Meet our Project Advisory Board members

Dr Anthony (Tony) Hobbs is a former Deputy Chief Medical Officer of the Commonwealth Department of Health and is currently Senior Medical Advisor for Aged Care at Calvary. He was a General Practitioner in rural NSW for nearly twenty years, delivering comprehensive coordinated care to the local community, including Obstetric, Paediatric and care to residents in residential aged care facilities. Dr Hobbs has made a significant contribution to Australia’s health system as Chair of the External Reference Group that in 2009 developed Australia’s first national Primary Health Care Strategy.

Professor Donna Waters is a former Deputy Executive Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health, and former Dean of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of Sydney. She is a registered nurse with over 25 years’ experience in education and research. Donna recently completed a Graduate Certificate (Safety, Quality, Informatics and Leadership) through Harvard Medical School. She is a Director of the Australian College of Nursing (ACN) and Deputy Chair of the ACN Board.

Elizabeth Beattie, Emeritus Professor of Aged and Dementia Care, School of Nursing, Queensland University of Technology, is a psychogeriatric nurse educated in Australia, the UK and the US who has been involved in dementia-focused clinical practice, education and research for 30 years.  She is a Director of the Dementia Centre for Research Collaboration and Dementia Training Australia. Elizabeth has an international nursing leadership profile and a sustained record of competitive research funding and publication. Her research is focused on improving the quality of care and quality of life of people living with dementia and those who support them.

Emeritus Professor Julie Byles AO BMed PhD FAAHMS is Senior Advisor on Ageing and Aged Care with the Hunter Medical Research Institute, and also Senior Advisor with the Sax Institute. She is a Fellow and life member of the Australian Association of Gerontology, Chair of the Hunter Ageing Alliance, Head of the International Longevity Centre – Australia, co-President of the International Longevity Centre Global Alliance, and Chair, Social Research and Planning Sub-comittee International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics (Asia Oceania). She was a founding investigator and Director of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health with a particular interest in the health of the oldest women who are now turning 100, and the next cohort who are now in their 70s. Her work includes how health and social care can support people throughout later life.

Professor Byles’ full profile can be found here: https://www.newcastle.edu.au/profile/julie-byles

Guy is a professor and Director of the MBA program at the University of Sydney Business School. He was previously Interim Dean and Deputy Dean at the Macquarie Graduate School of Management. Guy’s background is in finance and business model innovation. Guy is also on the Board of the Westpac Lifesaver Rescue Helicopters.

Kaele Stokes is Executive Director of Services, Advocacy and Research at Dementia Australia. Her portfolios span a range of strategic, service and policy initiatives, including elevating the voice of people living with dementia, their families and carers through a wide range of consumer engagement activities, undertaking systemic advocacy on key issues, delivering quality services to people living with dementia, families and carers, and supporting international and national research.

Nicki is Senior Managing Director at FTI Consulting with more than 25 years of experience in health and aged care. Nicki is passionate about working with the aged care industry to deliver better outcomes and support stronger health and aged care systems for older Australians.​

Nicki’s expertise lies in strategic planning, policy review and implementation, evaluation, governance, quality and safety, design and implementation of new models of care, market analysis, and reform considerations for organisations. ​

As a qualified physiotherapist, Nicki combines her clinical experience with operational, policy and market expertise to deliver practical and implementable solutions for clients.​

Prof Inacio is an epidemiologist with expertise in population health surveillance systems and utilisation of existing data and informatics to enhance these systems. She is the Director of the Registry of Senior Australians (ROSA) at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, a Hospital Research Foundation Mid-Career and NHMRC Emerging Leadership 2 Fellow. ROSA is a national platform and SA-based Clinical Quality Registry developed to support the monitoring and evaluation of the quality of ageing and aged care services provided to older Australians.

Professor Harding AM has over 35 years of experience in senior executive and consulting roles in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. His work relates to policy development, resources, healthcare service delivery and ICT. He is Chair of the Board, Alzheimer’s WA and currently holds a number of positions, including adjunct professorship at Macquarie University and Curtin University, member of the WA Disability Services Commission Board, and member of the National Dementia Expert Reference Group for the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care.