Demystifying nursing leadership: Introducing our high-profile leadership program speakers

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Adjunct Professor Kylie Ward FACN

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, AUSTRALIAN COLLEGE OF NURSING

ACN CEO, RN, M.Mgt, Dip.App.Sci (Nursing), Acute Care Cert., FACN, FCHSM, Wharton Fellow, MAICD

Policy Reformer. Humanitarian. Visionary. Nurse. For-Purpose Leader. Equality Warrior. Adjunct Professor. Mum. Transformation Specialist.

From humble beginnings, Kylie has gone on to become one of the most influential professional health leaders of the country and a formidable, passionate advocate for the advancement of the nursing profession including the delivery of excellence in education.
Kylie’s strengths lie in breaking down the walls, reframing the issue for fresh thinking, and bringing people together to create long-lasting solutions.

Kylie currently serves as CEO of the Australian College of Nursing and CEO of the Australian College of Nursing Foundation. She has led a program of transformation including raising awareness of the profession and building a legacy of nursing leadership, policy, advocacy, and social impact, as well as creating hundreds of leadership and representation positions for nurses Australia wide. As such, ACN is now Australia’s beacon for Nurse Leadership.

Adjunct Professor Ward is inspired to ensure nurses from all backgrounds have access to world-class education at all stages of their career. She believes ongoing education is key to nurses working to their full scope of practice, contributing to the design of health systems and providing consumers with optimal care, every time.

Adjunct Professor Ward holds honorary professorships with seven leading Australian universities, and has been awarded several fellowships, including a Wharton Fellow, USA.

In 2023, Kylie was awarded a Commendation from the Chief of the Defence Force, for her exceptional devotion to military nurses and for raising the statue of Lieutenant Colonel Vivian Bullwinkel at the Australian War Memorial.

Kylie is a multi-award winner. In 2022, Kylie was named National Winner of Executive / Team Leader of the Year and Overall National Winner at the Outstanding Leadership Awards. In the same year, Kylie was named the ACT Winner of the Excellence in Women’s Leadership Awards by Women and Leadership Australia. She has been named Telstra ACT Businesswoman of the Year for Purpose and Social Enterprise.

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Adjunct Professor David Plunkett FACN

PRESIDENT, AUSTRALIAN COLLEGE OF NURSING AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE, EASTERN HEALTH

Adjunct Professor David Plunkett FACN GAICD, MBA, RN is Chief Executive Eastern Health Melbourne Victoria, where he operationalises the strategic plan, quality and financial plan for the current and future financial years of the health service.

David has been an Executive for Eastern Health in Melbourne for a number of years where he provided professional leadership to the nurses and midwives within Eastern Health.

He has a deep understanding of the need to manage and mitigate risk, scope, assess and implement improvements to performance – on any aspect of health service performance.

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Emeritus Professor Christine Duffield FACN DLF

BOARD DIRECTOR, AUSTRALIAN COLLEGE OF NURSING AND PROFESSOR OF NURSING AND HEALTH SERVICES MANAGEMENT, UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY SYDNEY AND EDITH COWAN UNIVERSITY

DLF(ACN) FAAN FAICD FACHSM

Christine’s career spans over 40 years working in Canada, New Zealand, the UK and Australia as a clinician, educator, manager, and researcher. She is an Emeritus Professor at Edith Cowan University, Perth, and the University of Technology Sydney.

She is a highly accomplished researcher and is one of the top 10 most-cited nursing and midwifery professors in Australia and New Zealand. Christine was named in Mendeley’s top 100,000 cited researchers in the world. She is an experienced Board Director and was the President/Chair of the Australian College of Nursing (ACN) from 2017 until recently.

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Belynda Abbott FACN

NURSING DIRECTOR EDUCATION AND RESEARCH, NURSING AND MIDWIFERY SERVICES, DARLING DOWNS HOSPITAL AND HEALTH SERVICES

Belynda has over 20 years’ experience and is currently the Nursing Director Education and Research for Darling Downs Health Service in Queensland.

Belynda has held nursing leadership roles including Nurse Educator, Nurse Manager and Nurse Unit Manager within the Australian health care system working in the Northern Territory and Queensland.

Belynda has held the position of Assistant Director of Nursing in the Metro South Health Emergency Operations Centre supporting the COVID-19 response operationalising the COVID-19 screening clinics and hotel quarantine.

Belynda has co-authored a textbook on Monitoring and Administration of Intravenous medications for Enrolled Nurses through Cengage publishing. Belynda held the position of Board Director for Australian College of Nursing (ACN), ACN Chair for the Queensland, Emerging Nurse Leader mentor and member of the New Generation of Nurses Faculty. Belynda has presented at the International Council of Nurses Symposium with the ACN New Generation of Nurses Faculty in 2013, and was awarded a Fellow of ACN in 2014.

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Dr Jennifer Bichel-Findlay FACN

HONORARY ASSOCIATE, FACULTY OF HEALTH, UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY SYDNEY AND SECRETARY AND DIRECTOR, AUSTRALASIAN INSTITUTE OF DIGITAL HEALTH

HScD, MN, MPH, GDipN, BAppSc, DipAppSc, CHIA, CHM, RN

Jen has been employed in the health service industry for 50 years in clinical, educative and managerial roles, and understands how technology and digitisation can influence patient outcomes and service delivery efficiency in the complex healthcare environment. Having worked on several local, state and national health informatics activities, she is not only committed to supporting data driven decision making at the local level but also major health reform through innovation and digital health initiatives at a state and national level.

Jen was the inaugural Director of Digital Health & Innovation at the UTS Faculty of Health, and has co-authored chapters addressing health informatics in nursing texts. She is currently a Board Director and Secretary for the Australasian Institute of Digital Health (AIDH), Chair of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Digital Health Network, and Vice President Special Affairs for the International Medical Informatics Association. Jen is a Fellow of both the AIDH and the Australian College of Nursing, and an Associate Fellow of the Australasian College of Health Service management.

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Professor Leanne Boyd FACN

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR LEARNING AND TEACHING / CHIEF NURSING AND MIDWIFERY OFFICER, EASTERN HEALTH

Professor Leanne Boyd FACN joined the Eastern Health Executive as Executive Director Learning and Teaching / Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer (CNMO) in November 2019. Prior to this appointment she was Group Executive Director of Clinical Education, Research and Nursing at Cabrini. She has a clinical background in critical care and over 30 years’ experience in health professional education. Previously, she worked at Monash University as Director of Academic Programs (Middle East) and Head of Department Community Emergency Health and Paramedic Practice.

Leanne holds post graduate qualifications in Education and Critical Care from Monash University and a Masters in Tertiary Education Management from Melbourne University. Her PhD investigated health program evaluation models. She is about to complete a Masters in Business Administration and supervises six PhD students.

Current priorities include university recognition of industry based learning and teaching and innovative models of care that are centred around the patient/carer and their community with a focus on safety and high quality care.

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Dr Lynette Cusack MACN

RN, midwife, PhD, MHA, BN, DN,MRCN Adelaide Nursing School, University of Adelaide

Dr Lynette Cusack MACN is an Associate Professor in the Adelaide Nursing School. Her research focus is on the contemporary role of the nurse/midwife in a range of different contexts, evaluating models of practice, including impact on the health care system, interdisciplinary team and patients’/women’s experience. Lynette is a member of the International Collaboration on Occupational Resilience (ICOR) and has been involved in developing models of workplace resilience for nurses/midwives. Lynette provides practice-based research support to nurses and midwives at a major metropolitan hospital in South Australia. Other teaching and research contributions include leadership and management, professional practice development and disaster response.

Lynette previously worked in a range of community health settings, including home nursing, community health centres and in an executive role in drug and alcohol services. Lynette also has many years of experience in nursing and midwifery regulation.

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Adjunct Associate Professor Naomi Dobroff FACN

CHIEF NURSING AND MIDWIFERY INFORMATION OFFICER (CNMIO), CHAIR OF THE CHIEF NURSING INFORMATICS OFFICER FACULTY, GENERAL MANAGER, EMR AND INFORMATICS PROGRAM AT MONASH HEALTH

Naomi has a Master of Public Health and is an Adjunct Associate Professor at Deakin University. She is a Fellow with the Australian College of Nursing and the Australasian Institute of Digital Health.

Naomi has had an extensive clinical nursing career primarily in General Medicine and held many senior leadership roles including as the Director of Nursing, Midwifery and Operations of Angliss Hospital Eastern Health and as a Deputy Director of Nursing Strategy at Monash Health. She is also a skilled regulator and board member who chaired the Victorian Board of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia for five years until June 2020 and was a board member for a further 5 years prior to that. Naomi is currently a Board Member of the Victorian Nurses and Midwives Trust.

Naomi is the longest tenured Chief Nursing and Midwifery Information Officer in Australia with a national and international profile. She is the CNMIO representative on the Victorian Department of Health, Clinical Informatics Council. Naomi chairs the ACN Nursing Informatics and Digital Health Faculty and is the chair of the Chief Nursing and Midwifery Information Office Faculty. She represents the Australian College of Nursing on many national advisory groups, including on the National Nursing and Midwifery Digital Health Capability Framework which was published in October 2020.

Naomi is a dynamic and innovative leader who ensures the use of data and information to enable innovative digital health workflows and positive patient care outcomes. She can communicate, influence, and empower individuals and teams across all levels of complex health organisations and is passionate about the role of nursing and midwifery informatics and digital health at a local, state and national level.

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Dr Bernadetta Eather FACN

CHIEF NURSE AND CLINICAL SERVICES DIRECTOR, HEAD OF CLINICAL GOVERNANCE, RAMSAY AUSTRALIA

Dr Bernadette Eather is the Chief Nurse and Clinical Services Director and Head of Clinical Governance for Ramsay Australia. She has worked in health care for more than 30 years in a range of clinical, operational, and clinical governance roles. She spent her clinical career as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Intensive Care. Prior to her current role, she was the Director of Patient Safety for NSW Health. She was recognised for her work in leading Ramsay Health Care’s National COVID response receiving the Front Line Hero Award in the Women’s Agenda Leadership Awards in 2021. She graduated from the University of Sydney in 1988, and holds a Masters in Health Management, a Masters in Health and Medical Law and a Doctor of Nursing.

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Adjunct Associate Professor Bernie Harrison MACN (Assoc)

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, FACULTY OF MEDICINE AND HEALTH DIRECTOR OF THE ACHS IMPROVEMENT ACADEMY

MPH (Hons), Grad Cert Med Ed, RN, RM

Bernie Harrison has over 30yrs experience in health care, as a clinician, researcher and quality and safety (Q&S) expert. She has extensive experience in designing and delivering Q&S training programs in the Asia pacific region. Her training in quality improvement and patient safety occurred in the USA in 2001 and 2010 as a Fulbright Scholar. She has extensive experience in health care system redesign and has published a Breakthrough Collaborative (Harrison et al Vox Sanguinis 2014) in improving red cell transfusion in the elective surgical setting. She co-authored the Quality in Australian Health Care Study (MJA 1995), the most cited paper in the journal’s 100yr history.

Her previous positions include: Executive Director of Hospital Performance for the National Health Performance Authority and Director in the NSW Clinical Excellence Commission. Her clinical experience as a registered nurse and midwife in the UK and Australia: maternity and child health, intensive care, aged care and mental health.

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Adjunct Professor Sue Hawes FACN

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, QUEENSLAND – DIABETES AUSTRALIA

MRNC, RN, BHlthSc, Grad Cert (Disability), EMBA, MAICD
Greenbelt Six Sigma, CoachU Dip

Adjunct Professor Sue Hawes FACN is a registered nurse and has worked in numerous roles as a senior clinician and executive. She is the CEO in Queensland for Diabetes Australia and formally held the Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer role of the Northern Territory (NT).

Sue is a leader of change and committed to the development of others. She regularly supports emerging leaders in coaching and teaching.

Sue enjoys collaborating with health staff to solve wicked problems that deliver improvements to service delivery. Sue is a Fellow of the Australian College of Nursing (ACN) and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD).

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Mark Kearin FACN

DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH, HEALTH MANAGEMENT LIAISON AND INFORMATICS

Mark Kearin FACN is a nurse professional with over 25 years’ experience in senior nursing and heath executive roles in major health services in NSW and QLD. Mark prides himself on his analytical, data mining, financial, workforce and project management skills which have enabled informed decision making for improved patient outcomes and effective service delivery model implementation.

Mark’s exceptional skills in workforce modelling, skills mix analysis and understanding of the industrial framework underpinning acute, aged care and primary and community health settings has advanced him as a sought-after expert in the workplace, as well as lecturing in the tertiary sector. Mark has an innate understanding of using data to support decision making, and financial management of health care with a focus on case-mix and activity-based funding models.

Mark’s contribution to the nursing profession in Australia extends to his appointment as a Non-Executive Director on the Nurses and Midwives Health Insurance Board and a Council Member of the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards. Mark has been a trailblazer in his areas of expertise throughout his career. He was the first Nursing Unit Manager in NSW to trial unit-based budgeting and the first nurse within the heath service to have a dual role of a Nursing Director and Business Manager within a clinical stream across a number of facilities, paving the way for nurses in NSW to be respected as dual professionals.

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Adjunct Professor Alanna Geary FACN

CHIEF NURSING AND MIDWIFERY OFFICER, METRO NORTH HOSPITAL AND HEALTH SERVICE

Alanna is the Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer, Metro North Hospital and Health Service, Australia’s.

Alanna has professional oversight for approximately 9000 Nurses and Midwives in Australia’s largest health service. She has worked in healthcare as a nurse and midwife for 42 years with the greatest proportion of that in senior nursing and midwifery roles. Alanna completed her General Nursing Training in 1984, Midwifery in 1988, Bachelor of Nursing and a Master of Health Science in Infection Control obtained in 2001 from Griffith University. Alanna is a Fellow of the Australian College of Nursing and holds Adjunct Professor titles from University of Queensland, Queensland University of Technology, Griffith University, Australian Catholic University, and the University of the Sunshine Coast. In July 2022, Alanna was awarded Outstanding Alumni – Healthcare Leadership by Griffith University and was a highly commended winner of UniSQ Health and Wellbeing Alumnus Award.

Alanna has extensive healthcare leadership and management experience and is passionate about the role of nurses and midwives and healthcare professionals in the delivery of healthcare to provide contemporary models which support excellence in education and research. Additionally, she is committed to ensuring that healthcare providers from all disciplines are at the forefront of all healthcare matters and decision making. As a nurse and midwife, Alanna is keen to ensure that nurses and midwives lead and are actively involved in research and opportunities which are nurse-centric, and patient centred and has been instrumental in the development and promotion of research programs, educational opportunities and initiatives which support and enhance the roles of the profession. She is passionate about the collaborations that need to be ever present in healthcare and therefore believes that all healthcare professionals need to work together to ensure interdisciplinary, patient focussed, health service centric research and education. In doing this Alanna’s belief is that when healthcare professionals work cohesively with all partners the best possible outcomes are achieved for patients and staff alike. To that end she has been instrumental in the development of opportunities for staff, including research internships, educational programs, grant submissions and promotion of conjoint opportunity. Alanna is steadfast in her resolve to promote healthcare to provide excellence in clinical care.

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Adjunct Professor Tony McGillion MACN

CHAIR, MELBOURNE REGION, DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING, NORTHERN HEALTH

Tony is a Registered Nurse with 36 years of nursing experience in a variety of roles. He started his career in the United Kingdom and was also fortunate enough to experience cross-cultural nursing in Saudi Arabia. After arriving ‘on the boat’ from England, Tony worked clinically in critical care areas, then as an educator/coordinator of the graduate program at Epworth Hospital. Tony moved into leadership and management roles, working as a NUM and as a Manager of Nursing Education teams at both Cabrini Health and Austin Health.

In 2014, Tony was seconded to the Victorian government in a senior policy advisor role which segued into the Manager of the Nursing and Midwifery Workforce branch. He then went to La Trobe University as Associate Professor of Clinical Nursing Practice where he also looked after the Diploma/Bachelor transition degree in Singapore.

Tony has completed a Bachelor of Education and a Master of Health Administration and currently holds adjunct positions at the University of Melbourne and La Trobe University. His most recent role at Western Health has a significant focus on the leadership development of our senior nurses and midwives and the role of good leadership in mitigating risks of the clinical governance failures we have seen in the past. Tony enjoys his advocacy role with the College and has mentored several mid-career and emerging nurse leaders to maximise their potential.

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Adjunct Professor (Practice) Alison McMillan MACN

CHIEF NURSING AND MIDWIFERY OFFICER, COMMONWEALTH GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

Alison McMillan is the Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer for the Commonwealth. She provides high-level policy advice on nursing, midwifery, health system reform, health workforce and education.

Alison is a Registered Nurse and has held senior executive roles in government and health services within Victoria including the Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer, Director of Quality, Safety and Patient Experience and Director of Health Emergency Management.

Alison is a member of the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee and chair of the Women Centred Care Senior Official Group, Stillbirth Implementation Oversight Group and National Breastfeeding Advisory Committee.

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Carmen Morgan FACN

BOARD DIRECTOR, AUSTRALIAN COLLEGE OF NURSING

Carmen has 30 plus years’ experience as a nurse. Much of her clinical career has spanned rural, regional and remote health in Western Australia. For the last 13 years she has taken on progressively more senior nursing leadership roles and is now the Director of Nursing of the Broome Hospital in WA and Regional Nurse Director for the acute care, primary health care, mental health, aged care and public health practice areas. Carmen was elected to the board in 2013 for a two year term and re-elected in 2015 for a further four years until 2019.

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Jordana Schlieff MACN

DIRECTOR OF NURSING AND MIDWIFERY WORKFORCE, EASTERN HEALTH

Jo currently holds the position of Director of Nursing and Midwifery Workforce in one of Melbourne’s largest metropolitan public health services. In this role, Jo supports delivery of the organisations strategic nursing and midwifery workforce plan and leads workforce initiatives promoting workforce sustainability. Jo has a background in health professional education and has over 20 years’ experience working across public and private health services where she has developed expertise in clinical nursing, education, leadership and workforce strategy.

Jo has been a member of the Australian College of Nursing since 2012 and during this time has been actively involved in the Workforce Sustainability Policy Chapter and development of future nurse leaders. Jo holds a Master of Health Professional Education and Master of Health Administration and is passionate about ensuring future nurse and midwife leaders have the skills and capabilities to succeed in dynamic healthcare environments.

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Karen Tuqiri MACN

DIRECTOR OF NURSING AND MIDWIFERY, PRINCE OF WALES HOSPITAL, SOUTH EASTERN SYDNEY LOCAL HEALTH DISTRICT

Karen Tuqiri is the Director of Nursing at The Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney. Programs of work Karen leads focus on workforce development, quality improvement, patient safety and implementing evidence-based practice change whilst developing a deeper understanding of the influence of leadership on workplace culture. She is a current PhD candidate with her area of study focused on developing a deeper understanding of the relationship person-centred practice has on patient safety outcomes.

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Distinguished Professor Patsy Yates AM FACN

CHAIR, END OF LIFE CARE

Distinguished Professor Patsy Yates AM, FACN, PhD, RN, FAAN is the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Patsy is a Registered Nurse with extensive experience as a leader in education and research in the health sector.

Patsy is also a Co-Director of QUT’s Centre for Healthcare Transformation. She leads a large competitively funded research program focused on developing workforce capacity in cancer, palliative, and aged care, advancing the management of cancer-related symptoms and treatment side effects, and strengthening the nexus between research, policy and practice in cancer, palliative and aged care.

Patsy is the current President of the International Society of Nurses in Cancer Care, a past-President of Palliative Care Australia, a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and has been inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame.