Stephen Leeder is Chair of the Western Sydney Local Health District Board in NSW. He took the job because he saw the potential of linking the health network with the new Medicare Local there. His research in recent years has emphasised the necessity for better linkage for people with chronic illness. He is a stuanch believer in information technology as a means to build communication. His major career interests have been in epidmeiology, public health, medical education and health policy.
Speaking On:
Keynote: Saving lives and relieving suffering in general practice: how we will recover our central mission within the new structures
Glenn has over 20 year’s experience in leadership in executive management positions within the Australian hospital and primary healthcare sectors.
Glenn is currently Chief Executive Officer of Ballan District Health & Care where he presided over the building and development of Australia’s first Commonwealth GP Super Clinic.
Glenn was also principal consultant with GR Health Consulting where he provided strategic planning and organizational capacity building advice to the health and medical sectors.
Glenn’s health industry experience, leadership skills and qualifications in psychology, business management and development studies have been well recognized by Federal and State Governments and healthcare organizations throughout Australia.
Speaking On:
Case Study: The GP Super Clinic program objectives in practice: A critical reflection
Panel Discussion: Filling the gaps amongst various stakeholders in integrated primary health care
A general practitioner involved in health system change for more than a decade, Di is the Chair of the NSW General Practice Advisory Council, a member of the NSW Health Care Advisory Council and Co-Chair of the Primary and Community Health Advisory Committee. Di also chairs WentWest: a large regional general practice training provider and one of only two such organisations to also manage divisional services. She has just stepped down after eight years as an RACGP Board member and Chair of the college’s NSW & ACT Faculty, and currently chairs the college’s National Presidential Task Force on Health System Reform.
Through NSW Health, Di is very involved in, and committed to, the evolution of HealthOne NSW, and sees this as a key strategy in building local partnerships between general practitioners, community health, other local services and the communities they serve. The development of a HealthOne community hub model in Mt Druitt is becoming a wonderful example of how such partnerships can form an effective local support platform for significantly disadvantaged patients, families and their carers while making health professionals’ lives more satisfying.
Speaking On:
Working with Medicare Locals to enhance primary health care services
Sinead was educated in Ireland and England and qualified as a Registered General Nurse in 1993 and holds a Masters in business and law. She brings a wealth of experience across the health, prison and local government sectors in the United Kingdom.
Before arriving in Australia in April 2009 Sinead was the Executive Director for Nursing, Primary Care and Governance of a London Primary Care Trust.
In April 2009 Sinead moved to South Australia to support SA Health in the reform of health care services. In her position as Executive Director, Statewide Service Strategy in the SA Department of Health, Sinead is leading clinical service planning and reform in the State and driving forward the implementation of the SA Health Care Plan launched by Government in June 2007.
Speaking On:
Providing integrated & coordinated healthcare to the residents of South Australia through GP Plus Strategies
Panel Discussion: Filling the gaps amongst various stakeholders in integrated primary health care
Dr Calin Pava arrived in Australia in 1996. After completing the Australian Medical Council examinations, in 2000 he moved into General Practice. In 2002 after achieving FRACGP he became a Principal at the City Medical Centre in Devonport, Tasmania – a Practice that was the successful applicant for the Australian Government Super Clinic initiative funding in Devonport.
Currently he is a Director of the Devonport GP Superclinic, is involved with the teaching of medical students at the University of Tasmania and is a supervisor of GP Registrars with GP Training Tasmania. He has a special interest in the use of information technology in General Practice and is an advocate of increasing Practice efficiency through the use of electronic mediums.
Speaking On:
How to use information technology to improve practice efficiency
Panel Discussion: How to create a patient centric model while remaining financially viable
Garry Taylor is Chief Executive Officer of Adelaide Unicare, a Controlled Entity of the University of Adelaide.
He graduated with a Ph.D in Chemistry and has been General Manager of Gribbles Pathology (now Healthscope) both in Australia and in Malaysia.
He has been CEO of Benson Radiology in South Australia and General Manager of Mayne Imaging in Victoria.
He currently managers 6 medical practices throughout urban and rural South Australia and in particular, the UniHealth Playford GP Super Clinic.
Speaking On:
Getting a GP Super Clinic up & running on budget and on time
Panel Discussion: How to create a patient centric model while remaining financially viable
Professor Reed is a primary health care researcher based at Flinders University. He seeks to discover better ways of improving chronic disease management in primary care for older people with multiple chronic diseases who challenge the health care system and account for the majority of health care costs. He is particularly interested in promoting patient centred-primary care which supports health literacy and promotes self-management. He is currently working on several projects on how to integrate and coordinate care for those at highest risk. He is also on the Board of Directors of General Practice Network South, General Practice South Australia, Southern Adelaide and Fleurieu Medicare Local, Sturt Fleurieu General Practice Education and Training Program and is on the Project Management Advisory Committee of the Australian Primary Care Collaboratives. He is also an active clinician working in several areas in General Practice.
Speaking On:
Welcome remarks from the Chair
Coordinating & integrating care for people with complex chronic disease: Achieving the triple aim
Chris Fox is currently the CEO and Company Secretary of Central Bayside Community Health Services, and Chair of the Kingston/Bayside Primary Care Partnership. He is also a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management.
Chris has held a number of senior positions in health, including CEO of Eastern Health, CEO and Board Director of Peninsula Health Care Network, CEO of Box Hill Hospital and the General Manager of the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne.
Prior to working in health, Chris was the Chief Civil Engineer of the Public Transport Corporation in Victoria.
Speaking On:
Welcome remarks from the Chair
How community based health providers can work with Medicare Locals to achieve integrated care
Panel Discussion: Filling the gaps amongst various stakeholders in integrated primary health care
Rod is the former CEO of the Inner East Community Health Service, a position he has held for the last 15 years. He has been the CEO of two other Victorian community health services prior to this.
He is involved in the planning and implementation of a number of Super Clinic and related projects and provides strategic advice to many primary healthcare organizations.
He has an academic background in Education, Research and Policy.
Speaking On:
Opening Address: An overview of the reform process
Brett Cowling has committed his professional journey to improvements in health service delivery across the continuum of care. His Leadership of Health Service Delivery has evolved form a variety of challenging national and international settings of acute and community services in Indonesia, Northern Territory, Queensland in State Health and more recently broadened his research in Public Health as a Director of World Vision Pacific Development Group. This role has focused on setting the direction for improvements Maternal and Child Health in the Pacific and developing a sustainable indigenous workforce plan to align with the strategic direction. Brett has also lead health response teams in conflict and disaster zones of Banda Aceh and Solomon Islands.
Experts in community level health development believe that there is growing individual, social and political concern for what constitutes health. Brett maintains that when you engage and enable individuals, families and communities to drive their own well-being, sustainable community development will be effective and measurable. Primary Health Care needs to capitalise on these factors such as self care, social support and mutual aid, advocacy and action. This aims to preserve health support networks in communities that encourage individual and family ownership of health outcomes, local health action groups as well as access to valid, culturally relevant and intelligible information.
Brett is passionate about utilizing a strong evidence base to drive change through people and utilizes a multidisciplinary approach to drive Primary Health Care outcomes.
Speaking On:
How the primary health continuum functions from a remote setting through to secondary and tertiary health care
Hans Zoellner graduated in dentistry in Sydney and commenced general practice in Wagga Wagga from 1983 to 1985. He then returned to Sydney to study towards a PhD at the Institute of Dental Research investigating vascular changes in chronic periodontitis.
This was followed by work as a post-doctoral scientist, initially in the Department of Medicine at Royal Melbourne Hospital for the University of Melbourne, and then as a Lise Meitner Research Fellow in the Department of Physiology at the University of Vienna.
In 1995, he returned to his current position at University of Sydney, working as a Senior Lecturer in Oral Pathology, and since 2005 has been Associate Professor and head of that department.
His research has been primarily in vascular aspects of chronic inflammation, wound healing and tumour invasion, but he has more recently turned his attention to aspects of public dental health policy. He has taught and examined in basic and systemic pathology for the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons since 1998.
In 2003, he and a number of colleagues established a think-tank and advocacy group, the Association for the Promotion of Oral Health, of which he is the chairman.
Speaking On:
Ensuring the integration of dental health within primary health care
Panel Discussion: Filling the gaps amongst various stakeholders in integrated primary health care
Megan Somerville is the General Manager of Kardinia Health (GP Super Clinic Geelong, Victoria). Prior to this Megan was the Practice Development Manager at the GP Association of Geelong and also spent time at The Royal Melbourne Hospital as a Senior Medical Workforce Consultant. Megan has a passion for rural health, and through the Australasian College of Health Service Management completed a 2 year rural management residency. Megan has completed her nursing degree, an MBA, and plans to re start her law degree in 2012. Megan was also a finalist in the 2011 National HESTA Primary Health Care Youth Leader Awards.
Speaking On:
Panel Discussion: How to create a patient centric model while remaining financially viable
Allied health modelling & integration
Naree is currently an Assistant Director of Nursing in the Division of Rehabilitation, Aged and Community Care based at The Canberra Hospital, ACT. She has been responsible for launching the first Public Nurse-led Clinic in Australia which is now 18 months old.
Naree completed a Diploma of Applied Science, Nursing at the Sydney Adventist Hospital in 1985. Following three years working as a Registered Nurse on a surgical ward she then upgraded to a Bachelor of Applied Science (Advanced Nursing), La Trobe University. Naree went on to complete a Stomal Therapy Certificate at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney and a Midwifery Certificate, Victoria. After working as a registered nurse in a range of clinical areas, Naree became a lecturer in the School of Nursing at the Sydney Adventist Hospital. A few years later she joined a Business Process Reengineering Team which led into a role as Quality Manager for the same 340 bed private hospital. Following a very successful outcome, at that organisation, with ACHS accreditation, Naree joined the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards based in Sydney for the next 3 years.
Naree moved from Sydney to Canberra in 2003 with her husband and two children,. She joined the staff at Calvary Healthcare ACT till 2009 where she held a number of nursing roles culminating in a role to oversee the introduction of comprehensive program designed to improve patient and staff satisfaction involving key focus areas such as: “rounding,” “keywords at key times,” “AIDET,” “Scoreboards,” and “workload management.” for which she and her colleagues were the overall winners of the ACT Health Quality Awards in 2009.
Speaking On:
Case Study: Overview of the first public nurse led walk in centre
Has been in General Practice for over 30 years, much of this in Bendigo, but also overseas.
He has been a solo GP, developed a multi-professional “GP Super Clinic” in Bendigo in 1992, as well as having worked in the Medical Corporate context. Over the last 5 years he has been involved with community based health organisations and Monash University Regional Clinical school in Bendigo.
He has specific clinical interests in Aged Care, Work Related injuries ( WorkCover ), Mental Health, and chronic pain management.
For over 20 years, he has been involved in Medical Education with the GP Training program, and is a Senior Examiner for the Royal Australian College of GPs.
He also holds an academic position with Monash University Rural Clinical School in Bendigo, and is very enthusiastic about Inter Professional Education and Practice.
Since the inception he has been very involved with the development of the Bendigo Primary Care Centre (BPCC), having been a small and large practice operator in the past.
The BPCC will have a focus on innovation in primary healthcare, and Teaching and Training of Regional and Rural Health Professionals.
Speaking On:
Case Study: Offering public interdisciplinary services



