The Centre for Health Leadership was established in 2016 to support and foster the development of leadership capability in Australasia.
We are a meaningful intellectual community of internationally recognised and qualified individuals, in the area of leadership and related fields.
Applied thinking
The team
Paul Long
Founding Director of the Centre for Health Leadership
Dr Paul Long, DBA, is an experienced senior health sector consultant and academic specialising in organisational systems and behaviour change, positive workplace culture, executive and leadership development, team interventions, and organisational development solutions.
With senior executive experience in government and the private sector he has a unique talent for turning ideas into reality linking theory and practical implementation across a diverse range of systems. He is the author of 3 books on clinical leadership, an alumnus of Harvard Kennedy School of Government and the Founding Director of the Centre for Health Leadership.
Download his bio here.
John Clark
Adviser to the Institute for Health Leadership
John has had an extensive career involved in medical leadership and engagement activities in both the UK and Australia through past roles as a chief executive of hospitals, director of a university health policy unit and national director of leadership development for the NHS (England). Over the past 18 years, he has spent considerable time working in Western Australia where he is currently Adviser to the Institute for Health Leadership (Department of Health). In this role, he has helped design a range of medical leadership programs as part of the wider cultural change to engage doctors in the leadership of the health system.
Peter Spurgeon
Professor
Peter is the founder of the Institute for Clinical Leadership at Warwick Medical School, United Kingdom and a leading authority on medical engagement. His groundbreaking work to develop the Medical Engagement Scale (MES) provides a reliable and valid method of understanding the relationship between medical engagement and organisational performance.
Peter’s seminal book Medical Leadership: From the Dark Side to Centre Stage provides a comprehensive account of the key aspects of medical leadership. It explores how the medical profession has evolved in tandem with administrative and structural aspects of the NHS.
Alison Brown
Consultant
Alison specialises in healthcare quality management and governance. She has extensive experience in the health sector working with clinicians, managers and boards in developing appropriate systems and processes to support effective governance.
Sheree Patterson
Executive Coach, Facilitator, Leadership and Development Consultant.
With over 25 years experience working in healthcare organisations in frontline clinician, learning and development and senior management roles, Sheree has gained specialised skills and experience in education, research and development, quality and safety, and cultural transformation. She has extensive experience in the design and delivery of individual, team and organisational development programs. She is attuned to the challenges professionals face in an increasing complex system. Sheree helps to reframe challenges into opportunities, expand leadership and management practice, and supports wellbeing. Holds a Masters Applied Science, Coaching Psychology and a Masters Education, Adult Education.
Jane Cockburn
Expert in Design Thinking and is the founder of Kairos Now
By tapping into a designer’s mindset, Jane can help you identify the future that will make a difference for your organisation. You will discover what really matters to your customers, consumers, patients and their families. This discovery is critical to shape a clear and clever strategy and way of working that will differentiate your organisation from others.
Helen Dickinson
Professor Helen Dickinson is Professor of Public Service Research and Director of the Public Service Research Group at the School of Business, UNSW Canberra.
Helen’s expertise is in public services, particularly in relation to topics such as governance, leadership, commissioning and priority setting and decision-making. Helen has published sixteen books and over fifty peer-reviewed journal articles on these topics and is also a frequent commentator within the mainstream media. She is co-editor of the Journal of Health, Organization and Management and Australian Journal of Public Administration.
In 2015 Helen was made a Victorian Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration Australia and she has worked with a range of different levels of government, community organisations and private organisations in Australia, UK, New Zealand and Europe on research and consultancy programmes.
Paul White
Consultant
Paul is a highly experienced consultant and has been a director of his own consulting firm in the UK and Australia for 11 years. Paul works with collaboratively with senior managers and his operational experience is centred on appropriate strategic decision making backed up by a detailed understanding of operational and strategic data and evidence.
He has experience of working in the UK, Europe, USA and Australia. His academic record is excellent (1st Class Degree, University of Oxford) and his experiences to date also involve team leadership, facilitation and clinical engagement. He has made presentations and given training courses at national and international events.
Alana Killen
A degree-qualified professional with extensive experience in organisational management and strategy, Alana’s expertise includes establishment of systems and frameworks within diverse and complex environments and strong stakeholder-management skills.
With a special interest in coaching and mentoring and developing leadership capability, Alana also has extensive experience in corporate governance and serves as a non-Executive director on several boards.