Advisory Board

Chair: Mr Pat Grier

Mr Pat Grier has been employed as an executive in the private health care industry for more than 20 years. In June 2008, he retired as Managing Director of Ramsay Health Care Limited after joining the Company in 1988 and serving at the helm since 1994.

During this time, he oversaw the successful float of Ramsay Health Care Limited on the Australian Stock Exchange in 1997 and growth in annual revenues from approximately $200 million to more than $3 billion (2008 financial year). He oversaw a series of successful transforming acquisitions which saw Ramsay Health Care Limited grow to becoming one of Australia’s most respected and largest private hospital operators. Prior to joining Ramsay, he was with Hospital Corporation Australia.

He has served as both President and Chairman of the Australian Private Hospitals Association and sits on a number of industry committees. He was one of the main architects of the balanced health care system in Australia. Pat served as an Executive Director on the Ramsay Health Care Board for 12 years and from 1 July 2008 continues as a non-executive Director of the Ramsay Health Care Board.

Mr Grier also serves as a director on the Board of Prime Media Group Limited (Appointed June 2008).

Professor James A Angus AO, BSc PhD (Syd) FAA.  Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne

James Angus was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne in July 2003. Before becoming Dean, he was Professor and Head of the Department of Pharmacology and Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences. At the University of Melbourne, Professor Angus has been President of the Academic Board (2000-2001) and Pro Vice-Chancellor (1999-2001).

Professor Angus was awarded the Gottschalk Medal of the Australian Academy of Science (1984), is a Fellow of the Academy (FAA) and has been a member of its Council.  In 2003 he was awarded Australia's Centenary Medal for contribution to Pharmacology and the Community.

Professor Angus was a First Vice-President of the International Union of Pharmacology (IUPHAR) and was President of the Australasian Society of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacologists and Toxicologists.

His current roles include President of Medical Deans Australia and New Zealand (elected in 2009), directorships of the Walter & Eliza Hall Institute, Bionic Ear Institute, Mental Health Research Institute, Melbourne Health, IJV PCCC and Victor Smorgon Institute at Epworth Pty Ltd. He is the Honorary Secretary, Victorian Rhodes Scholarship.

He was appointed an officer to The Order of Australia in 2010 for distinguished service to biomedical research, particularly in the fields of pharmacology and cardiovascular disease, as a leading academic and medical educator, and as a contributor to a range of advisory boards and professional organisations both nationally and internationally.

Professor Terry Nolan

Professor Terry Nolan is Foundation Head of the University of Melbourne School of Population Health, a unique academic enterprise linking public health and biomedical science with the humanities and social sciences.

He leads a School that focuses its research on policy-relevant issues in health services and equity and social justice issues that impact on health (such as human rights, freedom from violence, gender and Indigenous origin), and on the genetic and environmental determinants of disease.

Based in the School are the Centre for MEGA Epidemiology, Centre for Health and Society (jointly with Faculty of Arts), McCaughey Centre (VicHealth Centre for Promotion of Mental Health and Community Wellbeing), Key Centre for Women’s Health in Society, Centre for International Mental Health, and the Centre for Health Policy, Programs and Economics.

Professor Nolan is also Associate Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences (MDHS), Director of the NHMRC Centre for Clinical Research Excellence in Immunisation, and was a member of the University’s Knowledge Transfer Task Force in 2006.

His research focuses on the evaluation of vaccines, the epidemiology of respiratory viruses, and on mathematical modelling of vaccine-preventable diseases. He leads the School’s Vaccine and Immunisation Research Group which is a joint program with Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI).

In recent projects Professor Nolan has worked with the Australian Government and CSL Ltd in evaluating candidate vaccines to potentially protect against bird flu-derived human pandemic influenza.

He sees a need to direct far greater research investment into primary prevention of disease and injury, citing recent recognition by governments (eg, the Australian Government’s Intergenerational Report) that future economic growth and stability are crucially dependent on a healthy and productive workforce, and that prevention rather than increasingly expensive treatment is the most efficient means to achieve this outcome.

Among other priorities, he cites the need to make real advances in Indigenous health in Australia through a major expansion in the Indigenous health workforce and research capability, and through effective policy development and implementation.

Professor Nolan has a Bachelor of Medical Science with first class honours from the University of Western Australia, a PhD from McGill University in Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and specialist training in paediatrics at the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH Melbourne) and Montreal Children’s Hospital.

He was deputy head of Paediatrics (MDHS) based at RCH before taking up his current position, and was Associate Director of MCRI.

Professor Katherine McGrath

Originally trained as a haematologist, Katherine has held active clinician, academic, and senior executive positions in the Victorian and New South Wales health systems. These have included Chief Executive Officer of Hunter Area Health Service and Deputy Director General, NSW Health. Katherine is a Professor of Pathology at the University of Newcastle.

During her time as Chief Executive Officer, Hunter Health was recognised as one of the most innovative and successful health services in Australia. At NSW Health she led the Clinical Service Redesign Program, an ambitious program of clinical service reform across NSW Health which led to substantial improvement in access to emergency departments, elective surgery and innovative programs for chronic disease and aged care management.
She is a member of the Australian Commission for Safety & Quality in Health Care and Chair of the Advisory Committee for its National Hand Hygiene Initiative. Katherine recently joined Medibank Private Limited in May 2008 as Group Manager, Corporate & Medical Affairs.

Professor Des Gorman

Des graduated from the University with a BSc in 1975, and an MBChB in 1978. He continued his education with a PhD at the University of Sydney, which he completed while he was serving with the Australian Navy. During this time he emerged as dux of the Royal Navy Submarine School Officers' Course and was named Royal Australian Navy Officer of the Year.

On returning to New Zealand, Des was Director of Medical Services for the Royal New Zealand Navy from 1989 to 1995.

In 1995 he joined the staff of the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences as head of the Department of Occupational Medicine. Des has held a Professorial Chair in Medicine at The University of Auckland since 2000. He is a member of the Liggins Institute and has been Director of Admissions for Medical Programmes from 2003.

In October 2005 Des was appointed as Head of the School of Medicine, becoming in the process the first alumnus to head up one of the five schools the faculty represents.

Through his academic career he has had 218 papers published internationally and has made 36 keynote presentations to international conferences, most in his specialist field of diving and hyperbaric medicine.

Mr Andrew Way

Andrew Way commenced as CEO of Alfred Health on 1 July 2009. Alfred Health provides services from three hospital sites in inner south east Melbourne, as well as a wide range of community services. The Alfred, the largest and best known of these sites is co-located with the Baker IDI, Burnet Institute and Monash University, together forming the Alfred Medical Research and Education Precinct – AMREP. Andrew holds an adjunct clinical associate professorship from Monash University.

Prior to his relocation to Melbourne Andrew has had an extensive career in the NHS in the UK, most recently as CEO of Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust, a major London teaching hospital associated with University College London. Whilst there he helped support the creation of one of the UK's Academic Health Science Centres, UCLPartners, a joint venture between UCL, UCL Hospitals, Great Ormond St Hospital, Moorfields Hospital and the Royal Free - a venture with nearly £2bn turnover. In addition to his keen interest in the development of clinical academic medicine, Andrew has created initiatives in patient safety, service process design and improvement, within the context of strong financial results.