Before joining Digital Health CRC I worked…
All over the world in sales and marketing in the health sector. After doing a Bachelor of Science degree in biology and environmental science in the UK, I worked as a product specialist for a medical device company. Then I worked all through Europe doing business development for a cardiology start-up, living and working in places like Romania, or travelling each week between Portugal and Finland, so I needed a pretty versatile wardrobe. I married an Australian and moved to Melbourne about 15 years ago. We brought our four daughters with us to spend two years in California, where I worked all over the USA, returning to Australia where I set up the Oceania operations for Merit Medical, covering 26 countries across the Asia Pacific.
In a nutshell, my job is to…
Tweak various systems and make them more efficient, joining the dots to bring different people and organisations together to work to a common goal, to develop a great idea, and turn it into a project that delivers a real-world solution with a viable commercial outcome.
Something I bring to DHCRC is…
My very broad network in the digital health and medical start-up community. I co-founded a meet-up network seven years ago, Startup HealthTech, which at one stage was the fourth-largest digital health professional meet-up group in the world. We held events with speakers and made some great connections. I found myself buying beer and pizza every month for 100 of my closest strangers.
I work in digital health because…
I’ve always worked in tech-heavy health areas at the leading edge. Right now is digital health’s AirBnB moment – the stars have aligned and the industry has come into its own. Technologies like AI and Big Data have matured, the sector has progressed and evolved and the pandemic has led to a paradigm shift where the risk-reward ratio has changed so – for example – it’s become the norm for doctors to do patient consultations by phone.
My favourite bit of technology is…
A toss-up between Siri, and my Mitsubishi fridge, which has seven different temperature compartments. Actually, I think it’s the fridge – Siri might be good company, but the fridge keeps my beer cold.
When I’m not working you will find me…
Scouring the house for school socks. I don’t know where they all go. I have four daughters aged 11 to 13 (the eldest two are twins) and I spend my life ferrying them between school, sports, dance and music. Between them, they run cross country, ski, swim, play cricket, do ballet, hip hop and contemporary dance, they all play piano, and variously are learning the cello, the saxophone and the drums. (Our neighbours hate us!)
When we’re not doing sport and music and looking for socks we have some land at Phillip Island. We take the boat down there and I drag them all behind it on a biscuit, and we go hiking – we’re quite an outdoorsy active family.
The thing I love about my work is…
Doing things that really help people. For me, the personal side of research projects – the patient outcomes – are absolutely at the centre. The first thing I think about is: who does this impact and how can we make it better? Patient outcomes are a key driver and if that’s the focus of digital health, I think it’s a win for everyone.
