Who we are

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 and in medical education in both the public and private sectors. She was Medical Director/Senior Clinician of the Victorian Doctors Health Program, for 10 years, is currently in psychiatric practice in Melbourne, an adjunct Senior Lecturer at Monash University and honorary senior fellow at Melbourne University. Dr Jenkins is the immediate past president of the RANZCP, Chair of the Council of Presidents of Medical Colleges (CPMC), on the Board of Mental Health Australia and Chair of the RANZCP Asylum seeker and Refugee mental health network.

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.

Shamsa is committed to providing holistic and sensitive care to women and their families throughout pregnancy. As a migrant woman from a refugee background, Shamsa makes a point of promoting among her peers an awareness of the different maternity issues childbearing women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds face. She prides herself on her ability to collaborate with people from all walks of life and to communicate with diverse women and their families in a sensitive, respectful and supportive manner.

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.

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.

Claire has a history as a practicing Dietitian across various areas of clinical, public health, private practice and diabetes education nutrition, and is experienced in rural health service management. She previously served as CEO of the Dietitians Association of Australia and has been appointed to multiple boards throughout her career. She has used these positions to facilitate collaboration among and assist in the leadership of regional and national health-related organisations, advocating on a wide range of issues related to health at the highest levels of government.

She is committed to improving the quality of health services and community wellbeing. With many years of experience across the corporate and not-for-profit sectors including over five years at the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM), two years at the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP), and until recently, a Board Member of DPV Health and Girl Guides Victoria, Vase has been instrumental in transforming organisations into efficient, high-performing and positive environments.

Vase’s corporate expertise extends from strategy development and implementation, operations and financial management, to governance, continuous improvement, change and risk management and education.

Professor Loh is national Chief Medical Officer and Group General Manager Clinical Governance for St Vincent’s Health Australia, the nation’s largest not-for-profit health and aged care provider, with 36 facilities, including six public hospitals, nine private hospitals and 17 aged care facilities in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, along with three co- located research institutes – the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, and St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research.

He is qualified in both medicine and law, with general and specialist registration as a medical practitioner (medical administration specialty), and a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria and High Court of Australia. He also has an MBA, Master of Health Service Management, and PhD in management.

He is Chair of the Victorian State Committee and Board Member of the Royal Australasian College of Administrators. He is adjunct Clinical Professor at Monash University, where he leads the Clinical Leadership and Management Unit at the Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation.

Penelope is a Registered Midwife and Nurse and holds a Masters of Medical and Health Law from the University of Melbourne. Penelope was previously the Director of Clinical Services in various Ramsay Health Care facilities, where she was responsible for operational leadership of the hospitals.  Penelope is passionate about delivering excellence in clinical care, patient safety and experience and promoting high value, high quality care.

Michal has worked for over 20 years advocating for and supporting diverse communities across government and the third sector. She has developed innovation and service responses for multicultural communities since the late 1990s.

Prior to her role at inTouch, Michal was General Manager of Centre for Culture, Ethnicity and Health for 9 years. She has worked in community health, peak advocacy bodies, state government and at the national level at Primary Health Networks.

Michal has worked on issues as diverse as community capacity building, person centred care, Drug and Alcohol, Mental Health, Suicide Prevention, Language Services, Cultural Competency and Health Literacy.

Christine is 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 immediate-past Chair of the Refugee Health Network of Australia.

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.

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.