Gig Guide: Digital health agency finds new CDO at ACT Health


Brandon How
Administrator

Australia’s new digital health agency chief digital officer is Peter O’Halloran, who vacates the role of ACT Health chief information officer after nearly six and a half years.

Mr O’Halloran will join the Australian Digital Health Agency on February 27, having recently completed the roll-out of the territory’s Digital Health Record.

Before joining ACT Health in September 2016, Mr O’Halloran spent almost nine years at the National Blood Authority, including nearly seven and a half years as chief information officer.

He has received several awards in recognition of his work.

Taking to LinkedIn to announce his move, Mr O’Halloran said he is “excited to join the Australian Digital Health Agency at such a critical time”.

“After 17 years working in the public health system (13+ of these as a chief information officer), I did seriously consider moving away from healthcare, but the lure of healthcare ICT was too strong. The ability to work every day with exceptional technologists, clinicians, public servants and healthcare consumers to improve health outcomes for citizens is too exhilarating to resist,” he said.

Peter O’Halloran, receives a leadership award from GS1 Global’s Marianne Timmons in 2019. Image: ACT Health

The new Snowy Hydro chief executive and managing director is Dennis Barnes who replaces acting CEO Roger Whitby.

Mr Barnes was previously Contact Energy chief executive in New Zealand from 2011 to 2020. He has since been working as an independent advisor and board director for Tilt Renewables and Mercury NZ.

Mr Whitby will return to his role as chief operating officer at Snowy Hydro when Mr Barnes joins the organisation on February 1.

AgriFutures Australia’s new chair is former independent MP Cathy McGowan. Ms McGowan represented the electorate of Indi from September 2013 until her retirement ahead of the 2019 election. She succeeds former chair Kay Hull who retired in December 2022 after being in the role since 2016.

Ms McGowan previously helped establish Australian Women in Agriculture and held numerous positions in the organisation, including president in 1998.

The Australian Energy Regulator’s new chief executive Anthea Harris will begin the role on January 30. Ms Harris is currently the Energy Security Board’s chief executive and was previously the Climate Change Authority chief executive. She also led the Secretariat for the National Emissions Trading Taskforce.

Data61’s new deputy director and science director is Aaron Quigley who moved from his role as professor and head of school at UNSW Computer Science and Engineering. He has also held various roles at the Association for Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group for Computer-Human Interaction since 2015.

The federal government has replaced the Prostheses List Advisory Committee with the new Medical Devices and Human Tissue Advisory Committee at the Department of Health and Aged Care. It will be chaired by cardiologist and UNSW Emeritus Professor Terry Campbell from July 1. Professor Campbell is also the chair of the Repatriation Medical Authority at the Department of Veterans’ Affairs and has been chair of the Prostheses List Committee since 2016.

Professor Anne Simmons began her second term as Advisory Committee on Medical Devices chair on January 1, with her new term to conclude on December 31, 2025. Her first term was between February 4, 2020 and December 31, 2022. Professor Simmons became the inaugural UNSW provost in 2019.

Professor Anne Simmons. Image: UNSW

Chris Dunstan has left the RACE for 2030 CRC following the expiration of his contract as chief research officer. He will be replaced by Dr Bill Lilley who takes up the role on February 21, with general manager, research Vivian Mohan-Ram acting until then. Dr Lilley spent the last 11 years as a senior research science consultant at Aramco.

Microsoft’s new ANZ chief technologist Peter Stanski began this month. He has spent the last two and a half years as general manager of the Customer Success unit. He left Amazon Web Services in August 2020 after eight years with the company, two of which were spent as head of technology Australia and New Zealand.

James Lawson is the new chief information officer of the Department of Parliamentary Services. He has worked there for around eight and a half years, most recently as assistant secretary, digital customer services.

BCG X, the tech build and design unit of Boston Consulting Group, has a new global public sector lead in Miguel Carrasco. Mr Carrasco has been with the consultancy for 22 years and has also sat on the NSW Digital Identity Ministerial Advisory Council since July 2021.

Queensland University of Technology’s new senior manager industry engagement is Melissa Nugent. She vacated her role as the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Hub’s business development manager after two years.

Chief defence scientist Tanya Monro has lost her chief of staff after working together a year. Melanie O’Byrne has left the role to study Defence and Strategic Studies at the Australian War College. She has worked with the Defence Science and Technology group for around three and a half years.

Lithium Australia’s new chief executive is Simon Linge. Mr Linge was previously the managing director and chief executive of Bradken, and spent almost 16 years at BlueScope steel before that.

The Future Food Systems cooperative research centre (FFSCRC) has found its new chief executive in Stuart Johnson. It also appointed Dr Natasha Teakle to chair the Food Technology Facility Project Management Group. The project is a partnership between FFSCRC, Murdoch University, and Western Australia’s state government. Both the appointees have a background in food and agricultural innovation.

Several appointments have been made at the Department of Industry, Science and Resources. Hayley Arbaut-Zaalen is general manager, sciene strategy and priorities taskforce, Celia Gleeson is general manager, strategic and budget policy, and Timothy Ho Yuen Wong is general manager, office of supply chain resilience.

The Department of Defence made several appointments including assistant secretaries Michael Drew and Michael Cosgrove. They will oversee secretary, health protection and policy, and budgeting and reporting respectively.

Executive appointments were also made to the strategy, policy, and industry group and the naval shipbuilding and sustainment enterprise. Clare Murphy and Melanie Flett joined the former, while Helen Loundes joined the latter.

Do you know more? Contact James Riley via Email.

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