), a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD), and holds a Masters in Health Management (MHM) and Certification in Health Informatics (CHIA). She is a graduate of the highly selective Harvard Business School Intensive course on Value Based HealthCare, holds multiple Board Director roles and has worked in both private and public sector executive medical leadership roles across metropolitan, regional and community health services. She has been a sentinel event reviewer for the Victorian Department of Health, has lectured on health system management to postgraduate students at Monash university, is a speaker at multiple medical forums across Australia, and publishes widely in the field of medical leadership.
Dr Chandrasiri has established hospital governance systems for new technologies, developed new frameworks for Clinical Service Planning, implemented Advanced Age Practitioner Credentialing in private hospitals as an Australian first, and established a state-wide medical administration registrar training program in Victoria in her role as the Jurisdictional Coordinator of Training for RACMA. Her current portfolio encompasses executive health service leadership, clinical services design, strategic planning, medical workforce strategy and numerous areas across clinical governance and hospital operations of both public and private health services.
Dr Chandran is a clinical nephrologist based in Melbourne. Life challenges have taken her around the world, having been raised in Mauritius, trained in Melbourne, before moving to UK to complete basic physician training. Dr Chandran returned to Melbourne to start nephrology training after which she completed a PhD in renal transplantation at Monash Medical Centre. She then moved to Toronto to undertake a clinical fellowship in renal transplantation.
Upon her return, she upskilled in medical leadership and embraced the college. She is currently board member of the college and involved in several college committees. She is also an active member of the society of nephrology and teaches medical students at the University of Melbourne. She is the lead of the inaugural leadership course of the college.
Don is a General and Respiratory Physician and Director, Staying Well Program and Hospital Without Walls Division, Northern Health, where he successfully oversaw the Covid Community Monitoring and Support Program in 2020.
He is recognised internationally for contributions to healthcare reform and innovation using Systemic Design, (Liedtka J, et al, Scaling Design Thinking at Monash Medical Centre. Design Thinking for the Greater Good: innovation in the social sector. Columbia University Press, New York). He is currently implementing a novel program for high-needs complex patients at Northern Health (Patient Watch), and is a Principal Investigator on a trial of intranasal heparin to reduce Covid 19 transmission within households (Inherit Trial).
His adoption of systemic design principles to guide reform of General Medicine at Monash Health resulted in a reduction in hospital-standardized mortality for patients. He was an invited Faculty member, Innovation in Healthcare and Education, Monash Institute of Health and Education (MIHCE) with Harvard Macy Institute, teaching Design Thinking: 2016 to 2018.
Don holds adjunct professorial appointments in both the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing, Health Sciences and Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture at Monash University. He is a Past President of the Adult Medicine Division of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the Internal Medicine Society of Australia and New Zealand. He was granted Fellowship of Royal College of Physicians, London, 2018 in recognition of his contribution to healthcare.
Professor Susannah Ahern (MBBS (Hons), MBA, FRACMA, PhD): Professor Ahern is a medical administrator and academic in health services research and management at Monash University. As the Head of the Clinical Outcomes Reporting and Research Program, she is the Monash Academic Lead for six national clinical quality registries. She has published over 80 peer-reviewed papers and thirty technical registry reports. She is currently a member of a number of national committees regarding clinical quality registries and is co-Chair of the Australian Clinical Trial Alliance (ACTA) Registry Special Interest Group (SIG). She has hosted national Clinical Registries meetings in Australia since 2018, and her work informs national registry policy and practice, including the development and implementation of the National Clinical and Virtual Registry Strategy.