GOVERNANCE
The Australian Centre for Value-Based Health Care was established by the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association (AHHA) in 2019. The Centre is not separately incorporated and operates in accordance with the AHHA’s Corporate Governance Charter.
The strategic direction of the Centre is determined under the advisement of the Australian Centre for Value-Based Health Care Advisory Group.
Dr Deborah Cole – Advisory Group Chair
BDSc, GradDipHealthAdmin, MBA, GradCertLead&CathCulture, FAICD, FICD
Appointed in February 2011, Deborah has substantial experience in managing major public healthcare organisations. She has over 20 years' experience in leadsership roles, and has held CEO positions at Calvary Health Care and Yarra City Council as well as senior executive positions at Mercy Health and St Vincent’s Health. Deborah is the immediate Past Chair of the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association.
Olivia Pantelidis
Olivia Pantelidis is the Executive Director of Strategy and Planning at the Victorian Department of Health. In this and her previous roles she has led the strategic direction towards Value Based Health Care.
Throughout Olivia’s career she has focused on roles in healthcare management and leadership. Olivia is known as a strategic leader who is committed to improving healthcare by creating integrated systems that minimise fragmentation and focus on the delivery of safe and equitable care. She is experienced in shifting cultures and has a balanced approach between systems thinking and practical outcomes within complex environments.
Her academic qualifications include a Bachelor of Arts and Masters of Public Health and is preparing for the commencement of her MBA.
Dr Rachel David
Chief Executive, Private Healthcare Australia
MBBS, MBA, GAICD
Dr Rachel David is an expert on healthcare policy and financing, and is currently the chief executive of Private Healthcare Australia, the industry peak body representing health funds.
Previously a senior advisor to the Federal Health Minister between 1996 and 2000, her relationships in the government sector and Australian business community extend to the highest levels.
In her current role, Dr David undertakes policy and advocacy work, as well as thought leadership for Australia’s major health funds.
Adjunct Prof Paresh Dawda
General Practitioner and Director and Principal of Prestantia Health
Paresh is a practising GP with a portfolio of roles spanning clinical, leadership, academic and consultancy domains. He is Director and Principal of Prestantia Health, a unique organisation providing outreach primary care services and consultancy services. He is the Editor-in-Chief for BMJ’s Integrated Healthcare Journal. He has a strong focus on large scale change and transformation centred on primary care and is committed to integration as a vehicle to enable value based care. Above all he has a passion for clinical leadership, quality and patient safety improvement centred around a vision of patient centred medicine as the golden thread that unites all his diverse interests
George Leipnik
Director, Strategy and System Priorities, NSW Ministry of Health
George Leipnik is Director of Strategy and System Priorities at the NSW Ministry of Health. His team is leading the implementation of Future Health, the ten-year strategy for NSW Health. This includes key objectives such as supporting the system to deliver better value care, and coordinating the state-wide collections of self-reported information from patients, carers, the community and staff. George has worked for NSW Health for 12 years in a range of roles including service and capital planning, health technology policy and economic analysis. He has been an advisor at the NSW Department of Planning and Environment and managed operations for a climate change NGO.
His academic qualifications include a Bachelor of Commerce (USYD) and Master of Policy Studies (UNSW).
Peter Maree
Manager Strategy and Planning, Health Planning Unit, Department of Health, Tasmania
Peter has over 20 years’ of experience across health, working in private practice, the corporate and public sectors in South Africa, Ireland and Australia. He is a keen advocate for improving health system design at all levels to better enable people to engage with care.
Peter is the Manager of Strategy and Planning in the Tasmanian Department of Health. His team is leading the implementation of Value-Based Health Care across the State and is focussing on building capability with stakeholders across the commissioning cycle. Peter is well into his PhD, investigating health care delivery and patient complexity.
Professor Michael Pervan
CEO of the Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority.
Michael has over 25 years experience in the health and human services systems in Australia. He has held senior positions in the Western Australian and Tasmanian health systems. He was Secretary of the Tasmanian Department of Health for 6 years. He has been chair of the Australian Health Ministers Advisory Council and has chaired the Mental Health and Clinical Principal Committees of the Council. He has been a member of AHHA Council for over ten years.
Professor Christobel Saunders
AO, MB BS, FRCS, FRACS, FAAHMS
Professor Christobel Saunders is internationally recognised as one of Australia’s most prominent research-orientated cancer surgeons. Christobel has substantially contributed to many aspects of breast cancer research including clinical trials of new treatments, psychosocial, translational and health services research and is active in several areas of surgical oncology cancer research, with a particular emphasis on breast cancer.
Christobel was awarded a $5m grant to undertake research into value-based healthcare in WA, has performed research for >25 years evaluating the efficacy and utility of therapy for early breast cancer, sits on boards of a number of cancer organisations and has been publicly acknowledged through numerous awards and honours. Christobel is the current James Stewart Chair of Surgery at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
Dr Heather Buchan
Senior Medical Advisor, Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care
Dr Heather Buchan is a public health physician who has worked in health policy and medical management roles in New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Australia.
Dr Buchan has a longstanding interest in ways to increase the effectiveness and appropriateness of health care, including methods to improve communication between patients and clinicians, and in the implementation of change in health care settings.
She is now a Senior Medical Advisor at the Commission and undertakes work across a number of programs, primarily with the healthcare variation team or related to embedding safety and quality in health practitioner education. She is also Conjoint Associate Professor, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle.
Dr John Slater
B.Ec.Hons (UNE). Grad.Dip.Hlth.Ec&Eval (Monash). DBA (UOW)
Honorary Senior Fellow, Australian Health Services Research Institute (AHSRI), Faculty of Business and Law (UOW)
Director, Health Economics and Analytics Team (HEAT) at SA Health
John is an experienced senior executive. He has extensive experience in the Australian health care sector, as a C-level executive advisor, health policy manager, strategic policy analyst and developer, applied econometrician, and health economist.
John's capabilities include executive leadership and communication skills bringing together diverse stakeholders, leading the design, development, analysis, and implementation of system-wide strategic policy solutions, funding models, economic evaluations, benchmarking and productivity studies, equity models to advance allocative efficiency, models of care assessment, performance management, contract development, government relations, national health care funding and industry negotiations.
John is passionate about the advancement of health outcomes, improvements in health equity and the contribution of value based health care across the whole continuum of care for health system sustainability.
John is originally from Sydney, and currently lives with his two children in Adelaide.
Gillian Giles
BAppSc (Speech Path), MPH, GAICD
Gillian is Director, Healthcare Variation at the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. She leads a team of project staff to produce the Australian Atlas of Healthcare Variation series and manages a program of work focused on system change to improve the appropriateness of health care.
With a clinical background in speech pathology, Gillian has worked in both state and Commonwealth health departments and is experienced in policy development and service planning.
AProf Louise Stone
MBBS BA DipRACOG GDFamMed MPH MQHR MSHCT PhD FRACGP FACRRM FASPM
Association Professor, Social Foundations of Medicine, ANU School of Medicine and Psychology
Louise is a general practitioner with clinical, research, education and policy expertise in mental health. She is an Associate Professor in the Social Foundations of Medicine group at the ANU Medical School, and lecture in the Masters of Culture, Health and Medicine program where she teaches a curriculum integrating social science and medicine.
Louise has worked in urban, regional, rural and remote Australia, and is currently a GP at The Junction, where she works with young people who are homeless or otherwise experienced disadvantage. Her research expertise is in implementation science and qualitative methodologies.
Dr Helen Brown
Deputy Director-General, Clinical Excellence Queensland, Queensland Health
Dr Helen Brown graduated from medicine from the National University of Ireland, Galway. She relocated to Queensland in 2001 and attained her neurology fellowship with the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. She was awarded a Master of Philosophy from Griffith University in 2011.
She is the Deputy Director-General, Clinical Excellence Queensland. She was the Director of Neurology and Stroke at the Princess Alexandra Hospital from 2014-2021, where she implemented a successful clinical redesign program for the neurology outpatient service. She then transitioned to the roles of Clinical Director of the Neurosciences Division at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, and Director of the Neurosciences Research Institute at Metro North Health.
She is passionate about ongoing education and is the Queensland Chair for the Australian and New Zealand Association for Neurologists (ANZAN) Education Committee and a Senior Lecturer with the University of Queensland. Her area of sub-specialty expertise is stroke, and she was previously the co-Chair of the Statewide Stroke Clinical Network.