OUR STAFF

Mary Draper
Chief Executive Officer
Mary Draper is the CEO of the Health Issues Centre. As CEO, she was a member of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on the Victorian Health Services Plan 2011-2022, a member of the Review Panel for Victoria’s health complaints legislation and other Department of Health committees. She is a Director of the La Trobe Regional Hospital Board. She chairs the Department of Health’s Participation Advisory Committee.

Her roles have included the Director of Clinical Governance at the Royal Women’s Hospital and Manager of the Effectiveness Unit in the Quality Branch of the Department of Human Services, responsible for consumer information and consumer participation, clinical effectiveness, clinical risk management and the Maternity Services Strategy.

At RMIT, she taught policy process and related subjects and undertook research on consumer perspectives on health, including the role of patient satisfaction surveys and case studies of the involvement of consumers in improving hospital care, spending a year at Health Issues Centre working on consumer issues arising from casemix funding. She represented Consumers Health Forum on committees including the Taskforce on Quality in Australian Health Care and NH&MRC Working Party on the Development of Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Treatment of Diagnosed Breast Cancer and was a member of the Australian Council of Social Services Board and the Board of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

From 1983–1987, Mary was Director of the Women’s Policy Co-ordination Unit, Department of the Premier and Cabinet, advising the Premier on women’s policy issues, including women’s health policy. She was a founding member of the Committee of Management of the Centre against Sexual Assault at the Women’s and chaired the Ethics Committee.

Her publications include: Involving Consumers in Improving Hospital Care: Lessons From Australian Hospitals (1997); with Sophie Hill, The Role of Patient Satisfaction Surveys in a National Approach to Hospital Quality Management (1996); for the Health Issues Centre, Casemix, Quality and Consumers; a co-author of Making Social Policy in Australia (1996), and "Theoretical Frameworks for Women's Policy Development”, Australian Quarterly, Spring (1991).

Ph: (03) 9664 9343
Email: m.draper@healthissuescentre.org.au

Tere Dawson
Senior Project and Policy Coordinator

Dr Tere Dawson has qualifications in social sciences with Masters and PhD degrees in sociology and anthropology, as well as a Master of Public Health. Tere has an extensive research and academic background and has published widely. Since commencing work with Health Issues Centre, she has collaborated in several research projects including complaint processes, consumer participation in quality and safety activities, consumer participation in cancer services and consumer and carer perspectives on the Respecting Patient Choices Program® at Austin Health. Dr Dawson's other responsibilities at Health Issues Centre have included her work in primary health care and the Primary Care Partnerships Strategy and most recently the development and delivery of the first nationally accredited courses in consumer leadership and engagement:Course in Consumer Leadership (2209VIC) and Vocational Graduate Certificate in Consumer engagement (22092VIC).

Ph: (03) 9664 9343
Email:t.dawson@healthissuescentre.org.au

Susan Biggar
Senior Project Officer

Susan Biggar is a writer and health consumer advocate who has written for a variety of publications, including The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Big Issue and Australian Doctor. Before writing, she worked in the international aid and development sector as a project manager. She has served as a consumer representative on a variety of health-related committees and was the inaugural Chair of the Royal Children’s Hospital Family Advisory Council where she still sits on the clinical quality and safety committee. She is currently a director of the Australian Institute for Patient and Family Centred Care. Susan holds degrees from Duke and Stanford universities (BA/MA) in Politics and International Policy. Originally from San Francisco, she has lived in six countries over the past 25 years.

Susan joined Health Issues Centre (HIC) in 2012 with a strong interest in encouraging patient and family centred care across a variety of Australian health care settings. At HIC she has managed consumer participation capacity development such as online resources to support Cancer Australia’s Consumer Involvement Toolkit and tailored training for health services to implement the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care Standard 2 (partnering with consumers). She has also coordinated Health Issues, HIC’s journal, and had general project management and writing responsibilities.

Ph: (03) 9664 9343
Email:Email:s.biggar@healthissuescentre.org.au

Nicky Barry
Senior Project and Consumer Support Coordinator

Nicky Barry is a community development worker with many years experience in the neighbourhood house sector. Nicky has worked closely with her local community to develop a diverse range of place based services and programmes for volunteers, CALD communities, adult learners, parents, carers and children.

Nicky's role at Health Issues Centre is to co-ordinate a range of activities linked to consumer participation including: co-ordination of the Consumer Nominee Program, recruitment of consumers for committees, supporting and resourcing the Chairpersons, Members and Resources Officers of the Public Health Services' Community Advisory Committees and maintaining the Health Issues Centre's website.
Ph: (03) 9664 9343
Email:n.barry@healthissuescentre.org.au

Souzi Markos
Office Manager

Souzi Markos has been with Health issues Centre since the beginning, providing the vital administrative support necessary to keep activities at Health Issues Centre humming along. Souzi also ensures that enquiries, documents and people coming to Health Issues Centre find their way to the appropriate staff member.

Ph: (03) 9664 9343
Email:s.markos@healthissuescentre.org.au