At the recent MDA National Board election, Dr Andrew Miller (WA), Dr Robyn Napier (NSW) and Dr Beres Wenck (Qld) were returned. Dr Rosanna Capolingua (WA) was replaced by Dr Patrick Maher (Vic). Dr Keith Woollard (WA) failed to win a seat.
Mr Tim Shackleton has been appointed Chair of the WAGPET Board. Dr Felicity Jefferies and Dr Jonathan Mortimer (GP Registrar Representative) have also been appointed, Dr Andrew Png and Ms June Foulds have stepped down. Former chair Dr Peter Maguire continues on in the position of GP Supervisor Representative on the Board.
Former school principal Mr Colin Pettit has been appointed Commissioner for Children and Young People. Ms Jenni Perkin has been acting in the position for nearly three years after the resignation of inaugural commissioner Ms Michelle Scott.
Prof Wendy Erber has been appointed Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at the University of WA. She was head of the School of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.
HBF CEO Mr Rob Bransby will leave the state’s biggest private health insurer in April to take up the role of chief executive of Perth Racing.
Lifeline WA CEO Ms Fiona Kalaf will leave the organisation in February to become the CEO of Youth Focus.
Medical student Andrés Noé, 24, of North Perth, has been awarded a Rhodes Scholarship.
Prof Andrew Whitehouse, from Telethon Kids has been awarded a Australian Research Council Discovery Project grant of $415,000 to investigate how fetal hormone exposure and early brain growth support child language development.
Youth Focus CEO Ms Jenny Allen will leave her post at the end of the year. She has been at the NFP since 2000.
Four researchers at The University of Western Australia have received $2.2 million in Federal Government funding to tackle the causes and impacts of dementia – the second-leading cause of death in Australia behind heart disease.
More than $40m in fellowships will be shared among 76 early career researchers working on dementia including Dr Sarah Rea and Dr Kate Smith, both from the Perkins Institute, Dr Andrew Ford, from UWA’s School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences and Mr Sam Buckberry, from the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology.
Mr Peter Kerr has been appointed to the board of Diabetes Research WA as treasurer. He is CFO of Mount Gibson Iron.
The ACCC will conduct a public merger review of the proposed acquisition of Adelaide Pathology Partners (APP) by Sonic Healthcare Limited and its subsidiary, Clinpath Laboratories Pty Ltd, (together, Sonic).