Working Group
Driving the direction of the Partnership is a Working Group that brings together clinical education, peak standard setting and representation bodies for health professionals, community, and relevant government agencies. Dedicated Sub-Working Groups are established to address specific issues and projects of the Partnership.
Dr Kym Jenkins, Chair
Dr Kym Jenkins represents The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP). More
Dr Jenkins is also a member of the Partnership’s Sub-Working Group on Refugee Women’s Health. After moving from the United Kingdom to Australia in 1986 Dr Jenkins worked in General Practice before commencing psychiatry training and completed her Fellowship with RANZCP in 1998. Dr Jenkins has held a range of roles as a Consultant Psychiatrist in both the public and private sectors. She is currently Medical Director/Senior Clinician of the Victorian Doctors Health Program, runs a small private practice and is an adjunct Senior Lecturer at Monash University. Dr Jenkins was a member of the RANZCP General Council from 2005 2010. She was elected to the College’s inaugural Board in 2013 for a three-year term, during which period she was the inaugural Chair of the Membership Engagement Committee. Her term as RANZCP President commences in May 2017.
Carla Wilshire, Deputy Chair
Carla Wilshire is the CEO of the Migration Council Australia—Australia’s national research and policy institution on migration, settlement and social cohesion. More
Carla has a background in policy development, corporate governance and tertiary research. She has worked as a public servant and advisor to Government, principally in the area of migration and resettlement, including as Chief of Staff to the Minister for Multicultural Affairs. Carla is a member of the Judicial Council on Cultural Diversity, which provides policy advice to the Council of Chief Justices of Australia on improving access to justice for culturally and linguistically diverse Australians. Carla is also a member of the National Anti-Racism Partnership and co-founded the Friendly Nation Initiative, which aims to link corporate Australia with the settlement community to improve employment outcomes for refugees.
Kate Munnings
Kate Munnings is the Chief Operating Officer at Ramsay Health Care, with responsibility for Ramsay’s extensive hospital operations across Australia. More
Kate has also served as a Board Member for South East Sydney Local Health District. Qualifying as a registered nurse in the 1980’s, Kate then completed a Bachelor of Health Science and a Bachelor of Laws. In 2003, she was appointed as a partner at Corrs Chambers Westgarth. Kate then joined the partnership at international firm Baker McKenzie where she held a number of leadership positions. In 2006, Kate moved to the international company Transfield Services Limited and was accountable for Legal & Corporate Governance, Risk & Commercial Management, and Procurement & Corporate Communication. Kate was later appointed to the role of Chief Executive of Operations where she had operational responsibility for the Logistics, Construction & Consulting businesses that provided services, largely for State and Commonwealth Governments.
Leanne Laidler
Leanne Laidler is the National Deputy Clinical Governance Manager at Ramsay Health Care.
Associate Professor Christine Phillips, Chair
Christine Phillips is Associate Professor of Social Foundations of Medicine at the ANU Medical School, Medical Director of Companion House Medical Service, the ACT’s refugee health service, a member of the Institute for Communication in Healthcare, and Chair of the Refugee Health Network of Australia. More
She is a general practitioner with qualifications in anthropology, public health and teaching. For over a decade, Christine has advocated through policy, research and education for better use of interpreters in medical settings, and improved cross-cultural communication in health.
Dr Cathy Hutton
Dr Cathy Hutton represents the Australian Medical Association (AMA). More
Dr Hutton is a GP in a large general practice in Essendon, offering antenatal, family planning and women’s health care as well as management of acute and chronic disease. Dr Hutton is also a Director at the North West Melbourne Primary Health Network and a Director at Western Health. She has previously worked on the Board of the Royal Women’s hospital and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Service. With a broad knowledge of the health system, Dr Hutton has a strong interest in improving patient outcomes, particularly by promoting patient centred care and developing evidence based systems to improve the patient journey and the facilitation of communication.
Associate Professor Jacqueline Boyle
Associate Professor Jacqueline Boyle represents The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. More
Associate Professor Boyle also chairs the Partnership’s Sub-Working Group on Refugee Women’s Health. Associate Professor Boyle is an obstetrician and gynaecologist, and heads the Indigenous and Refugee Women’s Health Program at Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation. Associate Professor Boyle works clinically in refugee women’s health in Victoria and in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women’s health in outreach services in the Northern Territory, as well as in research, translation and education nationally. She also holds an honorary appointment at the Menzies School of Health Research in Darwin. Her research interests are in women’s health across the life-course with a focus on a healthy start to life—pre-pregnancy through to early childhood.
Dr Susan Sdrinis
Dr Susan Sdrinis represents The Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators. More
Dr Sdrinis is a specialist Medical Administrator currently working part-time as Director Medical Services, Governance at Alfred Health in Melbourne. She also works as a health care consultant, undertaking a range of projects within hospitals and other health care related organisations. She has previously worked as a Senior Medical Advisor in the Victorian Department of Human Services (now Department of Health) and as Executive Director Medical Services, Quality and Clinical Governance at Peninsula Health. She is a surveyor for the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards, the Postgraduate Medical Council of Victoria, and the Australian Medical Council. Her areas of interest are clinical governance, credentialing and professional management of medical staff, and health policy.
Dr Georgia Karabatsos
Dr Georgia Karabatsos represents The Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators. More
Dr Karabatsos is the National Medical Director—Telephone, Online and Population Health Services at Medibank Health Solutions. Dr Karabatsos has over 20 years of experience in General Practice and has also worked in non-clinical environments, including hospital liaison, undergraduate and postgraduate education, clinical research, evaluation and policy development as chair of the After Hours Primary Medical Care Evaluation and Policy Advisory Group. She was previously the National Medical Director for Telephone Triage Services, providing clinical oversight to the telephonic services, including Nurse Triage, After Hours GP Helpline, and counselling and mental health services. Dr Karabatsos’s skills include General Practice, medical education research and program evaluation. Dr Karabatsos has postgraduate training in Family Planning, and a Certificate of Health Program Evaluation.
Dr Elizabeth Hessian
Dr Liz Hessian represents The Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists. More
Dr Hessian is a consultant anaesthetist and Deputy Director of the Department of Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine at Western Health Victoria. She obtained her undergraduate medical degree from University of Sydney (1999), Masters of Public Health through Monash University (2014) and completed her specialty anaesthesia training in 2008. She is a Clinical Lecturer with the University of Melbourne. Since completing speciality training, Dr Hessian has practiced at Western Health, where she leads the obstetric anaesthesia special interest group. She is also the Head of Anaesthesia Research, and her research interests include the implications of obesity in obstetric anaesthesia, simulation and its role in testing non-clinical skills in junior medical staff, and access of culturally and linguistically diverse patients to participation in clinical research trials.
Dr Kim Hansen
Dr Kim Hansen represents The Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM).More
Dr Hansen is an Emergency Physician at The Prince Charles Hospital, a large, suburban hospital with Quaternary Heart and Lung services in Brisbane. Dr Hansen is a member of ACEM’s Council for Advocacy, Practice and Partnerships, Vice-Chair of ACEM’s Quality Sub-Committee and leads Quality, Safety and Patient Flow within her department in Brisbane. In 2016, Dr Hansen became the inaugural Chair of the International Federation of Emergency Medicine’s Quality and Safety Special Interest Group, which aims to promote quality and safety in Emergency Medicine across the globe. She has also been integral in establishing EMER—the Emergency Medicine Events Register—a speciality specific system to report, analyse and improve on incidents that occur in Emergency Departments.
Dr Margaret Kay
Dr Margaret Kay represents The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP). More
Dr kay is also a member of the Partnership’s Sub-Working Group on Refugee Women’s Health. Dr Kay is a part-time general practitioner and a Fellow of RACGP, has a Diploma of Obstetrics and holds an academic title as Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Medicine, UQ. Dr Kay was awarded her PhD on Physician Health in 2013. In 2015, she completed her Certificate with the Oxford International Primary Care Research Leadership Programme. She was the inaugural Chair of the Refugee Health Network of Australia, is a member of the RACGP Refugee Health Special Interest Group and is the Refugee Health Fellow, working with the team at Mater UQ Centre for Integrated Care and Innovation. Dr Kay has extensive research experience working with culturally and linguistically diverse communities and continues to work as a clinician and educator in the field of refugee health.
Dr Jason Schreiber
Dr Jason Schreiber represents The Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (RCPA). More
Dr Schreiber is also a member of the Partnership’s Sub-Working Group on Effective Communication and Interpreting Standards. Dr Schreiber is a Forensic Physician at the Clinical Forensic Department of the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine. He is an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the Department of Forensic Medicine at Monash University. He is a Founding Fellow of the RCPA Faculty of Clinical Forensic Medicine; Member by examination of the Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine of The Royal College of Physicians, United Kingdom; a member of the German Society for Legal Medicine (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Rechtsmedizin) and a member of the French Society of Legal Medicine (Société Française de Médecine Légale). He also worked as an accredited interpreter in England, and held accreditation for translating English into German with the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters.
Adjunct Professor Kylie Ward
Adjunct Professor Kylie Ward represents the Australian College of Nursing. More
Adjunct Professor Ward has more than two decades of experience as a celebrated Nurse Leader and respected Health and Aged Care Executive. Intimately aware of the significant contribution nurse leaders make to health and aged care, community outcomes, individualised care and patient experiences, she also brings an innate passion for people, professionalism, service and leadership to the Australian College of Nursing. Her distinguished career – including nursing with a clinical background in intensive care and aged care, Monash University Lecturer and more recently, as an expert in transformational leadership, culture and change management – has honed Adjunct Professor Ward’s exceptional skills in organisational design, culture shaping and strategy development. She is inspired by the power of leadership to engage and excite people, and ultimately drive business success.
Caroline Humphreys
Nasrin Javid
Nasrin Javid represents the Australian College of Midwives. More
Nasrin is a senior midwife who has provided midwifery care to women with both low risk and high-risk pregnancies for more than 15 years in Australia. She holds a Masters of Science in Medicine (Reproductive Health) from the University of Sydney and has served as research coordinator of three national population-based studies of ‘gestational breast cancer’, ‘vasa praevia’, and ‘massive obstetric haemorrhage’. Nasrin has Iranian heritage and did her midwifery education in Iran before migrating to Australia. She has received several awards, including Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand (PSANZ) New Investigator Award (Midwifery) in 2014 and a PSANZ Early Research Career Travel Award in 2015. Currently a PhD candidate, Nasrin is teaching in Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, as well as working clinically in the Mater Hospital Sydney.
Dr Kudzai Kanhutu
Dr Kudzai Kanhutu represents The Royal Australasian College of Physicians. More
Dr Kanhutu is also a member of the Partnership’s Sub-Working Group on Effective Communication and Interpreting Standards. Dr Kanhutu is an Infectious Diseases physician with a background in immunology and French language studies. As the current refugee health fellow based at Royal Melbourne Hospital, her role involves clinical care provision, advocacy and health care professional education. Through her clinical activities and National board membership with Health Informatics Society Australia, Dr Kanhutu is engaged in research to increase the use of digital health technologies to support refugees and underserved communities.
Dr Sushena Krishnaswamy
Dr Sushena Krishnaswamy MBBS (Hons) (Monash) FRACP Dip Trop Med Hyg (Gorgas, Peru) represents The Royal Australasian College of Physicians. More
Dr Krishnaswamy is an infectious diseases physician at Monash Health with special interests in the health of Indigenous peoples and also infections in pregnancy. She is also completing a PhD on implementation of antenatal vaccination with an interest in the experience of women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
Associate Professor Deborah Colville
Associate Professor Deborah Colville represents The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO) and The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS). More
Associate Professor Colville is a Melbourne ophthalmologist who graduated from Monash in 1975 and is a Fellow of RANZCO and RACS. She has a small private practice in Ivanhoe, NSW. Associate Professor Colville was a Director of Ophthalmology at Austin Repatriation Medical Centre and Chair of the RACS Women in Surgery Committee. Since 2000, she has been Director of Curriculum Development at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital. Associate Professor Colville’s Master of Public Health degree focused on educational program evaluation in health care and she now researches curriculum and public health themes, including ophthalmic public health, gender and curriculum, and women in leadership in vocational education and training.
Dr Kelly O’Donovan
Dr Kelly O’Donovan is a junior doctor working in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at King Edward Memorial Hospital in Western Australia. More
She graduated from the University of WA in 2013 and has completed a specialisation diploma in Indigenous health as well as a basic DRANZCOG. She is currently undertaking a Masters of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Since medical school she has had a consistent interest in health of refugee and migrant populations. This has included coordinating a global health project called Crossing Borders for Health, which organised direct volunteer assistance to families and events to raise awareness on issues pertaining to refugee health. She was also involved in creating an online refugee health resource for medical students through the Rural Clinical School of WA, which forms part of the UWA curriculum. She is currently involved in research with the Refugee Health Service at the Princess Margaret Hospital for Children.
Michelle Wright
Michelle Wright represents the Medical Board of Australia. More
Michelle is a professional independent company director with a background in corporate advisory law. For more than a decade, Michelle has served the interests of health consumers in many aspects of Australia’s health system including health professional regulation (Medical Board of Australia; Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency Community Reference Group), public health service provision (Eastern Health), quasi-judicial decision-making about patient access to particular health treatments (Patient Review Panel), health insurance (Medibank Private), human research ethics (Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee) and patient education and support and medical research (Cancer Council Victoria). Michelle is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Fulbright Scholar.
Mary Patetsos
Mary Patetsos has a blend of academic qualifications and employment experiences covering economic, infrastructure and social policy areas. More
She has experience and skills in auditing and financial modeling, and particularly Health, Aged Care and Housing. Mary is Chair of the South Australian Housing Trust, member of the Aged Care Financing Authority, Chair of the South Australian Local Government Grants Commission and previous Member of the South Australian Social Inclusion Board. As Chair of the Audit Committee of the South Australian Department of Communities and Social Inclusion, Mary is required to apply rigorous scrutiny to sensitive and critical areas of government spending. Mary holds a number of non-executive board positions including Deputy Chair, Aged Care Housing Group, Chair, Power Community Limited Board, Deputy Chair, Health Performance Council, Executive member, Federation of Ethnic Communities Council of Australia and is a member of the National Aged Care Alliance.
Alison Coelho
Alison Coelho is the Acting Co-Executive Manager of the Centre for Culture Ethnicity and Health, Stream Leader Multicultural Health Improvement and Manger of the Multicultural Health and Support Services. More
Alison has a background in Sociology and Community Development. Alison is a sitting member of the Victorian Ministerial Blood Borne Viruses Advisory Committee, a member of the Victorian Hepatitis B Alliance and former Board member of the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO). She is the founding member and Chair of the new Australian Multicultural BBV/STI Alliance and the Co-Chair of AFAO’s African Reference Group. Alison has significant Local Government experience, coordinating population based health planning, and developing and implementing the first prevention based Health Plan in the State. She has also managed the development of Diversity Strategies, Reconciliation Policies and a Women’s Health Initiative for local Government. Having worked around the world, Alison is committed to addressing the social determinants of health at a systemic level and is an advocate for human rights and health equality.
Mr Alan Philp
Alan Philp is currently the National Director of the Preventive Policy Section in the Population Health and Sport Division, Commonwealth Department of Health. More
His responsibilities include Women’s and Men’s Health policy, Management of the Public Health & Chronic Disease Program, National Breastfeeding Strategy, Family Planning Program, Child and Youth Health policy, Men’s Sheds, Population health data and analysis, and Injury Prevention. Having trained as a Nurse and Midwife, his academic qualifications include a Bachelor of Health Science (Nursing) and a Master of Public Health (Medicine, UWA).
Refugee Women’s Health Subgroup
A Sub-Working Group on Refugee Women’s Health was established to support and inform the work of the Partnership, including overseeing projects, with a focus on refugee women’s health. Membership of the Sub-Working Group is predominantly drawn from clinicians, refugee health services, settlement services providers, and government agencies.
Associate Professor Jacqueline Boyle, Chair
Associate Professor Jacqueline Boyle represents The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. More
Associate Professor Boyle also chairs the Partnership’s Sub-Working Group on Refugee Women’s Health. Associate Professor Boyle is an obstetrician and gynaecologist, and heads the Indigenous and Refugee Women’s Health Program at Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation. Associate Professor Boyle works clinically in refugee women’s health in Victoria and in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women’s health in outreach services in the Northern Territory, as well as in research, translation and education nationally. She also holds an honorary appointment at the Menzies School of Health Research in Darwin. Her research interests are in women’s health across the life-course with a focus on a healthy start to life—pre-pregnancy through to early childhood.
Dr Margaret Kay
Dr Margaret Kay represents The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP). More
Dr kay is also a member of the Partnership’s Sub-Working Group on Refugee Women’s Health. Dr Kay is a part-time general practitioner and a Fellow of RACGP, has a Diploma of Obstetrics and holds an academic title as Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Medicine, UQ. Dr Kay was awarded her PhD on Physician Health in 2013. In 2015, she completed her Certificate with the Oxford International Primary Care Research Leadership Programme. She was the inaugural Chair of the Refugee Health Network of Australia, is a member of the RACGP Refugee Health Special Interest Group and is the Refugee Health Fellow, working with the team at Mater UQ Centre for Integrated Care and Innovation. Dr Kay has extensive research experience working with culturally and linguistically diverse communities and continues to work as a clinician and educator in the field of refugee health.
Dr Kym Jenkins
Dr Kym Jenkins represents The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP). More
Dr Jenkins is also a member of the Partnership’s Sub-Working Group on Refugee Women’s Health. After moving from the United Kingdom to Australia in 1986 Dr Jenkins worked in General Practice before commencing psychiatry training and completed her Fellowship with RANZCP in 1998. Dr Jenkins has held a range of roles as a Consultant Psychiatrist in both the public and private sectors. She is currently Medical Director/Senior Clinician of the Victorian Doctors Health Program, runs a small private practice and is an adjunct Senior Lecturer at Monash University. Dr Jenkins was a member of the RANZCP General Council from 2005 2010. She was elected to the College’s inaugural Board in 2013 for a three-year term, during which period she was the inaugural Chair of the Membership Engagement Committee. Her term as RANZCP President commences in May 2017.
Caroline Humphreys
Danielle Rule
Danielle Rule represents the Australian College of Nursing. More
In her 17 years working as a qualified midwife, Danielle was involved in multiple women’s health projects including the creation of a new model of antenatal education, providing assessment and referral pathways for perinatal research and in the creation of new care pathways to improve access, health outcomes, and care coordination for families. Danielle recently provided nursing leadership as a refugee nurse, working in an innovative care model developed in response to the needs of refugees and asylum seekers. Danielle currently works for Peninsula Health in Melbourne’s South Eastern suburbs, providing support and education for general practitioners. Danielle excels at relationship building, enhancing communication and collaboration between departments and organisations.
Gail Ker OAM
Gail Ker OAM is the CEO of Access Community Services. More
Over the past 20 years, Gail Ker’s vast industry experience and arguably unrivalled expertise in the Australian multicultural, humanitarian and community sectors has seen her change countless lives for the better. A nationally lauded and award winning visionary, Gail leads her nearly 300 staff in pursuit of creating social, cultural and economic experiences and opportunities that transform the lives of individuals and communities globally. Renowned for her expertise in innovative service solutions, Gail is a recognised thought-leader in needs-based community planning, innovative business models, social cohesion, strategic partnerships, employment pathways and strategic direction. Under her leadership, Access has grown into one of Australia’s leading organisations in the provision of settlement, employment, training, youth-support, housing and social enterprise services for migrants, refugees and Australian-born clients. Working at the cutting edge of policy and sector engagement, Gail’s knowledge is actively sought by politicians, industry leaders and research bodies, nationally and internationally.
Dr Mitchell Smith
Dr Mitchell Smith is a public health physician who has been involved in the health care of refugees for 25 years, both overseas and in Australia. More
Since 1999, he has been Director of the NSW Refugee Health Service, a NSW Health-funded unit based in South Western Sydney. The Service undertakes health assessments, health promotion, teaching and research regarding people of refugee background living in NSW. Dr Smith provides advice on refugee health policy at local, state and national levels. He has conjoint appointments at University of NSW and University of Sydney. He is a member of the NSW TB Advisory Committee and of the Refugee Health Network of Australia.
Catherine Scarth
Catherine Scarth is the CEO of AMES Australia, More
with over 1,200 staff and 2,500 volunteers assisting more than 50,000 clients annually by providing a wide range of interconnected settlement, education, vocational training and employment services in Victoria and NSW.Ms Scarth’s career has focussed on the design and implementation of innovative social programmes and enterprises in Australia and the United Kingdom. She has achieved this through the creation of partnerships with government, employers and the community sector to deliver programs designed to increase the economic and social participation for newly arrived migrants and refugees. Ms Scarth is a member of the Minister’s Council on Asylum Seekers and Detention (MCASD), the Settlement Services Advisory Council (SSAC), a Board member of the Migration Council of Australia and the SBS Community Advisory Committee. Among her achievements, Ms Scarth was recognised as one of 100 Women of Influence in Public Policy for 2016.
Dr Ruth De Souza
Dr Ruth De Souza represents the Australian College of Nursing. More
Dr De Souza is an Academic Convenor of The Data, Systems and Society Research Network (DSSRN) and Honorary Senior Research Fellow in Clinical Informatics and Population Health Informatics at the University of Melbourne. Dr De Souza has an extensive background as a nurse, educator and researcher, as well as holding a number of community and governance roles. She is a former member of the New Zealand Refugee Council and completed the first research project (with Refugee Services and the three Strengthening Refugee Voices Groups in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch) about the experiences of Refugee women as sole supporters of households, and their experiences of resettlement in New Zealand. Dr De Souza was born in Tanzania, grew up in Kenya and New Zealand prior to migrating to Australia with her partner in 2013. Dr De Souza’s research interests are in women’s health, cultural safety, maternity, mental health and migration. She has had a career long commitment to building equity in health.
Violet Roumeliotis
Violet Roumeliotis is the CEO of Settlement Services International. More
Violet applies an astute strategic vision and active leadership at SSI and in the settlement sector broadly, given the critical role the organisation and its member MRCs play. Violet holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree with majors in Sociology and History from UNSW, a Masters in Management from UTS and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Violet has steered SSI through a dramatic growth period, leading her to be named in Pro Bono Australia’s 2014 and 2015 lists of the 25 most influential people working in the not-for-profit sector. Violet sits on the NSW Government’s Justice Multicultural Advisory Committee, the Federal Government’s Settlement Services Advisory Council, and Co-Chairs the NSW Joint Partnership Working Group coordinating the NSW component of the additional intake of 12,000 refugees from Syria and Iraq.
Sue Casey
Sue Casey is the Manager, Sector Development and Partnerships at the Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture (also known as Foundation House). More
Her current program responsibilities include refugee health, rural and regional services, professional and organisational development, education and early years. Sue has over 25 years of experience working in health and community services sectors, in practice, policy and planning positions in health, non-government organisations and government settings.
Jacquie McBride
Jacqueline McBride represents Monash Health Refugee Health and Wellbeing. More
Jacqueline McBride has a background in allied health, practicing as a speech pathologist before moving into health management. Jacqueline is currently the Manager of Monash Health Refugee Health and Wellbeing. Within this role, Jacqueline has demonstrated a commitment to service and program development that incorporates principles of co-design to improve service access, care delivery, and patient experience outcomes. Jacqueline has extensive knowledge and experience in all areas of refugee health and wellbeing, including health and social issues, barriers to care and community integration, and policy. As such, Jacqueline has been instrumental in the establishment of strategic regional partnerships to enhance the coordination of services to best meet community need. This has included holding the position of Deputy Chair of the Victorian Refugee Health Network, and participating in the Partnership’s sub working group focusing on refugee women. Jacqueline has also actively contributed to education and research in the field of refugee health.
Eugenia Tsoulis OAM
Eugenia is the CEO of the Australian Migrant Resource Centre, More
which is responsible for the delivery of statewide humanitarian settlement and community development and empowerment programs in South Australia. Eugenia was co-founder of the Settlement Council of Australia (SCoA) and is a current Executive Committee member. She is a member of the SA Settlement Planning Committee, the White Ribbon CALD Reference Group and on a number of other national and state committees. Her work in empowering women and their families extends over a number of decades. She has a Bachelor of Education and Master of Arts from the University of South Australia and Flinders University. Among other acknowledgements, she was awarded the order of Australia in 1994 for services to multiculturalism, the ZONTA Woman of the Year Award in 2007 and the Governor’s Multicultural Award for Individual Achiever of the Year 2012 as well as the African National Award for services to African communities.
Suzanne Willey
Suzanne Willey represents the Australian College of Nursing. More
Suzanne has an extensive background in Midwifery, Maternal and Child Health Nursing and more recently Refugee Health Nursing in Primary Health Care. She joined the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Monash University in 2011 as a lecturer, developing and coordinating Refugee Health and Wellbeing education within the Master of Advanced Nursing. Suzanne’s PhD research will evaluate the implementation of a perinatal mental health screening program for women from a refugee background from both the women’s and health professionals’ perspective. Other projects include being an associate investigator on the NHMRC funded ‘Bridging the Gap’ partnership grant; a project that aims to reduce inequities in accessing maternal care for women from a refugee background. Suzanne continues to work clinically as a Maternal and Child Health Nurse and is an active contributor to refugee health and wellbeing service development.
Effective Communication Subgroup
A dedicated Sub-Working Group was established to support the partnership in developing good practice minimum standards for effective communication with patients or consumers from non English speaking backgrounds and working with interpreters in health care settings. Membership of the Sub-Working Group comprises of clinicians, as well as translating and interpreting industry representation and standard setting bodies.
Associate Professor Christine Phillips, Chair
Christine Phillips is Associate Professor of Social Foundations of Medicine at the ANU Medical School, Medical Director of Companion House Medical Service, the ACT’s refugee health service, a member of the Institute for Communication in Healthcare, and Chair of the Refugee Health Network of Australia. More
She is a general practitioner with qualifications in anthropology, public health and teaching. For over a decade, Christine has advocated through policy, research and education for better use of interpreters in medical settings, and improved cross-cultural communication in health.
Mark Painting
Mark Painting is the CEO of the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters. More
Prior to this appointment in August 2015, he held a number of corporate, commercial and operational roles at senior executive levels in the Australian and NSW Public Sectors, most recently in the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, requiring extensive leadership skills and expertise in organisational change, business process reform and stakeholder management. In addition to his public sector career, Mark also has experience as a Director on a commercial board and a number of governance and audit committees. Mark holds a Masters of Public Administration from the University of Sydney (Graduate School of Government), a Graduate Certificate in Public Sector Management and a Bachelor of Business Degree. Mark is a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management and an Executive Fellow of the Australia and New Zealand School of Government.
Gordana Vasic
Gordana Vasic is the Manager of the Health Care Interpreter Service with the Western Sydney Local Health District. More
Gordana was trained as a nurse but never practiced in the field as she believed that health was not her calling. Science has been her passion and after completing the BA in Agriculture and Masters in Agriculture from University of Sarajevo, she worked as a researcher and Assistant Lecturer at the same university for four years. Unfortunately, Gordana’s career was cut short due to the outbreak of civil war in Former Yugoslavia in 1992, and she migrated to Australia in 1995. In 1999 she obtained NAATI Accreditation as a Serbian Translator and in 2000 – NAATI Accreditation as a Serbian Interpreter.In 2000, she joined WSLHD Health Care Interpreter Service HCIS as a Serbian staff interpreter, and since that time has held a range of roles within the same service, including Interpreter and Translator, Coordinator of Sessional Interpreters, Call Centre Coordinator, and Manager (since 2009).
Tania Bouassi
Tania Bouassi represents the Australian Institute of Translators and Interpreters (AUSIT). More
She teaches interpreting and translation at Western Sydney University (WSU) and works as a healthcare interpreter and A/Coordinator of Staff Interpreters at the Western Sydney Local Health District. Tania is a professional NAATI level 3 Arabic interpreter and translator (Arabic-English, English-Arabic) and an AUSIT member. She completed a Bachelor of Journalism and Communication at the Lebanese University, a Graduate Diploma (I&T), Master of Arts in Interpreting and Translation, and Bachelor of Arts Honours in Linguistics at WSU. Tania conducted research into subtitling and healthcare interpreting and her main future research interests are medical and legal interpreting.
Dr Kudzai Kanhutu
Dr Kudzai Kanhutu represents The Royal Australasian College of Physicians. More
Dr Kanhutu is also a member of the Partnership’s Sub-Working Group on Effective Communication and Interpreting Standards. Dr Kanhutu is an Infectious Diseases physician with a background in immunology and French language studies. As the current refugee health fellow based at Royal Melbourne Hospital, her role involves clinical care provision, advocacy and health care professional education. Through her clinical activities and National board membership with Health Informatics Society Australia, Dr Kanhutu is engaged in research to increase the use of digital health technologies to support refugees and underserved communities.
Caroline Humphreys
Dr Jason Schreiber
Dr Jason Schreiber represents The Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (RCPA). More
Dr Schreiber is also a member of the Partnership’s Sub-Working Group on Effective Communication and Interpreting Standards. Dr Schreiber is a Forensic Physician at the Clinical Forensic Department of the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine. He is an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the Department of Forensic Medicine at Monash University. He is a Founding Fellow of the RCPA Faculty of Clinical Forensic Medicine; Member by examination of the Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine of The Royal College of Physicians, United Kingdom; a member of the German Society for Legal Medicine (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Rechtsmedizin) and a member of the French Society of Legal Medicine (Société Française de Médecine Légale). He also worked as an accredited interpreter in England, and held accreditation for translating English into German with the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters.
Secretariat
A professional Secretariat team facilitates the work of the Partnership
Gulnara Abbasova
Gulnara Abbasova is the Executive Officer of the Migrant and Refugee Women’s Health Partnership. More
Gulnara brings expertise in strategy and policy development in national and multinational settings with a focus on human rights and social inclusion, combined with extensive community engagement experience. Previously, Gulnara worked in the multicultural and settlement sector nationally providing strategic representation for ethnic communities and their organisations across a broad range of policy and service design areas. Prior to moving to Australia, Gulnara worked at the UN where she supported multilateral negotiations on economic, social and cultural issues affecting local communities, and delivered human rights capacity building programs for civil society. She earlier worked in the community sector focusing on strategic organisational development and international stakeholder engagement. Gulnara serves on a number of advisory bodies and committees, including the Technical Reference Advisory Committee of the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters.
Emma Jagot
Emma Jagot is the Secretariat of the Migrant and Refugee Women’s Health Partnership. More
Emma is in her final year of a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Laws (Hons) at the Australian National University. Since beginning university, her areas of interest have included migration and refugee law and the connection between gender-based violence and women’s health.