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
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
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.
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
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.
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 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
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.
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
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
Produced by
Health Networks