Council
The Council drives the direction of the Partnership and brings together representatives from peak professional and standard setting bodies for clinicians, the community sector, and relevant government agencies.
Dedicated working groups may be established to progress specific projects of the Partnership.

Dr Kym Jenkins, Chair
Dr Kym Jenkins represents The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP). More
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
Shamsa Abdullahi
Shamsa Abdullahi represents the Australian College of Midwives and is a practicing midwife. More

Associate Professor Jacqueline Boyle
Associate Professor Jacqueline Boyle represents The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. More

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

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

Claire Hewat
Claire Hewat represents the Allied Health Professions Australia (AHPA). In 2018, Claire was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the AHPA, where she leads a team in the representation and advocacy of allied health interests and concerns to state and federal government. More
Andrew Iliov
Dr Andrew Iliov represents the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA).More
Dr Iliov is an active member of the Department of Anaesthesia Research Group, with academic interests in healthcare sustainability and social determinants of illness, environmental health impacts, access to safe surgery, and global burden of disease in relation to safe surgical and anaesthesia access in migrant communities.

Neela Janakiramanan
Neela Janakiramanan represents the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

Jenny Johnson
Jenny Johnson represents the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine.
Vase Jovanoska
Vase Jovanoska is the current Chief Executive Officer of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG). Born in Macedonia and migrating to Australia, Vase understands the challenges faced when migrating to a new country and is passionate about social justice and equity.More
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.
Margaret Kay
Dr Margaret Kay represents the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP). More
Dr Kay is a part-time general practitioner, Fellow of RACGP and has a Diploma of Obstetrics. She 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 inaugural Chair of the Refugee Health Network of Australia, is a member of the RACGP Refugee Health Special Interest Group and Clinical Lead in Multicultural Health with Brisbane South PHN, working with the Refugee Health Partnership Advisory Group Qld. 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.
Erwin Loh
Professor Erwin Loh represents the Royal Australiasian College of Medical Administrators More
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 Marshall
Penelope Marshall is National Deputy Manager of Clinical Governance for Ramsay Health Care Australia. The team she leads is responsible for the strategic oversight of clinical incident management, quality improvement, data analytics in patient safety and development of clinical policy and procedure for the 73 Ramsay Hospitals.More
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 Morris
Ms Michal Morris is the CEO of inTouch Multicultural Centre against Family Violence, based in Melbourne, Victoria. More
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.
Astrid Perry
Dr Astrid Perry is Manager of Strategic Policy at Settlement Services International (SSI), a leading for purpose not-for-profit organisation providing a range of services in the areas of humanitarian settlement, accommodation, asylum seeker assistance, foster care and disability support, primarily on the east coast of Australia. More
Dr Perry’s work experience spans over 30 years in leadership, management and multicultural work, both in government and non-government sectors. She has held senior leadership and advisory positions with a focus on capacity building, quality service delivery and improving capability to respond to multicultural communities. Before SSI, Astrid Perry managed the Multicultural Health Service of South Eastern Sydney Local Health District for seven years. She holds a post graduate certificate in Health Leadership.
Astrid Perry holds a PhD in Sociology. Her thesis focused on parent participation and gender equity in public schools.
Christine Phillips
Christine Phillips represents the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. More
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.
Carolyn Stapleton
Carolyn Stapleton represents the Australian College of Nursing.
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.
Anousha Yazdabadi
Dr Anousha Yazdabadi represents the Australasian College of Dermatologists. More
Dr Yazdabadi is a Consultant Dermatologist at Eastern Health and a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Medical Education, School of Medicine at the University of Melbourne.
In addition to her interests in Dermatology she is also passionate both about promoting equitable access for all to world class public health care and about training our future health care providers. She is honoured to be contributing to MRHP on behalf of the Australasian College of Dermatologists, which aims to advance the delivery and availability of skin health care to better meet the diverse needs of Australia’s communities, including those from migrant and refugee backgrounds.
Executive Officer

Gulnara Abbasova
Gulnara Abbasova is an experienced executive with a significant track record in civil society leadership, strategy and advocacy across social policy, gender equality and human rights nationally and internationally. More