Health Networks Leadership

Health Networks, part of the System Policy and Planning Division, are led by one or two leads and a small advisory group. All network leads are listed below.

Vascular lead

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Dr Rick Bond

Dr Rick Bond is a specialist vascular surgeon with over 30 years of medical experience. He is the current state Director for Vascular surgery in West Australia and is the Head of Vascular Surgery at both Fiona Stanley and Fremantle hospitals and examiner for the Royal Australian College of surgeons (RACS). 

Rick started his training at the Royal Free Hospital in London and completed his consultant training in England in 2004. During this time he attained a PhD from Oxford University for research into the outcomes of carotid surgery. In 2005 he immigrated to Australia and become a member of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons as well as retaining his membership of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain

Child and Youth Health Network

Alide-Smit


Dr Alide Smit

Dr Alide Smit is a South African-born paediatrician and mother of two, living in Perth. Alide works at Joondalup Health Campus, where she participates in acute care paediatrics and neonatology, runs clinics in the private sector, and has a role in teaching.

Alide is involved in developing hospital policies which outline best practice and evidence-based care, participates in surveillance of non-accidental injury in children under two years, and has been instrumental in establishing antimicrobial surveillance in paediatrics at Joondalup Health Campus.

Helen Wright


Dr Helen Wright

Dr Helen Wright is a general paediatrician and mother of two children. She graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1995 and has been in WA since 1998. She worked as a paediatrician in Port Hedland (2002–05) and Fremantle (2005–06) before commencing at Princess Margaret Hospital in 2006.

Helen’s other professional interests are medical education and rural health. Helen is a Senior Lecturer with the University of Western Australia, as academic mentor in paediatrics for the Rural Clinical School since 2005. She was awarded the Team Teaching award for excellence in teaching in 2015.

Disability Health Network

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Stephanie Coates 

Stephanie is a registered Occupational Therapist with over 20 years of experience working with the South Metropolitan Health Service (SMHS). She is currently the Head of Department for Occupational Therapy at Fiona Stanley Hospital; the largest hospital based Occupational Therapy Department in WA. She is the chair of the Fiona Stanley Fremantle Hospital Group Disability Access and Inclusion Plan Committee and a member of the SMHS Disability Advisory Network.

In the past whilst not working fulltime clinically following the birth of her three children, Steph was a Councillor and Deputy Mayor for the City of Bayswater.  She was previously elected to be the Chair of the City of Bayswater Disability Access and Inclusion Committee and was elected to be the Deputy Chair of the Ministerial Advisory Council for Disability. 

Jocelyn Franciscus

Jocelyn Franciscus is a driven community engagement leader with significant experience and passion for the disability sector.

Previously the Community Awareness Strategist for National Disability Services in WA, Jocelyn built community awareness of NDS’s suite of access and inclusion services - namely ACROD Parking Program ‘This Bay Is Someone’s Day’ campaign, WA Companion Card and the Changing Places network. Jocelyn previously has worked on establishing the AT Chat assistive technology peer mentoring project and remains the director of Cord Fundraiser, an organisation which raises funds to provide people with spinal cord injuries life-improving technology and equipment.

Jocelyn has a lived experience with disability and received the inaugural AFDO Award at the 2018 Australian Assistive Technology Conference on Co-designing Assistive Technology and Support.

With a background in Occupational Therapy and work across clinical, management, community engagement and marketing, Jocelyn brings a great depth of knowledge and skills to Disability Health Network.

Diabetes Health Network

Dr P. Gerry Fegan

Dr Gerry Fegan is an endocrinologist and consultant physician with broad clinical experience in hospital and community healthcare settings.

He graduated from Aberdeen University in Scotland, attained a Doctorate of Medicine on diabetes complications at Exeter University and completed his specialist medical training in England before moving to West Australia in 2006.

Gerry is currently the Head of Endocrinology and Diabetes at Fiona Stanley and Fremantle Hospitals Group (FSHFG). He is also Associate Professor and FSFHG Clinical Dean with Curtin Medical School. As a clinician, he is active in medical leadership, clinical research, quality improvement, teaching and innovative health service delivery. 

 

Dr Emma Hamilton

Dr Emma Hamilton is an Endocrinologist at Fiona Stanley and Fremantle Hospitals, Clinical Senior Lecturer at UWA and Clinical Lead of the Multidisciplinary Diabetes Foot Unit at Fiona Stanley Hospital, an NADC accredited Centre of Excellence High Risk Foot Service.

Emma was awarded a Raine Clinician Research Fellowship with the aim of improving outcomes for people living with diabetes and foot complications. Emma serves on a number of Australian national diabetes-related foot disease projects and committees including the NADC Diabetic Foot Network working party, NADC interdisciplinary High Risk Foot Service accreditation committee, the Foot Forward Executive Advisory team, the DFA Australian Research Priorities project and the DFA Australian guidelines Wound Classification group.

Emma has recently been appointed to the International Working Group on the Diabetic Foot (Wound Classification chapter group). 

Neuroscience Health Network

Professor Merrilee Needham

Professor Merrilee Needham was appointed Foundation Chair of Neurology at Murdoch University, University of Notre Dame, and Fiona Stanley Hospital in 2016. She remains the Head of the Department of Neurology and continues to conduct neuromuscular and motor neuron disease clinics. She also works as a consultant neurologist and conducts neuromuscular clinics at the Perron Institute for Neurological and Translational Science. In 2015, Merrilee was granted the Leonard Cox award by the Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists in recognition of her contribution to neurosciences.

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Dr Andrew Kelly


Dr Andrew Kelly MBBS FRACP (Neurology) is a Consultant Neurologist at Fiona Stanley Hospital. He has previously worked at Fremantle Hospital, and Rockingham General Hospital. He graduated from the University of Western Australia in 1999 and underwent his specialist neurological training at Sir Charles Gairdner and Royal Perth Hospitals. In 2009 he completed a clinical fellowship in general neurology at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Older Person Health Network

Dr Bhaskar Mandal


Dr Bhaskar Mandal

Dr Bhaskar Mandal is the Head of Department, Geriatric Medicine and Rehabilitation with the Fiona Stanley and Fremantle hospital group and Adjunct Clinical Professor at Curtin Medical School (Curtin University). Bhaskar Trained in Geriatric Medicine in Oxford UK & worked in the NHS as a Geriatrician for 10 years prior to taking up the role as the inaugural Head of Department at FSH.

Bhaskar is passionate in driving clinical quality improvement and delivering an effective healthcare delivery system to improve health outcomes for older adults. He brings his experience working across three different continents and health care systems to implement international best practice in Geriatric medicine.

His areas of interest are acute care of the older people, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, falls, frailty syndromes and rehabilitation of complex medical issues in elderly patients.

Respiratory Health Network

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Dr Li Ping Chung

Dr Li Ping Chung is a respiratory physician with special interests in severe airways disease including asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), and non-CF bronchiectasis. In 2013, Dr Chung completed her PhD, which focused on pharmacogenetics of severe asthma. 

In addition to her current role as the clinical lead for airways disease at Fiona Stanley Hospital, she is also involved in the development and expansion of community respiratory services by Silver Chain to better support patients with chronic respiratory diseases in the non-tertiary setting. 

Dr Chung is also involved in a number of NHMRC funded scientific and clinical research projects related to asthma and other airway disease. She is currently a member of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand (TSANZ) Research Subcommittee, TSANZ (WA Branch) 

Women and Newborn Health Network

Dr Janet Hornbuckle

Dr Janet Hornbuckle is a Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialist, Head of Obstetrics at King Edward Memorial Hospital, an Honorary Senior Lecturer in Obstetrics and Gynaecology for the University of Western Australia and the co-lead for the Women and Newborns Health Network.  Janet relocated to Western Australia from the United Kingdom in August 2004.

The majority of Janet’s clinical work involves providing tertiary maternal fetal medicine and high-risk maternity services. She is the lead clinician for the Diabetes in Pregnancy Service and led the development of the Maternal Fetal Assessment Unit, a 24-hour assessment unit which reduced antenatal admissions and length of stay at KEMH.

Since 2006 Janet has been involved in maternity services reform with active involvement in developing the WA Maternity Policy Framework and the National Maternity Services Plan. She remains committed to the implementation of these policies.

Janet’s research interests include the clinical safety and effectiveness of new models of maternity care.

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Kate Reynolds

Kate Reynolds is a midwife and mother of three, currently employed as Coordinator of Midwifery for WA Country Health services which has 18 Maternity sites and undertakes nearly 5000 births per year. She has worked in tertiary, private, rural and remote maternity services across WA for 30 years as a midwife, nurse and manager. 

Kate is passionate about providing a strong voice for consumer-centred maternity and newborn services, including amongst the competing demands of general hospitals and especially in the country, evidence based and consumer determined maternity care, access for all women to care from a known and trusted midwife and engaging with consumers to drive service reform.  She also has a strong interest in medico-legal issues and debunking the unfounded litigation fears that seem to drive contemporary clinical practice.

Primary Care Integration

Jacquie Garton-Smith

Dr Jacquie Garton-Smith

Dr Jacquie Garton-Smith is the Clinical Lead for Primary Care Integration and plays a key role in supporting all of the Health Networks Leads and Executive Advisory Groups in their efforts to enhance connections between primary care and the WA health system. 

Jacquie has been involved with Health Networks as a Co-Lead for the Cardiovascular Health Network from 2010 to 2018 and an Executive Advisory Group member for the Respiratory Health Network from 2006 to 2017. In this time, Jacquie has played a key role in developing the WA Health Chronic Conditions Framework, chaired the Chronic Conditions Self-Management Reference Group from July 2012–14, and coordinated the development of the Heart Failure Model of Care in 2008. Jacquie is a GP with over 20 years experience in private practice and has been the Hospital Liaison GP at Royal Perth Hospital since the role commenced in 1997.

Last reviewed: 28-06-2022
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Health Networks