Ms Debra Bourne
Chief Executive
Debra commenced her nursing career in metro health services within intensive care departments. Later on, she moved to rural health and held a variety of nursing roles, from renal dialysis unit, operating suite, emergency nursing and then midwifery where she worked for 20 years.
Over time, she transitioned to the Nurse Unit Manager role, after which she was endorsed as one of the first rural and remote Nurse Practitioner’s (NP) in Victoria.
For more than eight years, Debra worked in a variety of rural and remote settings which included the mining industry. Her career then progressed further and led to health service management roles in operations, quality and service development.
Debra joined Northern Health in 2016.
Professor Prahlad Ho MBBS(Hons) PhD BMedSc FRACP FRCPA
Chief Medical Officer
Professor Prahlad Ho is a clinical and laboratory haematologist who went through most of his training at Northern Health, commencing as an intern in 2006. Prahlad was the Director of Clinical Haematology at Northern Health and was instrumental in expanding the Thrombosis Service. In addition, he was appointed Divisional Director of Cancer Services and Specialist Clinics and led the development of the Cancer Clinical Trial Unit. He was also the inaugural Director of Northern Pathology Victoria and Divisional Director of Diagnostic Services, and led the introduction of in-house pathology and radiology services at Northern Health.
Prahlad is actively involved in clinical and laboratory research and has published in multiple international peer-reviewed journals. He heads the Northern Clinical diagnostics and Thrombovascular Research Centre (NECTAR) and is the Principal Investigator in numerous clinical trials. Furthermore, he chairs Research Executive Committee leading the research strategy for Northern Health. He is an adjunct Professor at the School of Health and Biomedical Sciences at RMIT University and also holds honorary positions at Melbourne and Monash Universities.
Ms Lisa Cox
Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer
Lisa commenced at Northern Health in 2018, as Divisional Director Nursing in areas of Medicine, Subacute and Emergency Services. Prior to joining Northern Health, Lisa worked across several healthcare services in a variety of operational health services management roles.
Clinically, a Registered Nurse, Lisa has an emergency nursing background and expanded into Nurse Unit Manager positions within metro-Melbourne emergency departments.
Lisa holds postgraduate qualifications in Public Health, Business/Management and Emergency Nursing.
She has a strong interest and has undertaken professional development in Emergency Management, with respect to CBR Management, external disaster management, Code Brown and Incident Management Teams.
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Ms Michelle Fenwick
Executive Director, People and Culture
Michelle is an experienced Human Resources Practitioner, who has delivered progressive, responsive and relevant services to Northern Health to support staff, whilst they deliver healthcare needs to the community.
She leads Northern Health, People & Culture directorate services, which include strategic employment, attraction and retention strategies, health/safety and wellbeing, learning and development, human resources and staff innovation system services.
Michelle has a Masters in Administration in Human Resource Management/Industrial Relations and has received Candidature for her Doctorate – Research Topic ‘Impact of nurse casualisation’.
Dr Bill Shearer
Executive Director, Quality Safety and Transformation
Dr Bill Shearer is a consultant anaesthetist and fellow of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthesia.
Bill is the Executive Director of Quality Safety and Transformation at Northern Health and is leading the High Reliability Organisation Transformation Strategy across Northern Health. He has over 30 years of clinical and managerial experience and has been both a director of large anaesthetic departments and medical director for critical care programs including anaesthesia, intensive care and emergency services.
Bill has pursued interests in education (with a master’s degree in educational studies) and in quality and safety in both critical care and the wider health services environment and has made significant contributions to various state and national activities in these areas.
Associate Professor Anthony Gust
Executive Director Digital Health
Associate Professor Anthony Gust joined Northern Health in 2018 as the Director of Data Science & Analytics, later moving into the role of Executive Director, Digital Health.
Prior to joining Northern Health, Anthony worked at the Department of Health and Human Services as an Associate Director, responsible for data linkages, modeling and forecasting. He also was the Executive Director, Electronic Medical Records, Quality & Safety, Performance, Electronic Medical Records (EMR), Information Technology (IT) and Innovation at Peninsula Health, Associate Director, KPMG, and was the Director of Business Intelligence at Monash Health for over 10 years.
Anthony holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Science (Pharmacology), a Graduate Diploma (Statistics), Grade Diploma (Project Management) and a Master’s Degree in Science (Statistics) and is a Fellow of the Australian College of Health Service Management (ACHSM).
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Ms Belinda Scott
Executive Director Mental Health
As Executive Director Mental Health, Belinda was responsible for the disaggregation of mental health services from North Western Mental Health Services (NWMH), and the implementation of service models in collaboration with NWMH to improve patient access to care.
Belinda brings key industry experience covering business and strategic planning and implementation, quality and risk management, engagement and partnership development, financial management, capability building, metropolitan and rural health care.
Belinda’s previous experience includes Chief Executive Officer at Djerriwarrh Health Service and at Northern Health as the General Manager, Broadmeadows Hospital.
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Mr Basil Ireland
Chief Financial Officer
With over fifteen years’ experience working at a senior financial capacity in health, Basil possesses finance, leadership and senior executive capabilities in the areas of financial management, client data management, procurement & supply and environmental sustainability. He is committed to providing transparency to stakeholders, demonstrating that decisions are made equitably and in a collaborative manner.
Basil returned to Northern Health as Chief Financial Officer in 2022, having previously served from January 2016 to January 2021. Prior to his time at Northern Health, Basil was the CFO at Monash Health and held senior finance roles in the private sector. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree and is a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.
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A/Prof Jason Cirone, BPhysio (Hon), G. Cert HM, MHM.
Chief Allied Health Officer
Jason is a physiotherapist by background, who has worked across acute, private and community health. In the late 90’s Jason worked as a Physical Therapist in America, before returning to Australia and commencing his career in health leadership. Since joining Northern Health in 2014, Jason has been a Director, People and Culture, and later worked in the Quality, Safety and Transformation directorate, where he has supported organisational readiness for accreditation.
Jason has a strong interest in healthcare compliance, and is an NSQHS accreditation assessor and AHPRA auditor. He has a Masters in Health Management, and is a sessional academic with the School of Population Health (Masters of Health Management and Leadership) at UNSW.
Jason’s experience includes clinical service planning, workforce engagement and capacity building, quality and safety, emergency management, education, human resources and change management
