The NSW Health System Advisory Council (the Advisory Council) was established to provide expertise and advice to help inform and shape the delivery of frontline healthcare.
The Advisory Council provides independent and impartial strategic clinical advice on key priorities and functions of the health system, as well as guide the planning and implementation of measures to drive positive change.
Made up of 24 doctors, nurses, midwives, oral health and allied health professionals, as well as the Ministry Executive Management team, the Advisory Council brings together frontline experience, valuable links to our system's clinical councils and clinical engagement structures, and our senior executive team, to inform how we deliver care across the NSW Health System.
The Advisory Council provides advice on system and state-wide issues under the authority of the Secretary for NSW Health and is co-chaired by clinical and executive nominees of the Secretary.
For any queries, please email the Secretariat for the Advisory Council at MOH-AdvisoryCouncil@health.nsw.gov.au.
The Advisory Council comprises a multidisciplinary group of clinicians that reflects the breadth and diversity of healthcare professions across NSW Health, together with the Ministry Executive Management group and health system executive manager representation. Membership also includes representation from the Aboriginal clinical community.
The Advisory council is co-chaired by Dr Nhi Nguyen, Intensive Care Staff Specialist at Nepean Hospital, Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District, and Adjunct Professor Jean-Frederic Levesque, Deputy Secretary for Clinical Innovation and Research and Chief Executive of the Agency for Clinical Innovation.
Medical Oncologist and General PhysicianPort Macquarie, Mid North Coast Local Health District
Currently the Executive Director of the Hastings Macleay Clinical Network, Stephen has extensive experience in developing regional services. He is an experienced clinical trials researcher and healthcare innovator, and has held the research and innovation portfolio as a Board member of the Mid North Coast Local Health District Board.
Stephen has a long association with the training and supervision of Junior Medical Officers and Physician Trainees.
Endocrinologist, South Eastern Sydney Local Health District
Michael has experience working across the spectrum of primary, secondary, and tertiary healthcare sectors, in both a medical and allied health (Pharmacy) capacity. He has worked across metropolitan and regional healthcare settings in both the public and private systems and has served on clinical councils, clinical reference groups, and drug and therapeutics committees.
In 2020, Michael co-founded the Australasian Bone teleECHO, a monthly telementoring and specialist peer-to-peer clinician education program operating in the Asia Pacific region, and is currently a program coordinator and meeting chairperson. He is completing a PhD through the Garvan Institute (University of NSW), which focusses on optimising the delivery of fracture prevention services for individuals with osteoporosis.
Acting General Manager Port Macquarie Base Hospital, Coordinator Hastings Macleay Clinical Network, Mid North Coast Local Health District
Jo is an experienced and respected nurse and midwife with a career that spans child and family health, neonatal intensive care, perioperative services, patient flow, and management and leadership positions.
As the Executive Officer at Kempsey District Hospital, Jo has led multidisciplinary agencies in the development of business continuity plans for the hospital’s maternity services.
Clinical Director, Oral Health Service, Western NSW Local Health District
Heather has extensive experience in both metropolitan Sydney and in rural and regional NSW having worked as Head of General Dental Practice in Western Sydney Local Health District prior to moving to Western NSW.
As an advocate for the integration of oral health within general health being of fundamental importance to the provision of quality health care, Heather is an active member of the State Oral Health Executive and Oral Health Community of Practice. She has mentored Oral Health Clinical Directors in other local health districts and worked towards establishing a partnership with oral health services in rural local health districts.
General Paediatrician and Paediatric Subspecialty Trainee
The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney Children's Hospitals Network
Cassandra is a general paediatrician currently continuing her subspecialty training in the area of paediatric rheumatology. Her previous role as the Chief Resident Medical Officer at The Children's Hospital at Westmead saw her actively supporting workforce matters, operations and clinical governance issues relating to over 400 junior doctors for which she was responsible.
With over a decade of experience in NSW Health, Cassandra has long track record of successfully collaborating with medical, ambulance, nursing, allied health and corporate services staff from across specialist networks, state-wide services agencies, NSW Health pillars and metropolitan, regional and rural local health districts in NSW.
Emergency Physician, South Eastern Sydney Local Health District
Trevor is an experienced emergency physician, having been the Emergency Department Director at St George Hospital and both chair and member of the St George Clinical Council.
Trevor is the Clinical Director of the Emergency Care Institute (ECI) at the Agency for Clinical Innovation. This role has allowed him to help lead a team looking at system wide emergency care for NSW. Involvement in governance committees of the ECI has enabled Trevor to observe and work with both the variation and areas of common ground across the system. His roles in Australasian College for Emergency Medicine add to his system wide view.
Hunter New England Local Health District, Health system executive manager representative
Peter is a Senior Staff Specialist in Nephrology, and Director of Medical Services at John Hunter Hospital.
Since relocating to Hunter New England from the UK in 2012, Peter has a lived experience of governance of health organisations and medical training networks in NSW. Peter has chaired facility-level and district-wide governance committees within Hunter New England Local Health District. He has been the deputy chair of the Hunter Region Human Research Ethics Committee for many years and led the Renal Community of Practice throughout the pandemic.
Amongst regular engagements with the Agency for Clinical Innovation, Clinical Excellence Commission, Health Education and Training Institute, HealthShare and NSW Health Pathology, Peter also has a wider, academic interest in health service evaluation and is a member of the NSW Health Virtual Care Monitoring and Evaluation Committee.
Clinical Excellence Commission
Kathy is the NSW Chief Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Practitioner and Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI) Advisor with a unique understanding of broad operational and strategic systems within health.
Kathy is currently Chair of the Infection Prevention and Control Community of Practice and Chair of the NSW Infection Control Practitioner (ICP) forum which connects with all ICPs across NSW. She provides expert advice to a number of NSW Health systems functions, such as outbreak management, service reviews and specialist authoritative clinical guidance.
Northern Sydney Local Health District
James is a full-time staff specialist Geriatrician and Head of Department of Aged Care at the Royal North Shore hospital and Northern Sydney Local Health District (NSLHD).
As manager of the Aged Care Rapid Response Team, James works closely with the NSLHD Aged Care Network, the Primary Health Network, NSW Ambulance and Residential Aged Care Facilities. His membership of the Virtual Care Clinical Community of Practice has enabled the adoption of virtual care modalities with all partners.
Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District
Anwar is a full-time Clinical Specialist Physiotherapist, the Cardiorespiratory Physiotherapy Team Leader and Senior Intensive Care Unit physiotherapist at Nepean Hospital.
Anwar is an experienced clinician, teacher, mentor, supervisor and researcher in cardiorespiratory physiotherapy. He has advised the NSW Ministry of Health on clinical workforce, the physiotherapy response to the pandemic and was awarded NSW Health State Professional of the Year Award 2021.
Western Sydney Local Health District
Courtney is a Wiradjuri woman and an Aboriginal Midwife and Clinical Midwifery Specialist with the Aboriginal Maternal and Infant Health Service with Western Sydney Local Health District (WSLHD).
She has previously helped design and worked as a midwife with the Dragonfly maternity service, and various hospital birthing units in NSW and Canberra.
In 2022 Courtney was the WSLHD Aboriginal Midwife of the Year and in 2023, winner of the Anthea Kerr Premier's Award for Leadership.
Central Coast Local Health District
Sean is currently the Clinical Director of Intensive Care Services, Central Coast Local Health District (CCLHD) and Clinical Director Critical Care with the NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation. As a practicing intensivist, Sean routinely works alongside nursing, allied health, diagnostic and medical clinicians caring for patients and their families.
As a previous board director of the CCLHD, a member of the local health district and state COVID clinical council, and a network lead, Sean has a comprehensive understanding of the NSW Health system, including aspects of clinical governance, funding, policy development, and quality improvement.
South Western Sydney Local Health District
Katherine is currently the Disability and National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Coordinator for South Western Sydney Local Health District. This role contributes to the interface between NSW Health and the NDIS for NSW and leads implementation of the disability inclusion policy and strategy for the district. Katherine has a clinical background in Speech Pathology and completed her PhD examining the role of Speech Pathology in palliative and end-of-life care.
Katherine recently completed a temporary secondment to the NSW Ministry of Health as Principal Policy Officer in the Disability, Youth and Paediatric Health team in the Health and Social Policy Branch, leading the engagement of NSW Health with the Commonwealth and State Government agencies for the delivery of health and social care to citizens of NSW.
As a practicing academic surgeon, Neil has worked within university, professional colleges and health systems at local, state and international levels. Neil is currently the Chair NSW State Surgical Care Network, which advises NSW Health through the Agency for Clinical Innovation and Co-chair of the NSW State Surgical Care Governance Taskforce.
Neil’s recent engagements include roundtable discussions to reconfigure surgical services, co-chair a value based healthcare working party, and engaged in the discussions for enhanced recovery after surgery and day surgery protocols and chairing a roundtable exploring support for rural surgical services.
Michelle is specialist anaesthetist with the Northern Sydney Local Health District (NSLHD), experienced at working across public and private practice and administrative roles in NSLHD, various regional NSW and ACT hospitals and the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists. She is currently on the Boards of NSLHD, the Clinical Excellence Commission and various panels for the Medical Council of NSW. Michelle is also a member of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Clinical Council, and the Agency for Clinical Innovation Clinical Executive Advisory Group.
Michelle received Exceptional People Awards from NSLHD for two years in a row (2021 and 2022) and was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2022.
Clinical Co-Chair
Nhi is a staff specialist at Nepean Hospital in the Department of Intensive Care Medicine and a fellow of the College of Intensive Care Medicine of Australia and New Zealand.
Since December 2016, Nhi has held roles in the NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation and is currently the Clinical Director Intensive Care NSW and Intensive Care Unit Clinical Advisor for the NSW Health COVID-19 response.
Nhi has had a long association with Nepean Hospital, commencing as a medical student at the Nepean Clinical School in 1997 and as an intern at the hospital in 2000.
In her various roles, Nhi contributes to the development of all aspects of health care to enable clinicians to provide the best quality care for the community they serve.
Maternity Unit Manager
Cowra Hospital, Western NSW Local Health District
Melissa is a Registered Nurse and Midwife with over 17 years’ experience in rural midwifery in Cowra involving antenatal, birthing and postnatal care. Melissa has been the Maternity Unit Manager at Cowra Maternity for the last two and a half years, establishing networks through the Western NSW Local Health District to improve all aspects of midwifery care, delivery and service.
As well as qualifications in Child and Family Health and a Nurse Immuniser, Melissa is a mother of three children and married to a farmer. She is passionate about providing, maintaining and promoting rural midwifery services.
NSW Ambulance Intensive Care Paramedic, Ambulance Service of New South Wales
Larry is a Motorcycle Rapid Response Intensive Care Paramedic with NSW Ambulance, based at Sydney Ambulance Centre and undertaking a full spectrum of emergency duties incorporating the range of skills and protocols permitted under ASNSW clinical practice. Larry has held positions as a rapid responder and acting Station Officer. Larry was previously employed with London Ambulance Service working in education and research and operationally as a Motorcycle Paramedic and a flight paramedic with London HEMS.
Larry has excellent working relationships with ambulance and hospital staff of all levels throughout the central Sydney area as well as other emergency services providing initial scene management at incidents. As a senior clinician he provides clinical advice and support to staff and leads debriefs of incidents. He is a part of the Sydney 241 clinical mentoring program and a member of the local non-transport peer review team. Larry has also been involved in the development and delivery of mass casualty incident training to local ASNSW staff and senior management, as well as other allied agencies.
NSW Health Pathology
Dr Catherine Pitman is Acting Director Public Health Pathology within NSW Health Pathology, Australia’s largest public pathology and forensic and analytical science service. Catherine works closely with divisional Directors across the Ministry of Health, and her clinical peers to address pathology-related system issues in public health pathology and notifiable diseases as legislated by NSW.
Currently a member of the NSW Health Service Design Reference Group for Pathogen Genomics, Catherine previously held advisory roles with the Australian Digital Health Agency, and as Chair of the Pathology Information, Terminology and Units Standardisation (PITUS) working group within the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (RCPA). She has had State and Federal executive roles as a Director of Microbiology and as a Health Informatician, with private and public pathology providers. Catherine studied and trained in Brisbane, has worked in Queensland, NSW, France, Malawi and the Pacific Islands as a microbiologist and infection control practitioner, and has been based in Sydney since 2000.
Catherine is passionate about designing health systems centred around the needs of the consumer rather than the health system or organisation. She is committed to developing foundational drivers that promote collaborative, innovative and efficient behaviours in healthcare, serving all citizens regardless of their background and level of health literacy.
Murrumbidgee Local Health District
John is a staff specialist paediatrician in Wagga Wagga and District Director of Paediatrics for Murrumbidgee Local Health District.
John is also co-chair of the Agency for Clinical Innovation (ACI) paediatric executive, involving the development of models for implementation of the Henry Review findings as well as managing a significant workload generated by clinical networks aimed at improving clinical care and informing ACI and NSW Ministry of Health policy.
As co-chair, John initiated engagement with the paediatric team at the Clinical Excellence Commission with a particular focus on state-wide paediatric leadership development and collaboration - a method to increase safety and quality in paediatric healthcare practice.
Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District
Tanya is a Specialist Anaesthetist working primarily in the Illawarra at the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District. Tanya was Codirector of Anaesthesia at the Wollongong and Shellharbour Hospitals for five years and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists having been engaged with various college committees for a number of years.
Murrumbidgee Local Health District, Health system executive manager representative
Christine is currently the District Director, Nursing and Midwifery and Health Service Functional Area Coordinator for Murrumbidgee Local Health District.
Christine is an experienced nurse leader, with over 10 years' experience in Director Nursing and Midwifery service across multi-site health facilities.
As a member of the State-wide Directors of Nursing and Midwifery, Christine is part of a network that advises, supports and consults to the Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer.
South Eastern Sydney Local Health District
Daniel is an experienced clinician, a frontline hospital manager, Physiotherapy Advisor at South Eastern Sydney Local Health District and Head of the Physiotherapy Department at Prince of Wales Hospital. He has previously worked with various local health districts and the NSW Ministry of Health.
Daniel is currently a co-chair for the NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation Rehabilitation Network Executive and co-chair of the NSW Health Physiotherapy Advisory Group.
Daniel has developed strong research collaborations with various research and university groups and has been involved with projects that cross disciplines, districts and states.
Sydney Local Health District
Kylie is a Nurse Practitioner in the field of neurosciences with a passion and focus in stroke care. Kylie has worked as a Clinical Nurse Consultant and Nurse Practitioner at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital for the past 13 years, and as a registered nurse for 25 years.
Kylie's nursing career has involved working both in Australia and overseas. Within Australia she has worked in both metropolitan Sydney and in regional NSW.
Kylie has recently been appointed to the Sydney Local Health District Clinical Quality Council and is also an active member in the Agency for Clinical Innovation Stroke Network.
Lil is the current Director of Psychology at Sydney Local Health District (SLHD) and has been in this role for the last 10 years. Prior to joining SLHD Lil had worked in law and clinical psychology.
Lil's clinical work encompasses forensic and high risk civil risk assessment, FTAC work, counselling, crisis-intervention, clinical supervision, teaching and research.
Amongst many professional roles, Lil is also the co-chair of the Agency for Clinical Innovation Violence Abuse and Neglect Executive Committee as well as co-chair of the State Psychology Advisory Network with the NSW Ministry of Health.
Visit the Ministry of Health organisation chart for the Ministry Executive Management team.
