Governance Advisory Panel membership

Professor Picone has been the CEO of the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care since 2012.

She is a highly respected leader in public administration, with extensive operating and leadership experience in the provision of healthcare services, governance, and hospital administration.

In her current role, Professor Picone has led the development and implementation of a series of national system-wide safety and quality programs.

Professor Picone was formerly the NSW Health Director-General from 2007-2011.

She was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia and Officer of the Order of Australia for her service to public administration, particularly to health services management and her coordination of improvements to the safety and quality of health care.

Adjunct Professor Crawshaw has held several senior executive positions within the NSW Public Service, including as NSW Health’s Director Legal and General Counsel for 17 years.

She worked as Deputy Secretary Governance, Workforce and Corporate until 2017, with responsibility for a broad range of policy areas including health system governance, regulation, legal services, workplace relations and human resources.

Adjunct Professor Crawshaw had key responsibilities for implementing NSW Health’s response to the Garling Inquiry into Acute Care Services and the Wood Royal Commission reference which resulted in major reforms of the NSW child protection system.

She continues to provide strategic policy and legal advice to governments and health organisations, including state health departments and the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care and has just completed her third term as a member of the Australian Health Practitioner Regulatory Agency’s Governance body (Ahpra). She was awarded the Public Service Medal in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2012 for her significant contributions to the public health sector.

Robyn Burley has had an extensive professional career in health workforce policy, strategy and education including leading significant changes for the workforce in NSW Health for over 15 years.

On behalf of the COAG Health Council, Robyn managed the Review of Intern Training in Australia resulting in the annual workplace surveys of junior doctors’ training and a revised transition to practice program for medical graduates which is currently being implemented. Robyn also led the national harmonisation of medical intern selection, distribution and reporting processes for COAG Health Council to ensure COAG guaranteed places were effectively allocated.

Addressing the changes to healthcare provision and the varying demands to better align health professional roles has been a key focus of Robyn’s work and she has led significant improvements in the NSW Health Workforce strategic planning, expansion of Enrolled Nursing and Allied Health Assistant roles in acute services, rural preferential allocations for medical internships, expansion of tertiary places and roles of small but critical health professions such as radiopharmaceutical scientists and the introduction of Aboriginal Health Worker roles in NSW Health.

She has broad project sponsorship experience, having led State-wide workforce software implementations covering the entire clinical employment cycle, and has also devised and delivered strategies to address workforce shortages, cultural diversity awareness and workforce cultural change initiatives.  Recently, as Executive General Manager for the Royal Australasian College of Physician, Robyn has addressed the impact of COVID on specialist medical training to enable trainees to progress through their training with minimum disruptions and barriers.

Robyn holds an M.Ed and B.A. in Education and Psychology, a Dip. Teaching (Technical), is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and has held non-Executive Director roles on Education Sector Boards.

Maria Harries AM is a nationally and internationally recognised social work practitioner, researcher and scholar who has worked in the areas of child and family wellbeing, child protection/maltreatment, family violence and mental health for a career spanning fifty years.

She has undertaken multiple reviews of services, conducted inquiries into child deaths and incidents of serious malpractice, and has led and been engaged in re-designs of child and youth safety services across Australia.

Maria has been particularly active in establishing and supporting services for vulnerable populations including survivors of abuse including sexual abuse.  She has always pursued an evidence-base that links academic research to teaching, policy development and practice excellence. 

Maria is an Associate Professor and Senior Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia where she has taught and undertaken research for twenty-five years and is Adjunct Professor at Curtin University. She continues to supervise PhD candidates whose research focuses primarily on understanding and addressing the needs of children, youth and families who are experiencing vulnerabilities and adversities.

Ann Maree is a highly respected health leader who has led significant healthcare reforms, workforce development changes, quality and safety reviews, and state-wide improvement initiatives. She has significant experience in professional leadership, tertiary health service provision, corporate and clinical governance, and public administration.

Ann Maree held the position of Chief Nurse and Midwifery Officer and Deputy CEO at Safer Care Victoria for six years until July 2022. She was a founding member of Safer Care Victoria and last year acted in the CEO role.

Prior to commencing with Safer Care Victoria Ann Maree spent 12 years as the Executive Director of Ambulatory and Nursing Services at Austin Health.

Ann Maree holds post graduate nursing qualifications, is a Fellow of the Williamson Community Leadership Program, is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and has a Master of Enterprise through University of Melbourne. She is a non-executive Director at The Institute for Health Transformation (Deakin University) and Sexual Health Victoria where she chairs the Quality and Risk Board Sub-Committee.

Professor Erwin Loh is national Chief Medical Officer and Group General Manager Clinical Governance for St Vincent's Health Australia, the nation’s largest not-for-profit health and aged care provider, including 6 public hospitals, 10 private hospitals and 23 aged care facilities in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, along with three co-located research institutes – the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, and St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research.

Prior to that he was the Chief Medical Officer of Monash Health, Victoria’s largest health service, where he worked for almost ten years. Before that he was the Deputy Chief Medical Officer at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre for three years. And immediately prior to that, he worked as a full-time lawyer at Sparke Helmore for two years.

He is qualified in both medicine and law, with general and specialist registration as a medical practitioner (medical administration specialty), and is a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria and High Court of Australia. He also has an MBA, Master of Health Service Management, and PhD.

He is currently a director on the board of the St Vincent's Institute and the Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery. He has previously been a director on the boards of the Hudson Institute of Medical Research, Monash Health Research Precinct Pty Ltd, Australian Medical Association (Victoria) and Law Institute of Victoria. He is a Graduate and Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

He is Vice President and Board Member of the Royal Australasian College of Administrators. He is Professor at Monash University, where he leads the Clinical Leadership and Management Unit at the Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation. He is Honorary Clinical Professor with the title of Professor at the Department of Medical Education, University of Melbourne. He is Honorary Professor at Macquarie University at the Centre for Health Systems and Safety Research.

He teaches and carries out research in health law, health management and clinical leadership. He has been an invited speaker at local and international conferences, published on health law, medical management, and health technology, and is a member of the Association of Professional Futurists, with an interest in medical futurology.

He received the Distinguished Fellow Award from RACMA in 2017 for “commitment to governance, research and publication”.