National Health Reform Series

Mr Robert Wells is the Director of the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute and Menzies Centre for Health Policy at ANU. He is a former a first assistant secretary in the Department of Health and Ageing where he was involved in research policy, Commonwealth/State relations, health workforce, rural health programs, safety and quality and programs for better management of major diseases such as cancer, diabetes and mental health. He managed the Commonwealth's health workforce programs from the early 1990s. He chaired the Medical Training Review Panel and represented the Commonwealth on the Australian Medical Workforce Advisory Committee (AMWAC), the Australian Health Workforce Officials Committee (AHWOC) and the Australian Medical Council (AMC). Mr Wells has chaired a number of workforce committees established under the auspices of the Australian Health Ministers Council, including working parties on national medical registration and specialist medical training and has represented Australia internationally on medical workforce matters.

Professor Mark Harris has extensive experience in primary health care research and research capacity building in primary health care in Australia. He is Professor of General Practice and Executive Director of the Centre for Primary Health Care and Equity at the University of New South Wales. His research interests include chronic disease prevention and management in primary care, health inequalities and integration of primary health care with other health and non-health services. Professor Harris has been appointed as a member of the External Reference Group to assist the Federal Government in its development of a new health care strategy. Known as the National Primary Health Care Strategy, it aims to better tackle the health challenges of the 21st century, and ensure that families can receive the health care they need.

Dr Rashmi Sharma was born and educated in London, England and graduated from Guys Hospital Medical School, University of London in 1993. At Guys, she also completed a BSc(Hons) in Clinical Pharmacology research. After arrival in Australia, Rashmi did hospital rotations on the Gold Coast, Brisbane and Mt Isa, and a placement as a solo GP in the outback Queensland town of Richmond. These experiences give her a practical insight into aboriginal health and remote-area medicine. Dr Sharma is a practice principal in a large practice with allied health professionals including six practice nurses in Tuggeranong. The practice has a strong emphasis on teaching medical students, interns and GP registrars. Dr Sharma is the President of the ACT Division of General Practice and her time at the division has provided her with valuable experience in health bureaucracy as well as a greater understanding of the needs of her GP colleagues in the ACT. She is a medical educator supervisor for registrars and is also a member of the Commonwealth Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee.

Mr Russell McGowan is a bone marrow transplant survivor who has been active in the health care consumer movement since the early 1990s and is now retired from the workforce on health grounds. His working life had included teaching, field work, program management and policy development, mainly involving employment, education and training programs for indigenous people. At the national level, Mr McGowan is Consumer Commissioner on the Australian Commission for Safety and Quality in Health Care and sits on the Governing Committee of the Consumers Health Forum of Australia and the Boards of the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards and the Australian General Practice Network. Russell lives in Canberra and participates in numerous community and consumer healthcare organisations in the ACT. He is deputy chair of the ACT Health Council, has served in various capacities on the Executive Committee of the Health Care Consumers Association for the past eleven years.