Tony Lawson - Chair
Tony has been a member of the CHF Board since 2010 and Chair since 2014. He was re-elected as Chair at the November 2023 Board meeting. Tony strives to operate at strategic levels in policy forums and meetings conducted by and with CHF, always promoting enhanced consumer participation and engagement in every encounter.
Tony continues to ensure the development and maintenance of sound, respectful and productive relationships with key stakeholders. Tony has managed a number of not-for-profit organisations and was Chair of the SA peak consumer health body for six years. Tony has extensive experience in managing and implementing governance frameworks in a diverse range of organisations both as a leader and independent adviser. He has undertaken many health consumer participation projects and produced many reports and published articles on health issues. He was also Chair, Statewide Palliative Care Board of Governors, The Hospital Research Foundation Group, a member of a Project Advisory Committee of a 5-year Collaborative Statewide Palliative Care Research Program. Tony is also a former Consumer Director on the Board of the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards. Overall, he has been involved at the highest levels in consumer health for over two decades and continues to strive to provide decisive and strategic leadership to CHF representing the interests of Australian healthcare consumers.
Rowan Cockerell - Deputy Chair
Rowan was first elected to the CHF Board in 2014 and was re-elected in 2020 and again in 2023. She has been a committee member of the Governance Committee and Finance, Audit and Risk Management Committee for the same period of time.
Over a span of over 40 years, Rowan has worked across various sectors, including rehabilitation health service management, community services, aged care, and service development projects. Rowan has executive level experience focusing on governance, people management, and the delivery of government funded health initiatives. Rowan has served as CEO of a not-for-profit organisation as the national peak body (Continence Foundation of Australia) seeking better outcomes for consumers. She is a dedicated advocate for improving health systems and programs for consumers including enhancing the understanding of the consumer journey and engagement across health services. This contributes to influencing of future policy reforms for equitable access to healthcare. Rowan has a Ministerial appointment to the Aged Care Advisory Committee reporting to the Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority. Rowan's background is in nursing and has qualifications in business management. Additionally, Rowan is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Jan Donovan - FARM Committee Chair
Jan was appointed to the CHF Board in 2014 and reappointed in 2017, 2020 and 2022. She Chairs the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee. Her experience includes public policy, strategy, and governance matters at Board level through her nine years (1998- 2007) as a member of the Board of the National Prescribing Service (NPS Medicines Wise) and five years (2005-2009) as a member of the Board of the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute at ANU.
Jan participates in National Policy Forums at the strategic level and has done so for three decades including eight years with Council on the Ageing - six years in the role of National Policy Officer. Jan is a passionate advocate for addressing health equity and the social determinants of health with a focus on people with chronic illness and disability. She has a strong interest in access to primary health care, the national medicines policy, health literacy, mental health, aged care and indigenous health. Her appointments as a health consumer representative include a Ministerial Appointment to the National Medicines Policy Review Committee in 2021/22 and the Vison 2040 Strategic Advisory Committee for the development of a national health and medical research strategy. She was recently appointed to the Medicare Review Advisory Committee (MRAC) and the HTA Consumer Consultative Committee (HTACCC). Currently she Chairs the Community Reference Council of the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health at Monash University and the Project Steering Committee for the NSW Government – Sponsored Clinical Trail: Management of Urinary Tract Infections, oral contraceptives etc. by Community Pharmacists.
Jan participates in several national research advisory groups, the Centre for Excellence in Medicines Intelligence at University of NSW and the Dementia risk reduction in primary care: The Happi Mind Study at Monash University. Jan is also a member of the Australian Institute for Health and Welfare’s Primary Care Committee. Her experience includes as former Deputy Chair- Health Technologies Assessment Consumer Consultative Committee, and former member of the Drug Utilisation Sub Committee of the PBAC. She is also a former member of the Evaluation Committee of Health Care Homes, and the Medicines Safety Committee for the Australian Digital Health Agency.
Adjunct Professor Darryl O'Donnell - Governance Committee Chair
Darryl has a long record of achievement in health leadership roles in government and community settings at state, national and regional levels. He has extensive research, public health, political and other professional networks and is deeply committed to the consumer and community advocacy movement.
Darryl is the former CEO of Health Equity Matters, the national federation for the HIV community response. Health Equity Matters is a long-standing member and friend to CHF. His adjunct appointment as Professor is with the Faculty of Medicine and Kirby Institute at the University of NSW. Through his role as CEO of Health Equity Matters and adjunct appointment, he brings together researchers and community representatives to ensure a strong community voice in research agenda-setting.
Darryl was elected to the CHF Board in October 2023.
Louise Hardy - Director
Louise Hardy has over 15 years health sector experience, spanning roles in regulation, operations, and policy and advocacy across government, membership organisations and charities.
She is currently the Director of Policy and Advocacy at Arthritis Australia, working closely with its CEO and Consumer Advisory Panel. Louise drives advocacy on behalf of people living with arthritis, with successful outcomes including Commonwealth budget funding for Arthritis Australia’s juvenile arthritis kids camps, and the delivery of over $4 million in grant projects. She has completed the AICD Governance Foundations for Not For Profit Directors course and has been an appointed representative to the TGA’s Medical Devices Consumer Working Group, and the National Living Evidence Covid Guidelines Steering Committee.
Scott Harlum - Director
Scott Harlum has substantial experience as a health consumer (in HIV treatment and care and otherwise) and it has reinforced in him that the systems and approaches which promote the meaningful involvement of people with HIV in our health care; the centring of affected communities; and (hard won) others which help ensure a ‘place at the table’ for people with HIV as equal partners in the HIV response, have broken new ground for health consumers.
He has built on his extensive experience as a health consumer, in professional health policy roles, and in communications, media and marketing by developing governance, financial management and strategy development and execution expertise. Scott has deployed these skills to advance the interests of health consumers, particularly in relation to HIV and renal failure, and renal transplant treatment and care. As Treasurer of the National Association of People With HIV Australia (NAPWHA) in 2016 (prior to becoming President in 2018) he oversaw the organisation’s response to funding cuts which presented an existential crisis for the organisation. Through difficult decisions and by setting a clear strategic response to the crisis, the Board and staff were able to work through the issues, reestablish the organisation’s financial reserves, and return to record income by 2023/24.
As President of NAPWHA since 2018, and through a clear focus on good governance, with the Board and operational leadership the organisation has implemented a significantly enhanced corporate governance framework.
Gloria Jacob - Director
Gloria Jacob has served on various Boards and Committees for the past 40 years has extensive experience and a strong understanding of the importance of good governance, risk, sustainability and accountability. She has worked across various industries including, Sports and Youth progressing onto Business, Mining, Environment, and in recent decades Regional Development, Local Government, Health and Education.
Gloria is a former enrolled nurse and a local business owner of 30 years, operating Hedland Home Hardware & Garden that has provided high levels of training and programs in Business Management, Marketing and Promotions, Advertising and Customer Service.
Her diverse background across Regional Development, Local Government, Health, Education, Business, and Environment equips her to support CHF's focus areas, particularly in safety, quality, consumer participation, primary and integrated care reform, prevention, health financing, and policy reform.
Minh Ngyuen - Director
Minh Ngyuen has Board level experience, sitting on a number of not-for-profit and community-based organisations. Her governance journey began in 2004, when she was one of the founding members of a charitable foundation that was created to provide financial assistance to disabled veterans in Vietnam.
Minh has focused her professional governance efforts around vulnerable populations and their interactions with the service system. She is passionate about social justice, representation and respecting people as experts in their own lives.
Christine Walker - Director
Christine Walker was elected to the CHF Board in 2017, reappointed in 2020 and again in 2023. Christine has over 25 years’ experience as a Director on Boards, and in governance, strategic planning, and building an evidence base around the needs of people with chronic illnesses in the health system through research and consultancies. Christine works to include consumers and the community in all levels of health service and policy development. Currently Christine is a Board member of the Epilepsy Foundation Victoria.
She is member of the Melbourne Genomics Health Alliance Community Advisory Group, the Australian Epilepsy Research Foundation and Epilepsy Australia and Global Epilepsy Research Association. She is also a member of the Executive of the Australian Health Care Reform Alliance, the RACGP National Standing Committee on Quality Care and on Stem Cells Australia Community Advisory Committee, and the lead researcher of The Australian Epilepsy Longitudinal Study. Christine serves as a consumer representative on the MSAC ESC team which evaluates the evidence relating to new therapies, tests and medical devices and the Community Consultative Committee (CCC) in Health Technology Assessment.
Past Board memberships have included NPS Medicinewise and Western Health Service in Victoria. In November 2023 Christine was awarded the Consumer Award from the UNSW Research Centre for Primary Health Care and Equity.