Dr Helen Brown
Deputy Director-General
Dr Helen Brown graduated from medicine from the National University of Ireland, Galway. She relocated to Queensland in 2001 and attained her neurology fellowship with the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. She was awarded a Master of Philosophy from Griffith University in 2011.
She is the Deputy Director-General, Clinical Excellence Queensland. She was the Director of Neurology and Stroke at the Princess Alexandra Hospital from 2014-2021 where she implemented a successful clinical redesign program for the neurology outpatient service. She then transitioned to the roles of Clinical Director of the Neurosciences Division at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and Director of the Neurosciences Research Institute at Metro North Health.
She is passionate about ongoing education and is the Queensland Chair for the Australian and New Zealand Association for Neurologists (ANZAN) Education Committee and a Senior Lecturer with the University of Queensland. Her area of sub-specialty expertise is stroke and she was previously the co-Chair of the Statewide Stroke Clinical Network.
Associate Professor Catherine McDougall
Chief Medical Officer
Catherine trained and worked as a Physiotherapist prior to undertaking her Medical Degree at the University of Queensland. Her medical student time included a year in the Rural Clinical School. After graduating medicine, Catherine completed her junior medical years at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, after which she undertook Orthopaedic Surgical Training throughout Queensland and Portland, Oregon, USA. Catherine obtained her Fellowship with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (FRACS) in 2013.
Catherine completed post-Fellowship training in knee surgery, arthroplasty, and revision arthroplasty at the Gold Coast University Hospital and in The Royal Edinburgh Infirmary, UK. Catherine commenced as a Staff Specialist in Orthopaedics at The Prince Charles Hospital (TPCH), Metro North HHS in 2015. After six years as the Deputy Director of Orthopaedics at TPCH, Catherine was appointed as the first Clinical Director of Surgery at the Surgical Treatment and Rehabilitation Service (STARS), a position she held until November 2022.
Catherine completed a graduate Certificate in Safety, Quality, Informatics and Leadership at Harvard University in 2021, is the current Co-Chair of the of the Australia and New Zealand Hip Fracture Registry (ANZHFR), an Assistant Deputy Clinical Director of the Australian Orthopaedic Association National Joint Replacement Registry (AOANJRR). She has been a Clinical Lead for the ‘Getting it Right the First Time’ program within the Health Improvement Unit, Queensland Health since 2019, and is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Queensland Medical School.
Catherine is the proud mother of her six-year-old son.
Liza-Jane McBride
Chief Allied Health Officer
Liza-Jane is the Chief Allied Health Officer for Queensland. She is responsible for providing high level strategic leadership for statewide workforce reform and education strategies—including industrial, policy and regulatory change—to ensure an appropriately skilled allied health workforce meets the current and future health needs of Queenslanders.
An experienced physiotherapist with over 25 years of practice experience in the public and private sectors in Queensland and overseas, Liza-Jane also has postgraduate qualifications in health management. She is an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences at the University of Queensland and an Associate Clinical Professor in the School of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Health at the Queensland University of Technology. Her current research collaborations include a range of allied health workforce, education and service redesign projects.
Liza-Jane has a strong track record in delivering strategic policy results at state and national levels. She has demonstrated ability to initiate, drive and successfully deliver transformation within healthcare environments, including in the areas of clinical governance, professional standards and practice, policy, clinical education and training, change management and workforce information and management systems.
Dr Ben Stute
Chief Dental Officer
Dr Ben Stute is Chief Dental Officer for the Department of Health and provides expertise and strategic leadership in oral health. Ben is responsible for maintaining the policy, funding and performance framework for public oral health services in Queensland to support high quality, accessible public dental care for eligible Queenslanders.
Ben graduated from dentistry at The University of Queensland in 1999 and has worked in clinical practice and senior management positions in both the public and private sectors over the last 25 years. He has completed postgraduate training in public health and health policy, and is currently undertaking specialist training in public health dentistry.
Ben joined the Department of Health in 2009 and through his leadership in the Office of the Chief Dental Officer has a long track record of statewide initiatives related to public oral health services, including public policy, purchasing models, reporting and research. Ben is passionate about improving access to dental care for those people most at risk in the community and helping them to improve and maintain their oral health. By working collaboratively with partners across the dental sector, Ben is driven to progress public oral health services and population oral health in Queensland.
Adjunct Professor Shelley Nowlan
Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer
Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer Shelley Nowlan provides overall professional and industry advice for nursing and midwifery matters across Queensland. This includes leading, advocating and supporting nurses and midwives to provide quality, safe care for Queensland communities through policy, direction and regulation. Shelley has over 30 years’ experience in healthcare, including 17 years’ experience in a range of metropolitan, regional and rural public sector executive clinical and health administrative leadership roles at a strategic and operational level.
She is a people-orientated executive leader with experience in contemporary healthcare systems including clinical innovation, leadership development, strategic planning, change management, policy development at state level, research, clinical practice and workforce development.
Shelley’s leadership has helped achieve practical outcomes within the nursing profession and as well as clinical care re-design programs and has led to success in developing and leading statewide and district clinical leadership programs.
Shelley has had significant experience in both capital works programs and commissioning of health services along with the development and implementation of patient models of care and care innovations. Her experience within the nursing profession extends nationally and internationally.
Associate Professor John Allan
Executive Director
John completed his medical training and PhD in Queensland and his psychiatry training in Adelaide.
John is the Executive Director of Mental Health Alcohol and other Drugs Branch in the Department of Health and leads the state-wide development, delivery and enhancement of the specialist areas of mental health and alcohol and other drugs treatment in Queensland. He has previously been Chief Psychiatrist in both Queensland and New South Wales. He spent twenty years working in North Queensland where he developed a wide range of new mental health services. He is highly experienced in clinical practice, leadership, government policy, mental health legislation and service development.
His clinical interests include the mental health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and comprehensive care for those with serious mental illness. His current research and policy interests focus on mental health reform, clinical service improvement, reduction in restrictive practices, human rights, recovery-oriented practice and smoking reduction strategies.
He is the immediate past President of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists and was a member of the RANZCP Board from 2015 to May 2021. He is a foundation member of Equally Well which has a focus of improving the physical health and wellbeing of people living with mental illness in Australia. He currently co-coordinates the World Psychiatric Association Alternatives to Coercion Working Group.
Kirstine Sketcher-Baker
Executive Director
Kirstine Sketcher-Baker is the Executive Director of Patient Safety and Quality and is responsible for monitoring and supporting Hospital and Health Services to minimise patient harm, reduce unwarranted variation in health care and achieve high-quality patient-centred care. Kirstine has a statistical background with a longstanding interest in monitoring patient safety and quality of care in hospitals.
She has led the introduction of various monitoring tools and information systems throughout Queensland and in Alberta Health Services, Canada including RiskMan, Variable Life Adjusted Displays, the Queensland Bedside Audit and Patient Experience Surveys.
Kirstine has also overseen partnerships with Queensland’s public hospitals to measure patient experience in various hospital settings including maternity and emergency departments and through the collation and analysis of compliments and complaints.
Michael Zanco
Executive Director
Michael Zanco is the Executive Director of the Healthcare Improvement Unit, and has responsibility for driving systems improvement and reform by working collaboratively with Statewide Clinical Networks, Hospital and Health Services and other system leaders to explore opportunities to improve access to healthcare.
Michael has a long and successful history of effectively engaging and partnering with frontline clinicians, health service executives and policy makers to deliver real improvements to patient care and driving sustainable system-wide improvements in relation to access, equity and quality of services provided.
Over his career, Michael has worked in many roles, starting in public hospital administration supporting the delivery of patient care before taking on roles within the corporate setting to influence and deliver policy and investment initiatives that support true whole-of-system change.
Elisha McGuiness
Executive Director of the Office of Rural and Remote Health
Elisha McGuiness is the Executive Director of the Office of Rural and Remote Health and is responsible for leading strategic reform and operational support for Queensland Health sites categorised as Rural and remote using the Modified Monash Model (MMM 4-7 localities).
Elisha has spent the past 15 years based in north Queensland and enjoys the challenges, versatility and complexity that rural and remote healthcare brings. She has held responsibility for the leadership and state-level implementation of a number of public health priorities including Rheumatic Heart Disease and Sexually Transmitted Infections and Blood Borne Viruses. Elisha has significant experience leading person-centred health care, specifically for rural, remote and First Nations communities. She has led significant community and stakeholder engagement and service redesign, with a focus on innovation, quality improvement and the achievement of health equity, including in the areas of community-controlled primary health care. She is passionate about working with all stakeholders on how we can improve service delivery to regional, rural and remote areas.
