Committee
Dr John Allan MBBS, FRANZCP, PhD 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 Queensland Health. He has been Chief Psychiatrist in both Queensland and New South Wales and led clinical services in North Queensland for 20years. He is a leader in national mental health reform, and is particularly interested smoking and mental illness. He is the President Elect of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. He is the chair of the Safety and Quality Partnerships Standing Committee.
Catherine Brown is Director, Mental Health Reform at the Sydney office of the National Mental Health Commission. Catherine has worked in health program implementation and policy in NSW and Tasmania for the federal government and as a Mental Health Program Manager with a Division of General Practice.
She has degrees in education from University of Sydney and Masters of Health Administration from University of NSW. Since commencing with the Commission in 2016, Catherine has been involved with launching and promoting the Equally Well initiative. She presented at the inaugural Equally Well National Symposium in 2019 on the national progress on implementing the Fifth National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan’s actions aimed at improving the physical health of people living with mental illness.
Libby Dunstan is the Deputy CEO at the Brisbane North PHN providing organisational and operational leadership as well as leading key external stakeholder engagement and partnership building for the organisation. She provides operational leadership to key organisational functions such as Primary Care Liaison and Integration programs.
Libby has over 20 years experience and expertise in senior health leadership roles, managing the strategic, operation and business and operational aspects of a number of organisations in the not for profit sector. Her particular expertise includes business development, government relations, health care integration, health system improvement, policy analysis and development, project management and stakeholder management. Prior to her role at the Brisbane North PHN she held senior roles at the Stroke Foundation and CheckUP.
Professor Malcolm Hopwood is the Ramsay Health Care Professor of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne; based at the Albert Road Clinic (ARC) in Melbourne, Australia. At ARC he is the Director of the Professorial Psychiatry Unit. He is currently Interim Head of Department of the Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne.
His research areas of interest include psychopharmacology and clinical aspects of mood and anxiety disorders. He has also led research into psychiatric aspects of ABI and other neuropsychiatric disorders.
He was President of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists between 2015 and 2017.
In 2017 Professor Hopwood commenced as Interim Head of Department for Psychiatry, University of Melbourne.
Dr Caroline Johnson is a general practitioner in Melbourne with a special interest in primary mental health care. Alongside her long-standing clinical practice, she has extensive experience from undergraduate through to postgraduate training of doctors in mental health skills and is currently a Senior Medical Educator at EV GP Training and a Senior Lecturer in the Department of General Practice, University of Melbourne. As a GP researcher, she has published on recovery from depression, mental health treatment plans and the important role of general practice in providing care for common mental disorders. Her PhD was an exploration of the way people experiencing depression are monitored in the primary care setting. She has held numerous mental health advocacy positions including terms as Clinical lead in mental health on the RACGP Expert Committee in Quality Care and as a board member of Mental Health Australia.
Mr Harry Lovelock is the Director of Policy and Projects at Mental Health Australia. He has been working in the mental health sector for over the past 25 years working in state government and profession based organisations developing high-level policy and managing major initiatives in the disability, community and mental health sectors. Harry was previously the Director of Policy at the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists and Senior Executive Manager at the Australian Psychological Society. He is currently a representative on a number of committees including the Australian Government’s Mental Health Information Strategy Standing Committee and the Safety and Quality Partnership Standing Committee.
Commencing a human services career in 1992 as a child protection worker, Sacha has a Masters Degree in Human Services Management, Policy & Research. He has held senior leadership and project roles across a range of settings including: family violence, out of home care, community development, allied health, general practice, quality improvement, social work and counselling, community health, refugee health and mental health.
In 2014, Sacha began working with Neami National as a regional manager responsible for newly commissioned Mental Health Community Support (MHCS) services in Western Victoria. In 2016, he moved to a senior leadership role with the Neami communications and marketing team before commencing a 1-year maternity leave acting role as General Manager of Corporate Services. In November 2018, Sacha was appointed to the position of Chief Operating Officer at Neami National.
David has a background in Performance, and prior to his illness he worked in a range of jobs while performing in musicals in Melbourne. After some years of recovery Dave became heavily involved in contributing his lived experience to improve services and ultimately improve outcomes for Service users. Dave is excited about being part of the Equally Well project and looks forward to working towards longer & happier lives for people with mental illness.
Dr Russell Roberts is a Professor at Charles Sturt University and Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Sydney.
Living in Orange, NSW his is a board member of the ANZ Mental Health Association, Chair of the Australian Rural and Remote Mental Health Symposium and Editor in Chief of the Australian Journal of Rural Health. He has also been on the NSW Mental Health Commission Advisory Council and Director of Clinical Training at Griffith University, Queensland. He has previously served as director of a large regional mental health service of over 1,000 staff, delivering comprehensive services across the spectrum of mental health care.
Dr Grant Sara is a psychiatrist with roles in clinical care and data. As a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Sydney he is involved in caring for young people with recent onset of psychosis. He is Director of InforMH, NSW Ministry of Health and Chair of the national Mental Health Information Strategy Standing Committee. In those roles he works to see health system data used to understand variation and improve care.
Ms Carol Turnbull is the CEO for Ramsay Health Care (SA) Mental Health Services in South Australia. and has held that position since 2003. Prior to 2003 Carol worked with Ramsay Health Care as a Director of Clinical Services for 8 years.
She has been involved in Health and Psychiatric services for over 25 years and is a Registered General and Mental Health Nurse, has a Grad Dip in Management Practices, is a member of the Australian Private Hospitals Association’s Psychiatric Committee and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Within Ramsay Health Care Carol sits on the National Clinical Governance Committee and RHC Mental Health Leadership Committee.
Dr Murray Wright graduated from the University of Sydney Medical Faculty, completed his post graduate training in Psychiatry in South Eastern Sydney, and has worked in a range of metropolitan, rural and regional centres, as a clinician and, over the last 15 years, in a range of leadership roles, including NSW Chief Psychiatrist since October 2014.
Clinical interests include consultation-liaison psychiatry, emergency psychiatry, psychiatric and substance misuse comorbidity, and psychiatric impairment among health professionals and police officers. In addition to his public sector roles, Murray has maintained a private practice since 1990.
Murray’s role as NSW Chief Psychiatrist includes an oversight of quality and safety for mental health services, investigation/ review of critical incidents associated with mental health services, and contributing to improvements in patient safety.
