Username:

Password: 

Professor David Colin-Thome OBE
National Director for Primary Care, Department of Health, United Kingdom

Professor Colin-Thome spent 36 years in general practice in Runcorn, Cheshire before taking up roles in the UK Health Department. For more than 10 years his practice was known for its innovative methods, including pioneering systematic management of long-term conditions by employing managed care techniques. He has been an international adviser on many overseas advisory visits, specialising in primary care development and publishes regularly on primary care reform. Professor Colin-Thome has held positions as Director of Primary Care, Department of Health; Senior Medical Officer, Scottish Office NHS Management Executive; a member of Halton Health Authority, Cheshire Family Health Services Authority before taking up his current position. He was awarded the OBE in 1997.

Dr Mukesh Haikerwal
National Clinical Lead, National E-Health Transition Authority



Dr Mukesh Haikerwal is a General Medical Practitioner, was a member of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission and is Professor, School of Medicine at Flinders University, Adelaide. He is the National Clinical Lead with the National e-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA). He leads a team of health care providers from multi disciplinary backgrounds to liaise with the health care community and provide input into the development of the NEHTA work program to deliver eHealth for Australia. Dr Haikerwal is a past President of the Federal Australian Medical Association (AMA).

Dr Emil Djakic
Chair, Australian General Practice Network



Dr Djakic is a Tasmanian GP and Chair of AGPN. He has been involved with the Network for 10 years, as a GP member, general practice network Chair, AGPN Board member and AGPN Chair (November 2008). Dr Djakic works in Ulverston as partner in a 10 doctor practice of which he has been a member for 12 years. He has worked in rural, remote and urban Australian general practice, including with the Royal Flying Doctors Service while based at Derby Regional Hospital and also in the United Kingdom. He has a strong interest in governance issues and takes a proactive role in health policy planning. His clinical interests include obstetrics, anaesthetics and addiction medicine.

Dr Chris Mitchell
President, Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP)



Dr Chris Mitchell has been a rural GP in northern New South Wales for 20 years and has an appointment at Ballina Hospital.

He has more than 10 years experience as a Director of not-for-profit boards, gaining a Fellowship of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Until his election to the RACGP Presidency he chaired North Coast General Practice Training and is a general practice mentor, supervisor and examiner. He also has a range of experience on the boards including the Northern Rivers General Practice Network, the New South Wales Rural Workforce Agency, the Rural Doctors Network, and the Remote Vocational Training Scheme.

Dr Steve Hambleton
Vice President, Australian Medical Association



Dr Steve Hambleton became Federal Vice President of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) in May. He has been a GP in Queensland since 1987.

He is a previous AMA Queensland President and served on AMA Federal Council. He was a member of the AMA’s Council of General Practice at State and Federal levels for more than
10 years. He holds roles with the National Immunisation Committee, the AMA’s Taskforce on Indigenous Health and the Practice Incentive Program Advisory Group.

Previous national roles include: member of the Government Red Tape Taskforce, the Practice Incentive Program and Enhanced Primary Care Review Advisory Group, a member of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee.

Dr Hambleton has a strong interest in practice development and teaching Australia’s future GPs. He was made a Fellow of the AMA in 2007.

Dr Dennis Pashen
President, Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine



Dr Dennis Pashen is Director of James Cook University’s (JCU) Mt Isa Centre for Rural and Remote Health and Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine, JCU.

He has worked in rural medical education for more than 30 years, chairing and working with a range of education organisations.

He has published several papers on rural health and medical education and is committed to developing the “Generalists” role in rural and remote health. He has worked with government and health systems to develop policy for sustainable and accessible models of health services.

He is the 2003 winner of the Centenary Medal and in 2008 he was awarded “Legend of the Bush” by Rural Doctors Association of Queensland colleagues.

Dr Nola Maxfield
President, Rural Doctors Association of Australia

Dr Nola Maxfield has been a rural doctor in Wonthaggi, Victoria for 24 years. She is a partner in a large group teaching practice, providing GP obstetrics and anaesthetics, along with aged care, emergency care, inpatient care plus community general practice. The practice teaches medical students, has an intern and GP registrars. She was the past President of Rural Doctors Association of Victoria, Chair of General Practice Victoria and of General Practice Alliance South Gippsland. She remains on the board of her local general practice network.

Dr Belinda Guest
Chair, General Practice Registrars Australia



Dr Belinda Guest has been the GPRA Chair since 2008 and is a Registrar based in Newcastle, NSW. She graduated from Newcastle University in 2001 and after completion of intern and resident years spent two years working in paediatrics before deciding on general practice as her vocation. She combines part time general practice with the GPRA Chair role and work as a Registrar Liaison Officer.

The Hon Peter Dutton
MP, Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing



The Hon Peter Dutton became Federal Member for Dickson, Queensland in November 2001 at the age of 30.

He served in the Howard Government as Minister for Workforce Participation, with responsibility for the Job Network, Disability Employment Services, Work for the Dole and improving transition to work opportunities for all unemployed Australians (2004–2006).

In January 2006 Mr Dutton was promoted to Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer.

In Opposition he has held posts in the Shadow Cabinet as Minister for Finance, Competition Policy and
Deregulation and became Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing in September 2008.

Mr Dutton has had previous careers in business and as a police officer. He holds a Bachelors degree in Business.

The Hon Nicola Roxon
Minister for Health and Ageing, Australian Government



The Hon Nicola Roxon has been the Minister for Health and Ageing in the Rudd Labor Government since its election in November 2007.

She has been a member of Federal Parliament since 1998, representing the Melbourne western suburbs seat of Gellibrand.

In an earlier life she was an associate to the nation’s first female High Court Justice, Mary Gaudron, and an industrial lawyer who acted in the high profile waterfront dispute.

Nicola has a First Class Honours Law degree and Arts degree from Melbourne University, and graduated top of her law class in 1990.

Since becoming Health Minister, Nicola has been busy laying the foundations for major health reform. She has been busy with negotiations at COAG, establishing the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission, focussing our system on health prevention, and delivering a much needed injection of funds into public hospitals and infrastructure funding.

Dr Stan Goldstein
Head of Clinical Advisory, BUPA Australia

Dr Stan Goldstein has worked in health service management in hospitals, in NSW Health in planning and service development and with several NSW Health Ministers. From 1999 he worked in the private health insurance sector in chronic disease management, health technology assessment, quality indicator measurement and substitutive health service delivery.

In 2004 he was appointed to the National Prostheses and Devices Committee and is special advisor to the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing on prostheses and medical devices. He is Research Director for the Australian Centre for Health Research, Research Adviser for the MBF Foundation; Conjoint Associate Professor in Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales.

Dr Michael Bollen
Managing Director, BMP Health care Consulting



Dr Michael Bollen began his general practice career in Ingle Farm where he developed the first community health centre in South Australia. He worked with the RACGP, as Secretary General from 1993–1998. He negotiated recognition of general practice as a specific medical discipline and co-authored “The Future of General Practice: A Strategy for the Nineties and Beyond” – the formation document of Divisions of General Practice. He has been a health commissioner, chair of the Department of Primary and Emergency Care at John Hunter Hospital Newcastle; a non executive director of Medibank Private. Currently he is a non executive director of the Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency and works as a health management consultant.

Professor Phillip Davies
Professor of Health Systems and Policy, School of Population Health, University of Queensland



Professor Philip Davies is a past Deputy Secretary in the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing and has a career of more than 30 years in the health sector.

He has worked as a Deputy Director-General in the New Zealand Health Ministry, as a Senior Health Economist for the World Health Organization, and spent 14 years as a specialist health care management consultant in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

Professor Davies has worked in several developed and developing countries and speaks regularly at national and international health policy conferences. He has an honours (first class) in Mathematics, a Masters in Management Science and Operational Research and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Professor Ian Anderson
Chair, National Indigenous Health Equality Council



Professor Ian Anderson is the Director of the Onemda VicHealth Koori Health Unit in the Centre for Health and Society, Melbourne School of Population Health. He is also the Research Director for the Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health. Professor Anderson chairs the National Indigenous Health Equality Council which was established in 2008. He is the deputy Chair of the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service.

Ian has worked in Aboriginal (Koori) Health for twenty-three years in a number of different jobs: as an Aboriginal health worker, health educator, General Practitioner, policy maker, and academic.

Dr Rob Moodie
Chair, Nossal Institute for Global Health



Professor Moodie is responsible for developing the Disease Prevention and Health Promotion group at the Nossal.

He Chaired the National Preventative Health Taskforce and is acting Chair of the Commission of AIDS in the Pacific.

Professor Moodie also Chairs the Gates Foundation’s Indian HIV prevention program’s Technical Advisory Panel and is a former CEO of VicHealth.

He has advised federal and state ministers on aid and urban development, was Editor-in- Chief of the Health Promotion Journal of Australia and Vice President of the International Union of Health Promotion and Education.

Other work: Save the Children Fund, Médecins Sans Frontières, Congress, Alice Springs Aboriginal Health Service, the Burnet Institute and the WHO, Inaugural Director of Country Programs at UNAIDS.

Professor Moodie has written and spoken extensively on preventive health.

Ms Deena Shiff
Group Managing Director, Telstra Business



Ms Shiff took up her role in 2006 when the unit was established to serve the needs of Australia’s small to medium enterprises.

Telstra Business serves close to a million customers across Australia with annual turnover approaching AUD$4 billion.

Ms Shiff began her telecommunications career in 1989 with Australia’s Overseas Telecommunications Corporation as an adviser on ground-breaking Federal social security and legislative reforms.

After a few years working in law she rejoined Telstra in 1998 as Director of Regulatory. She has been Group MD of Telstra Wholesale and GM Corporate Affairs in the International Business unit.

She is interested in infrastructure investment and has held a number of non-executive directorships and government advisory positions.