Gail Whiteford

Professor Gail Whiteford is currently Head of the Albury-Wodonga campus of Charles Sturt University and was formerly the Head of School of Community Health and the Director of a CSU strategic research centre. She holds concurrent appointments as an adjunct professor at Dalhousie University in Canada, and at James Cook University in Queensland.

Professionally, Gail sits on the editorial boards of 2 international journals and is a member of an International Advisory Group on Occupational Science. She is widely published and in the last three years she has given invited and keynote presentations in Turkey, South Africa, England, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and Thailand and early in 2005 was particularly honored to present at a United Nations conference. Last year she was involved in a European Union training initiative with 143 participants from 14 European countries. Earlier this year Gail joined 11 other invited scholars from different countries and different discipline backgrounds in a think tank on Life Balance, funded by the Canadian Government. Later in 2007 she will a scholar in residence at the University of Western Ontario and will be a guest lecturer in Bordeaux, France.

Gail was included in the first edition of the Who’s Who of Australian Women published in 2006. She is passionate about Women in Leadership and established a research network for women in the university and mentors a number of women at different career stages.

Matt Hanrahan

Matt has over 17 years experience in the health industry across all spectrums (primary, secondary and tertiary) in the public, private and not for profit sectors.

He is currently the CEO of the Alliance of NSW Divisions a position he has held since September 2006, prior to this he was CEO of the Central Coast Division of General Practice for 6 years and subsequent to that was business manager for Community Health, Allied Health and Rehabilitation and Aged Care Services for Central Coast Area Health Service.  A position he held for 6 years.

He also has a background in Allied Health.

Matt has a Masters degree in Health Administration, is a member of the Australian College of Health Service Executives and is a fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Rob Curry

Rob is a physiotherapist by training with extensive experience in Indigenous health care in the Top End of the Northern Territory.  He has a keen interest in aged and disability care issues and primary health care applications in rural and remote contexts.  He is currently a Board member of the Australian Physiotherapy Association, Allied Health Professions Australia, and General Practice Primary Health Care NT, and was a founding member of SARRAH.  He currently holds the position of Programs Manager at the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance of the NT in Darwin.

Shelagh Lowe

Shelagh has a professional background in physiotherapy. She has lived and worked on the east coast of Tasmania since 1985. Shelagh has been an advocate for rural and remote allied health services and the allied health workforce since 1997, through involvement with the Australian Physiotherapy Association, the rural and remote subcommittee of the Health Professions Council of Australia, the National Rural Health Alliance and more recently through her position as the Executive Officer of Services for Australian Rural and Remote Allied Health (SARRAH).

David Rhodes

David is the Director, Allied Health Services in the Hunter New England Area Health Service.  Other positions he has held include:

• Social Work Consultant, Australian Medical Team, Qatar
• management positions at the Royal Blind Society of NSW
• Area Co-ordinator, Community Health, Greater Murray Health Region
• Director Health Professional Services, The Canberra Hospital.

He has been active in national activities including:

• The steering committee for the formation of Allied Health Professions Australia
• the National Allied Health Classification Committee and its numerous Commonwealth funded project
• the National Allied Health Benchmarking Consortium.
• The Allied Health Management Information System Consortium and its projects.

David is the current chair of the NSW Directors of Allied Health Council

Janet Anderson

Janet Anderson is Director, Inter-Government and Funding Strategies in the NSW Department of Health, and Adjunct Professor jointly in the Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Health and the Faculty of Education at the University of Technology, Sydney.  Janet’s current scope of responsibilities in the Health Department encompasses roles as diverse as leading NSW negotiations for the new Australian Health Care Agreement, and managing the statewide implementation of HealthOne NSW (involving GPs and community health staff working as integrated multidisciplinary teams).  Prior to taking up her current position in September 2006, Janet led a major statewide planning exercise to develop long-range strategic directions for the NSW public health system.  Janet has also held the position of Director, Primary Health and Community Partnerships.  In the course of the many years Janet has worked in the health sector, she has had responsibility for policy, planning and service development processes at both Health Department and Area Health Service levels, and in the Australian Government Department of Veterans’ Affairs.