Professor Rachelle Buchbinder AO

Rachelle combines rheumatology practice with clinical research. She is an NHMRC L3 Investigator Fellow, and is the inaugural Director, Monash-Cabrini Dept Musculoskeletal Health and Clinical Epidemiology, and a Professor in the Monash University Dept Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University.

She is known internationally as a vocal proponent of evidence-based medicine and for her landmark studies, particularly those examining treatments accepted into practice before proper evaluation. She has published more than 620 scientific papers and is in the top 0.1 per cent of the world’s most cited scientists. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for services to epidemiology and rheumatology in 2020.

Our book, 'Hippocrasy, how doctors are betraying their oath', was written with support from a Rockefeller Foundation writing fellowship at the Bellagio Center in Italy in 2018.

Professor Ian Harris

Ian is a clinician and researcher based in Sydney. He is an orthopaedic surgeon with a clinical interest in trauma care where his practice is based at Liverpool Hospital in southwest Sydney. He is Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the South Western Sydney Clinical School of UNSW Sydney and Honorary Professor at the School of Public Health, University of Sydney.

His research activities are based at the Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research in Liverpool and the Institute for Musculoskeletal Health and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Camperdown.

His research training includes a Master of Clinical Epidemiology, a PhD in surgical outcomes and a Master of Health Data Science.

Professor Harris’s research interests are in surgical outcomes and the appropriateness of medical care. He conducts randomised trials, systematic reviews, cohort studies and methods studies. He is involved in several clinical registries, including co-chair of the ANZ Hip Fracture Registry (2012 – 2021) and Deputy Director of the AOA National Joint Replacement Registry (2015 – present).

Professor Harris has over 300 publications and has received over $32 million in grant funding since 2012. He is a critic of many aspects of modern medical practice and is a campaigner for more science in medicine and in society. He published the book Surgery, the Ultimate Placebo in 2016 and a second book, Hippocrasy: How Doctors Are Betraying Their Oath, in 2021. 

Dr Rachel David, MBBS, MBA, GAICD 
Chief Executive Officer, Private Healthcare Australia

Dr Rachel David is an expert on healthcare policy and financing, and is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Private Healthcare Australia, the industry peak body representing health funds. Formerly a medical practitioner, she is dedicated to harnessing medical best practice and policy to improve health outcomes in the community. Previously a senior advisor to the Federal Health Minister between 1996 and 2000, her relationships in the government sector and Australian business community extend to the highest levels.

Dr David has worked with the international pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical devices industries for more than a decade, including Australian biotech leader CSL, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson.  On the senior management team of CSL Ltd, she played a pivotal role in making the cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil available to Australian women, and later boys.  She has also been a founding practice manager of the McKinsey & Company health and government sector practice in Australia.

In her current role, Dr David undertakes policy and advocacy work, as well as thought leadership for Australia’s major health funds.

James Downie is the Chief Executive Officer of the Independent Hospital Pricing Authority (IHPA). Prior to this James was the Executive Director, Activity Based Funding, leading the teams responsible for delivering the classification, costing and pricing functions of IHPA as well as the data acquisition activities.

Jean-Frédéric has a Medical Degree, a Masters in Community Health and a Doctorate in Public Health from the Université de Montréal, Canada. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada in Preventive Medicine and Public Health. He is a member of the Strategic Analytic Advisory Committee of the Canadian Institute of Health Information and a member of the HealthShare NSW Board.

Prior to joining NSW Health, Jean-Frédéric held senior positions responsible for publicly reporting information about the Canadian health system at the Institut National de Santé Publique du Québec and the Commissaire a la santé et au bien-etre du Québec and he was a Visiting Academic at the University of Melbourne

Dr Kean-Seng Lim
MBBS(Syd), FRACG, FAMA, GAICD

Dr Lim is a General Practitioner and GP Principal in a small group practice in Mt Druitt. He is the immediate past President of AMA (NSW), a Wentwest Clinical Council member and a management committee member of the Mt Druitt Medical Practitioners Association.  In 2015 he was awarded the RACGP General Practitioner of the Year award. He has previously served on the RACGP Faculty Board and Wentwest Board.  Among other things, he has been a Clinical Lead with the National E-Health Transition Authority is one of the developers of the schools based obesity prevention and lifestyle education program - SALSA, with which he remains heavily involved.  He was previously involved in developing the Health Care Homes training material as well as engaged in PHN Training.  He currently serves on several advisory groups including the QIPIP Data Governance Group and ADHA mHealth Working Group. He has been heavily engaged in the Western Sydney PCMH implementation project, and as a member of the Wentwest Clinical leaders group, and currently Co-Chairs the Western Sydney Value Based Urgent Care Subcommittee. He is also the Co-Founder of CareMonitor, a Patient-Provider Partnership  Shared Care Digital Platform.

Siddharth Parameswaran,
Insurance and Diversified Financials Equity Analysts at JP Morgan

Siddharth analyses the strategies employed by financial services companies (mainly in insurance) and assesses whether these will result in appreciation in share prices. He is a Fellow of the Actuaries Institute of Australia, a Fellow of Finsia and a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He holds a Master of Business Administration from Insead (France) and Bachelor of Economics (Major Actuarial Studies) from Macquarie University. 

Dan Pole

Dan is a social researcher who has built a career providing clients with the evidence they need to make better, more actionable decisions.

As director of Healthcare & Insurance Australia (HCIA), one of Australia’s longest running longitudinal monitors of attitude and behaviour, Dan has worked with government and industry to deeply understand health consumers, forecast industry trends, and assess the need for regulatory reform. Through this work Dan has made connections with stakeholders across the private health sector and delivered findings to health ministers, health fund CEO’s, ministerial committees, parliamentary committees, and industry groups.

Beyond this work, Dan has led qualitative investigations into the decision-making process among clinical patients with recently incurred out-of-pocket expenses, as well as the drivers of referral patterns among general practitioners. He also leads the Your Experience of Service (YES) survey in Victoria and has done since its inception in 2015. This landmark survey – the first of its kind in Victoria – seeks to provide agencies delivering publicly funded mental health services with a measure of consumer experience in order to drive service quality improvement in the sector.  

More recently, Dan has led research for the department of prime minister & cabinet tracking community sentiment during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, and for groups eager to assess the mental and physical health impacts of the pandemic on the Australian community.

Dan combines an interest in government policy and human behaviour with a detailed understanding of the complexities of collecting and analysing data.

Kirsten is an experienced actuary and strategic adviser with a 25-year career in health, disability and social insurance. She focuses on building better health systems and creating social impact by bringing evidence, insights and new ways of thinking to government, businesses and not-for-profits.

Kirsten brings extensive international experience, advising on and evaluating health and social security reforms in more than 20 countries, and as part of the executive team at one of Australia’s best-known charities, The Fred Hollows Foundation. There, she pioneered ways to improve program impact and attract investors to help end blindness around the world.

In 2019, Kirsten was named one of the Australian Financial Review’s 100 Women of Influence.

Andrew Matthews

Andrew is a principal based in Melbourne and is an actuary with expertise in Appointed Actuary roles, applying analytics and Organisational Development. He works with a range of insurers informing wise financial decisions, exploring growth possibilities and protecting businesses by ensuring compliance with prudential requirements. In addition to commercial experience leading actuarial and risk services, he is an Associate Professor at Monash Business School and a Board Director at The Stroke Foundation. He is passionate about health and education. Andrew works with leaders and their teams to apply analytics and build the capabilities to put a shared vision into action.

Evelyn Njoo
Future of Health Seminar Convenor
Plenary Chair: Prostheses cost in Australia

Evelyn is an actuary with over 11 years experience in private health insurance industry. Evelyn currently heads up the Actuarial and Analytics Services team at Defence Health. Evelyn is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia and is currently a member of the Actuaries Institute Health Practice Committee.