Dr Selina Lo

Executive Director, Australian Global Health Alliance

Dr Lo has nearly three decades experience in global and international health with qualifications in medicine (University of Melbourne), tropical medicine (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) and a Masters in Public and International Law (University of Melbourne).

She is currently also Consulting Editor (Global and Planetary Health Commissions) for The Lancet medical journal where she was previous Senior Editor based in London and Beijing. She has been handling editor of a number of  global health peer reviewed commissions including the Rockefeller Lancet Planetary Health report, the first Lancet series on Transgender Health and Global Health 2035: Investing in Health.

Selina has worked in Afghanistan, Myanmar, China, Thailand, and Bangladesh specifically with refugee, stateless, ethnic minority, and IDU and sex worker communities. She was a Medical Director for Essential Medicines for Médecins sans Frontières based in Geneva. She has worked for Save the Children UK and was Clinical Advisor for the seminal Clinton Foundation national HIV AIDS treatment partnership based in China CDC, and inaugural CEO for Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA). As a consultant Selina has worked with WHO HQ on Common Goods for Health, Victorian Department of Health COVID19 response, and was a visiting fellow to the UN International Institute of Global Health Malaysia on Gender and Health.

Selina sits on the steering committee of SESH global which builds crowd funding capacity for lower and middle income country researchers in infectious diseases and comes to the Alliance from the Monash Sustainable Development Institute (MSDI). She retains an active interest in the arts and local community –  supporting Correspondences and by writing the occasional art review.

Abbie Minter

Deputy Director

Abbie joined the Global Health Alliance Australia in June 2020 as Deputy Director. She is also the Program, Policy and Events Officer for Pacific Friends of Global Health, a key advocacy partner of three of the world’s most significant global health organisations:  The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; and UNITAID.

Abbie has extensive experience across the non-profit, private and public sectors in global health, project management, international development, fundraising and marketing and communications. She has a Master of Public Health and a Bachelor of International Studies, and was previously the National Manager of Ethiopiaid, a non-profit working alongside local Ethiopian partners to bring trusted healthcare and education to some of the most vulnerable and marginalised people in Ethiopia.

Abbie is passionate about improving health equity and mitigating the impacts of climate change on health, and has experience working in Ethiopia, Thailand and London.

Piyali Somaia

Network Director, Australian Network of WHO Collaborating Centres; Advisor – Gender Equality, Australian Global Health Alliance

Piyali joined the Nossal Institute in April 2020, as the Network Coordinator of the Australian Network of WHO Collaborating Centres.  As she grows the Network, she creates opportunities for strategic partnerships, collaboration and knowledge sharing amongst the 52 centres in the Network, the WHO Western Pacific Office and the Australian government.

She has had extensive experience in strategic planning, project management, global health, statistical analysis and consulting. She holds a Masters in Public Health, a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) and a Bachelor of Science. She is an advocate for gender equity globally, and has worked as a consultant to the UNFPA on the topic of sex-selection before birth in Europe and Asia. She also sits on the steering committee of the Women in Global Health Australasia Chapter.

Georgina Wawryk

Project Coordinator – Digital

Georgina is dedicated to contributing to meaningful current global health discourse, including health equity, inclusion, sustainability, and people centredness.

She has  experience in public sectors communications and was the Communications Manager at the Iraqi Children’s foundation, an organisation that aims to provide vulnerable children in Iraq with assistance and resources. After spending three months working at Nea Kavala Refugee camp in Greece, Georgina has a particular interest in improving access to healthcare in refugee camps.

Georgina has a Bachelor of Public Relations and is currently in her final year of a Masters of Global Studies.

Prabhleen Kaur

Project Assistant

Prabhleen is passionate about challenging existing structural inequalities. She is bringing her intercultural and program management skills to the Australian Global Health Alliance team.

Prabhleen works on strategic focuses of the alliance with a particular focus on climate change and health, gender and health and decolonisation of global health.

Prabhleen is currently studying a double degree of Bachelor of Global Studies and Bachelor of Science,  specialising in International relations.

Professor Ian Anderson AO

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Student and University Experience), Australian National University

Professor Ian Anderson AO is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Student and University Experience) at the ANU. He joined the University from the held senior appointments with the Australian Government, most recently as the Deputy CEO of the National Indigenous Australians Agency. Prior to this Professor Anderson held senior appointments with the University of Melbourne.

Professor Anderson has worked in Indigenous health and education for over thirty years, which has included time as a practicing doctor, running health services and as the Medical Adviser to the Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health with the Australian Government. He is a Palawa man from the northwest coast of Tasmania with traditional ties to country known as Tebrakunna.

Professor Anderson was a founding member of the Australian Global Health Alliance.

Professor Nancy Baxter

Head, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, The University of Melbourne

Nancy is a clinical epidemiologist, colorectal surgeon and health services researcher.  Before joining the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, she was the Associate Dean, Academic Affairs at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, a Professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgery and the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto.  Her main research interests are in the evaluation of patterns of cancer care, the evaluation of cancer screening, determining the long-term consequences of cancer care for survivors and improving the quality and safety of surgery.  She has published over 250 peer-reviewed articles.  She also applies the use of linked health administrative data and cancer registry data to evaluate long-term consequences of cancer care for adults.  She is a Fellow of both the American College of Surgeons and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

Professor Colleen Fisher

Professor and Head of School, School of Population and Global Health, University of Western Australia

Colleen Fisher is Professor and Head of School, School of Population and Global Health. Her research expertise is in the area of family and domestic violence, an area she has been researching for over 20 years. Her research has examined experiences of family and domestic violence, its health and social impact, and has been across the lifespan and across cultures. She was the first to undertake comprehensive research into the experience, understanding and impact of family and domestic violence on refugees and refugee communities, post settlement in Australia, and her research has informed policy and program development. Additionally Colleen has undertaken a range of national and state family and domestic violence program evaluations in both the health and human services sectors. Colleen has been an invited member of a number of government advisory boards related to family and domestic violence and was a WA Department of Health Clinical Senate expert witness.

Professor Barbara McPake

Director, Nossal Institute for Global Health

Professor Barbara McPake is the Director of the Nossal Institute for Global Health. She is a health economist and international leader in the study of health systems and financing in emerging economies. Barbara was at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh. Her research includes studies in Africa, South and Southeast Asia and her extensive work has been published in leading international journals.

Professor Jane den Hollander AO 

Chair, Australian Global Health Alliance (2019 – 2021)

Professor Jane den Hollander AO was Vice-Chancellor of Deakin University Australia from July 2010 until her retirement in July 2019. At Deakin, Professor den Hollander introduced LIVE the future, an aspiration for Deakin to drive the digital frontier in higher education, harnessing the power, opportunity and reach of new and emerging technologies in all that it does.

Professor den Hollander interests particularly include i) equity and inclusion with a focus to ensure good education and health for all Australians and in particular Indigenous peoples and women; ii) innovation related to the start up sector and the continuing role of digital technology and AI in our collective future. Professor den Hollander is a Director of UniSuper Limited and Trustee and chair of its Remuneration Committee. Prior to taking up her appointment as Vice-Chancellor of Deakin University, Professor den Hollander was Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at Curtin University in Western Australia.

Professor den Hollander received an Order of Australia for her distinguished service to tertiary education in the 2017 Australia Day Honours awards.

Honourable John Brumby

The Hon John Brumby was the former Premier of Victoria (2007 – 2010) and has immense experience in public life serving for more than 10 years as Treasurer and then Premier of Victoria, 6 years as Leader of the Victorian Opposition and 7 years as Federal MHR for Bendigo during the period of the Hawke Government. Since retiring from politics, Mr Brumby has accepted a number of appointments in both the business and not-for-profit sectors, including: Professorial Fellow at both the University of Melbourne and Monash University; Chairman of the Motor Trades Association of Australia (MTAA) Superannuation Fund; Chair of the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute; Chair of the Fred Hollows Foundation; Chair of National Centre for Workplace Leadership; and National President of the Australia China Business Council.