Speakers

Amanda Cattermole has been Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Digital Health Agency since September 2020. In this role she leads the development, delivery and uptake of digital health to support a connected healthcare system that is accessible to all Australians and embraced by healthcare providers.

Before joining the Agency, Amanda held a number of roles at Services Australia including Chief Operating Officer, Deputy Secretary, Health and Aged Care and also interim CEO during the 2019-20 east coast bushfires.

Among other senior roles, Amanda served in the Commonwealth Treasury and Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs as well as state departments in Victoria and Western Australia. Prior to this she worked as a lawyer in Victoria, the Northern Territory and Western Australia.

Amanda holds a Bachelor of Laws, a Bachelor of Commerce, a Master of Laws, Master of Business Administration and received the Public Service Medal in recognition of outstanding public service leading housing.

Wendy Chapman is the Associate Dean of Digital Health and Informatics at the University of Melbourne, as well as the Director of the Centre for Digital Transformation of Health. Professor Chapman’s research aims to leverage data and digital technology to transform healthcare delivery. Her current passion is how to best design, implement, and validate digital innovations like AI and virtual care in healthcare settings.

Dr Stephen Duckett is an Honorary Enterprise Professor in the School of Population and Global Health and in the Department of General Practice at the University of Melbourne. He has held top health sector leadership positions in Australia and Canada and literally wrote the book on the Australian health care system (Oxford University Press, 6e, 2022). An economist, he is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, and of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences. He was made a Member of the Order of Australia in January 2023 for significant service to public health policy and management, and to tertiary education. He represented Victoria in the negotiations for the 1984 Medicare Compensation Agreement.

Jill Gallagher AO is a proud Gunditjmara woman from Western Victoria and is an accomplished and experienced strategic leader, championing the needs of the First Nations community. Jill has spent more than 20 years advancing Aboriginal health and wellbeing through her work with VACCHO and has over 30 years of experience in leadership roles. As a respected Aboriginal leader who has dedicated her life to advocating for Community, Jill has been inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2009), awarded the Order of Australia (2013), and inducted into the Victorian Aboriginal Honour Roll (2015). From 2016 to 2019, Jill served as Victoria’s first Treaty Advancement Commissioner. Jill received the degree of Doctor of Laws Honoris Causa by the University of Melbourne in 2023.

Anthony Gust trained and worked in science prior to developing a career in health management specialising in analysis, quality, service planning and management. He has over 30 years’ experience in hospital, consulting and government roles.  He has held senior management positions with the Victorian Department of Health, Monash Health, Peninsula Health, and Northern Health with varied responsibilities from Information Technology (ICT) to Innovation but the main focus has always been data analysis.

He has managed teams for over 25 years and enjoys mentoring and training staff. He has taught international senior medical staff such as the Department of Health in Thailand, HIV strategies, organised international workshops and published in peer-reviewed journals.

Northern Health is now one of the leading Digital centres in Victoria with initiatives such as the Victorian Virtual Emergency Department and many firsts for Victoria and Australia.  Our aim is providing the tools for our patients and clinicians to enhance health and wellness for our community.

Professor Jane Hall is Distinguished Professor of Health Economics in the UTS Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation; she is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences. She is a member of the Independent Health and Pricing Authority.

Over her career, she has worked across many areas of health economics, including health technology assessment, measurement of quality of life, end of life care, health workforce, and the economics of primary care. She has been involved in health policy issues nationally and internationally, and internationally has been an active member of numerous committees and working parties. Her current work is focussed on the financing and funding of health care to improve system performance. Among her recognition and honours are UTS Distinguished Service Award (2022); the National Health and Medical Research Council Outstanding Contribution Award (2017); Australian Financial Review/Westpac 100 Women of Influence (2016); the inaugural Professional Award of the Health Services Research Association of Australia and New Zealand (2011).

As a former Cabinet Minister in the Australian Government, Professor Hunt served as Australia’s Minister for the Environment, Innovation and Health over almost nine years. As Minister for Health from 2017 to 2022, he oversaw Australia’s response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, established telehealth as a permanent and universal centrepiece of Medicare, reformed private health and established long-term plans for mental health, aged care, medical research and primary care and listed over 2,000 new and amended medicines for public access. He oversaw an annual budget of $132 billion, 17 portfolio agencies and 7,000 staff.

Following his retirement from Parliament, Greg has been appointed Honorary Enterprise Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Services and the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Melbourne. Greg is also the inaugural Chair of the Advisory Council for the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health at Monash University. He advises businesses and not for profits in the areas of innovation, leadership, strategic planning, health and the environment.

Daniel McCabe is First Assistant Secretary of Medicare Benefits and Digital Health Division. Daniel is responsible for providing policy advice on the Medicare Benefits Scheme to deliver access to medical services for all Australians. Daniel is also responsible for providing policy direction on digital health to connect patients and health care providers with their health information across the health system.

Daniel joined the department in 2015 and has had a number of roles including Chief Information Officer, Chief Operating Officer and has previously lead the Medicare Compliance Program.

Liz Molloy is Professor of Work Integrated Learning in the Department of Medical Education at the University of Melbourne and Associate Dean, Learning and Teaching in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences. Liz’s work seeks to better understand how students and clinicians learn through the clinical workplace, including how they seek and interpret cues within their contexts. Liz completed a PhD (2006) on feedback in clinical education and her current research focuses on experiential learning, feedback and assessment, transitions, and interprofessional education and practice. Liz received an inaugural Fellowship of ANZAHPE in 2015, is Associate Editor of the journal Focus on Health Professions Education, and is on the education board for the Association for Medical Education Europe. In 2019 Liz received a Karolinksa Fellowship Prize for Excellence in Research in Medical Education.

Dr. Bronwyn Morrish is the acting Assistant Secretary for Primary Care Access Branch in the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care. She is the Healthdirect Shareholder representative for the Commonwealth and is responsible for after hours programs and policies, as well as programs supporting rural and remote, multicultural communities and people experiencing homelessness to access primary care.

Bronwyn has been working in Commonwealth Health for nearly 20 years, including a key role in the reform of the National Cervical Screening Program including the introduction of self collection and to establish the National Cancer Screening Register. Bronwyn has a strong interest in public health programs that enable consumers to connect to health services and supports relevant to their needs.

Sarah Neville, Ph.D. is a Senior Harkness Fellow in Heath Care Policy and Practice. She is currently the Director, Analytics at the Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority. Sarah has worked in the Australian health system for over ten years, setting the price of hospital services in order to make hospital funding more transparent and equitable. She joined the Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority in 2013 and has since held successive roles as Director, Pricing, Executive Director, Data and Analytics, and Senior Advisor of Statistics and Research. Sarah is passionate about the power of statistics to inform evidence-based policy, both in Australia and internationally. Her interests lie in health funding systems, particularly innovative funding models, as well as women in STEM leadership. She is the current chair of the School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics Advisory Committee at the University of Wollongong, where she completed a Ph.D. in mathematical statistics.

Tony is Professor and Director of the Centre for Health Economics, Monash Business School. He is an elected Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, Past President of the Australian Health Economics Society, and was a Board Director of the International Health Economics Association. Tony was an ARC Future Fellow and NHMRC Principal Research Fellow.  His research interests are in the financing and market organisation of health care, including the behaviour of health care providers, health care labour markets, and financial incentives and payment models.

Professor Clair Sullivan is an internationally-recognised leading practising and academic clinical informatician, and helps drive digital health transformation in Queensland.

A specialist endocrinologist, Clair graduated with Honours in Medicine from The University of Queensland and earned a Research Doctorate in Medicine from the University of Leeds. In 2014, Clair began a parallel career in the emerging field of digital health and has held leadership roles in digital health practice and governance across government and academia.

In 2020, Clair was appointed Associate Professor of Medicine in Clinical Informatics at UQ and the inaugural Head of UQ’s Digital Health Research Network. She is also the Clinical Informatics Director for Research at Metro North’s Hospital and Health Service.

She has recently been appointed the Director of the new Queensland Digital Health Centre.

Clair serves on several national advisory boards for digital health. She is ranked in the top 1% of Medical Informatics researchers globally.

Ross Williams is a professorial associate in the Melbourne Institute. Previous positions held include economist at the World Bank, professor of econometrics at the University of Melbourne and dean of the faculty, member of the Commonwealth Grants Commission and managing editor of the Australian Economic Review. He has a PhD from the London School of Economics. His research papers are predominantly in the areas of household behaviour and the economics of education. His current main interest is the history of educational institutions. His book The Policy Providers documents and evaluates the history of the Melbourne Institute. He was awarded an AM for services to education, contribution to professional publications, and as an adviser to state and federal governments.

Dr Michael Wright is a medical graduate, with post-graduate qualifications in public health and health economics.  With over 20 years clinical experience, Michael has worked as a GP in Australia and England, in urban and rural settings, been a practice owner and GP contractor. Michael is the Chief Medical Officer of Avant Mutual, Australia’s largest medical indemnity provider, Board Chair of Central and Eastern Sydney Primary Health Network, and Deputy Chair for RACGP NSW/ACT Faculty Council.

Michael is a strong advocate for improving safety and quality in health care, and his research interests include understanding the impact of continuity of care on the primary care performance, improving collaboration between health care providers, and use of financial incentives to improve quality and sustainability of general practice. Michael completed his PhD in health economics at the Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation (CHERE) at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), where he continues as a researcher.

Associate Professor Jongsay Yong is a Principal Research Fellow at the Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research. He is an experienced applied economist specialising in health economics, health services research and industrial economics. He has extensive knowledge of the working of the Australian health care system, especially on issues related to health system performance, measurement and evaluation, and evaluation of health policy and programs. His current research includes projects on price transparency in specialist care, on hospitals competing for private patients on quality of care, and on whether competition in aged care affects nursing home quality and prices.

Professor Zhang is a professor of health economics at the Melbourne Institute at the University of Melbourne. She obtained her PhD in health economics and MS in health policy & management, both from Harvard University. She develops and evaluates novel strategies to improve health insurance design, health system productivity, and population health. Her work uses advanced economic modelling and quantitative analyses of large data sets to study the impact of health policy and the choices of individuals.

Her research has been published prestigious medicine, health policy, and economics journals, and featured in media outlets including ABS and the New York Times. She has led many projects funded by prominent organizations including Australian Research Council, and the US National Institutes of Health.

Her contributions to the field have been recognized with awards including ARC Future Fellowship, the Australian-American Health Policy Fellowship. She serves on advisory and editorial boards for leading international journals including the Lancet and JAMA series, has provided advice to government agencies including the Australian Department of Health & Aged Care, Victorian’ Department of Health, and the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Jason is a GP and an epidemiologist with a focus on the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. He is the senior medical advisor at NACCHO, the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation and a clinical associate professor at the Australian National University. He also works as a GP at Gurriny Yealamucka, an Aboriginal community-controlled health service in the community of Yarrabah in far north Queensland and has been with the community through their transition from a state-run clinic to an Aboriginal Community Controlled Heath Organsiation.

He has an interest in developing team-based community health care, and the use of routinely collected data to improve health services. He works with NACCHO on primary healthcare reform, is a member of the MBS Review Advisory Committee (MRAC), the Council for Connected Care and contributes to national primary care reporting as co-chair of the Australian Government's Health Services Data Advisory Group.

Dr Steph Davis is a General Practitioner and Public Health Physician.  She is the senior medical advisor in the Primary Care Division of the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care, and in this role provides advice and guidance across all aspects of the Division’s work.  She is also a currently practising GP in a refugee health service in Canberra.

Steph has previously worked across urban, rural and remote Australia and internationally as a clinician, public health practitioner and academic, including a stint as Commonwealth Deputy Chief Medical Officer during the COVID-19 pandemic. Steph is passionate about everything primary care, but has a particular interest in the intersection of primary care and public health.