Interviews from the Frontline

This International Nurses Day, we’re proud to spotlight the incredible work of Charlie McCall.As Assistant Director of Nursing – Navigation Projects for Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service, Charlie played an integral role in the creation of the Pop Up Palliative Care Service — supporting First Nations patients to return home and spend their final days surrounded by family, community and Country.Charlie shares the meaningful impact this service has had on end-of-life care, along with her personal journey from growing up in Glasgow to working in remote Queensland healthcare.

Dr Kate Johnston knew from the age of 14 that she wanted to pursue a career in medicine — and she has spent her career turning that early ambition into meaningful impact.   Today, Kate is an experienced GP,  Medical Director of GP Partnerships and Engagement at  Gold Coast Health, and Deputy Chair of the Queensland Clinical Senate.  Along the way, she has made a significant contribution to patient care,  built a team that supports GPs, and strengthened our health system.    In our interview with Kate, she reflects on her journey, leadership experiences and insights into general practice and the importance of prevention.  

In our first podcast episode for 2026, we take you behind the scenes with Queensland Health’s Chief Allied Health Officer, Liza-Jane McBride. Find out how the girl from Charters Towers almost became an engineer before finding her way into physiotherapy, why she decided against sports physio after a season with a UK football club, why she moved into leadership and what role funny cat videos play in her life …plus so much more.  

Professor Brian Dolan is the originator of the #Last1000Days global social movement to value patients’ time. Originally from Ireland, he is a dual-qualified emergency and mental health nurse and is Honorary Adjunct Professor of Innovation in Healthcare at Bond University on the Gold Coast.  Following his keynote presentation at our Last 1000 Days meeting, Brian joined us to record a podcast interview about his career, how we can better support patients during their last 1000 days, his philosophy that while staffs’ time is important the patient’s time is sacred and how this informs his approach to service redesign, and his work to end PJ paralysis. We even find out which member of the Royal Family Brian met when he received an OBE ‘For Services to Nursing and Emergency Care’ in the UK. 

On this R U Okay Day, we take a look back at a snippet (7 minutes) of our podcast interview with Dr Liz Crowe sharing some of her tips to help us fill our tanks, feel less stressed, create space to look after our wellbeing, and be more engaged. Liz spent 25 years as a social worker, predominantly in paediatric intensive care and critical care and during that time developed a passion for clinician wellbeing and started researching how she could support her colleagues. Her passion recently became her profession, and Liz now draws on her clinical experience and research in her role as a staff wellbeing consultant, counsellor and coach at the Royal Women’s and Children’s Hospital.  

Professor Ian Scott is a familiar face at the Princess Alexandra Hospital (PAH). For 28 years he was the PAH’s Director of Internal Medicine before stepping down in 2024. During that time, he’s seen many changes, taken on a variety of leadership roles and led many important clinical projects. As Ian steps into the next chapter of his life – combining semi-retirement with a part-time role focused on AI in healthcare for Metro South - we talk to him about medicine, his interest in AI and the highlights from a long and distinguished healthcare career.

Dr Rizsa Albarracin grew up in abject poverty in a remote jungle in the Philippines. At age 12, she left her village on her own to pursue an education in the hope of breaking the poverty cycle and seeing the world.Fast forward a decade or more, a medical science degree, a PhD in Vision Neuroscience, world travel and a new-found passion for climate change, and Rizsa landed a job with Queensland Health’s Office of Hospital Sustainability as lead for climate risk and adaptation.  On the back of the Senate’s ‘Climate Change and Healthcare’ meeting, we speak with Rizsa about Queensland Health’s actions to reduce emissions and its impact on the climate, and how she is giving back to her village in the Philippines.

As a young girl, Liz Wilkes didn’t like the sight of blood, so when she told her parents she wanted to be a midwife, they ‘never imagined in a million years it could happen’. But the girlfrom Taree, on the NSW mid north coast, followed her dream and pursued a career in midwifery.  That career has taken Liz from the Hunter Valley to London and now Queensland, where she became Queensland Health’s first Chief Midwife Officer in 2024. In this episode of ‘Interviews from the Frontline’, we talk to Liz about her almost 30-year career as a midwife and her priorities in the top job.

As a clinician leader, Dr Kellie Wren wears multiple hats, her newest being Chair of the Queensland Clinical Senate. We spoke with Kellie about why she took on the role of Chair and what she hopes to achieve during her time in the job.  As the daughter of a plumber and a seamstress, Kellie also shares with us the moment she declared she wanted to become a doctor, why she chose anaesthetics and, as a busy doctor and medical administrator, how she relaxes by doing things she’s really bad at. 

As an Aboriginal child born in 1966, Dr Louis Peachey says the idea of going to medical school was ‘never on the cards’. But life had other ideas, and he became the first member of his family to not only attend university, but to become a medical doctor. In 2021, Dr Peachey was awarded Life Membership of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine.We spoke with Dr Peachey about how he ended up at medical school, his career as a rural generalist and the dual role he takes on that has an incredible impact on every young doctor and medical student he supervises.The views, thoughts and opinions expressed in this podcast interview are the interviewee’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of Queensland Health or the Queensland Clinical Senate.

Rural Generalist Dr Emily Moody wears many professional hats – Senior Medical Officer at Boonah Health Service, West Moreton Hospital and Health Service, Co-Chair of the Queensland Rural and Remote Clinical Network, and Chair of the Queensland Clinical Networks Executive, to name just three! Originally from Cairns, Emily spoke to us about her many roles, how she finds balance between work and a young family, why she is as passionate about her career today as she was 15years ago as an intern and why she encourages others to consider rural medicine.

Professor Clair Sullivan is a passionate and experienced endocrinologist who is a leader in digital health for Queensland. We spoke with Clair about how she found herself in digital health. And, on the back of the Senate's 'Transforming Flow' meeting, Clair talks about the new study she has co-authored about why access block is not all about the emergency department and the need to understand the complex interactions  a consumer has in the care system throughout their journey and across the many interjurisdictional and intersectoral boundaries.

Even as a young graduate nurse, Jed Duff was always trying to influence change and implement evidence-based practice when he saw opportunities for improvement. But when he couldn't find evidence to fix the problems he came across, Jed decided it was time to start creating his own. This was the beginning of his successful research career. Professor Jed Duff is now the Chair of Nursing for Queensland's largest hospital, the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, and continues his career-long mission to solve 'real world' problems to improve patient outcomes using evidence-based innovations.

Leia Barnes is one of only a handful of consultant vestibular physiotherapists in Australia and is passionate about the world of  ‘dizziness and balance’. So when a call for ideas to reduce pressures on the Emergency Department came across her desk, Leia came up with ‘Dial a Dizzy’, a telehealth hotline to help clinicians across Queensland diagnose and treat vertigo. Dial a Dizzy gives patients the right care, at the right time in the right place - allowing them to get back to their normal life with just one or two short treatments. Dial a Dizzy is now supporting 19 hospitals – and growing - across Queensland.

Jenny Timor has worked with some of the most vulnerable people in her community, from First Nations youth detained in the police watchhouse, to people living on the streets.  And now as Coordinator of the Indigenous Youth Team for the Mackay Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Health Service, Jenny is working with young people experiencing severe turmoil who are 'running to stand still'. We spoke with Jenny about her work, how her mum has influenced her life, and what she wants people to know during this National Reconciliation Week.

Dr Lachlan McIver grew up in the small rural Queensland town of Millaa Millaa. A family tragedy led him to a career in medicine, and medicine has since taken him on a journey from working in Queensland hospitals to some of the most remote and underprivileged countries around the world. Lachlan is now in Geneva as the Tropical Diseases and Planetary Health Advisor for Doctors without Borders. We spoke with Lachlan about his journey from Millaa Millaa to Switzerland, and, on the back of the Senate’s climate change meeting, about his drive to make a difference to climate change and the impact it is having on human health.

Sepsis is a global health emergency. And diagnosing it is like 'trying to find a needle in a haystack', according to Intensive Care Physician and Digital Sepsis Clinical Lead for Clinical Excellence Queensland, Dr Paul Lane. Paul is hoping to change that with the help of artificial intelligence. Paul is leading a team that is developing an artificial intelligence model that could support doctors to predict sepsis and diagnose it earlier.

Dr Allison Hempenstall was first introduced to life on Thursday Island and the Torres Strait during a rotation as a junior doctor. This experience fuelled her interest in remote health and before long she was 'hooked'! Allison returned to the island as a rural generalist, spending a number of years working one-on-one with patients before turning her focus to the health of entire communities as the Public Health Medical Officer for the Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service. Allison talks to the Senate about her work on the island, her new long-term focus on the health of remote communities, and her passion for research, particularly studying infectious diseases, and why she involves First Nations people in every step of the process.

As a long jumper, Bronwyn Thompson made it to the top her her game, representing Australia at the Commonwealth Games and the Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Olympics. Among her many career highlights is making a come back to win gold at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne after being told she'd never jump again following a knee injury. Bronwyn's 'I'll prove you wrong' attitude, along with her incredible support team, is what she credits for her recovery. Bronwyn now uses all of the lessons and experience as an elite athlete in her work as a paediatric physiotherapist to ensure every child has the best chance of success and reaching their potential.

Professor Ted Weaver has been an obstetrician and gynaecologist for more than three decades and still finds the process of pregnancy and birth ‘endlessly fascinating’. Throughout his career, he’s developed a number of maternity units on the Sunshine Coast, along with building his own private practice. He’s held the prestigious role of President of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and is the Clinical Sub-Dean for Griffith University’s Sunshine Coast School of Medicine. We spoke with Ted about his career and why we need to focus on the first 2000 days of life.

As a young registered nurse, Josh Stafford took a six-week contract in the Far North Queensland town of Aurukun to make a bit of money. But by day 3 on the job, he'd fallen in love with it and knew this was the type of nursing he was meant to do. So while money took him there, it was the people, the diversity, the freedom and acuity that has kept him nursing in remote communities for close on 16 years. Today, Josh is the Director of Nursing for Lockhart River and Coen, a small, predominantly Indigenous community in northern Queensland with a population close to 700. We talk to Josh about his job as a nursing leader in a rural town, his early career nursing in big cities and how he spends his days off.

Dr Tony Brown has had a long and distinguished career as a rural generalist. From general practice principal in rural Victoria, to Executive Director of Medical Services in Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service (HHS) and now Chief Executive for South West HHS. We spoke with Tony, a former member of the Senate Executive, about his career in rural medicine and what drives his life’s mission to address the inequity of health outcomes for rural and remote Australians. 

In part 2 of our two part green shoots podcast series, we talk to 4 healthcare leaders about initiatives aimed to improve access to care for Queenslanders and support our system to be sustainable into the future. Presented as part of the Senate’s Reimagining Healthcare meeting series, we talk to:  Dr Mark Waters, Rapid Access Specialty Care Mr Matt Page, eConsults (starts at 5:10) Dr Kim Hansen, Metro North Virtual ED (starts at 10:35) Dr Gaurav Puri, VOICeD (starts at 17:12).

There are so many great projects underway across Queensland Health to improve access to care for Queenslanders and support our system to be sustainable into the future. And we’re thrilled to bring you a snippet of just a few of them in a special two-part green shoots podcast event. Presented as part of the Senate’s Reimagining Healthcare meeting series, the series features short interviews with 8 initiative leaders who share the what, why and how of their projects along with the outcomes. In this first episode, we speak to:  A/Prof Craig Hukins, Community Based Multidisciplinary Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Clinic  Dr Ellen Burkett, Residential Aged Care Facility Acute Support Service (RASS) (starts at 7:37) Dr Sabe Sabesan, Telechemotherapy (starts at 16:24) Damian Coe, Virtual fracture clinic (starts at 20:57)

When you think of the Queensland's Health Contact Centre (HCC), you might only think of 13 HEALTH. But the centre provides so much more than that. We spoke to the Health Contact Centre's Executive Director Victoria Chalmers to find out just how many services it provides (you'll be surprised), its role during COVID-19 and how the and how the HCC quickly responds to the needs of Queenslanders and the health system. 

Dr Dan Holmes is a Specialist Anaesthetist and AUSMat Mission Team Leader. For the past 10 years and following his first mission to the Philippines (working in anaesthetics and ICU), Dan has led teams of experienced Australian clinicians to respond to disasters in Samoa, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and Fiji. In early 2020, Dan was deployed to Christmas Island, where the team assisted in the repatriation of Australians from Wuhan, China, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dan recently received the Overseas Humanitarian Service Medal for his work in the Philippines and Vanuatu. In this interview with Dan, we talk about his career, his missions with AUSMat and one of the many experiences that will stay with him.

Dr Liz Whiting was appointed Clinical Lead for Queensland Health's new Reform Office earlier this year. A physician and geriatrician with more than 30 years experience, we spoke with Liz about why she chose medicine, her impressive career to date and her focus for the health system in her new reform role.

Dr Krispin Hajkowicz has been at the forefront of Queensland's response to the COVID-19 pandemic as the Director of Infectious Diseases for Queensland's largest tertiary hospital. We spoke with Krispin about his career, his experience as an infectious diseases physician during the pandemic, what we can expect in the next 12 months with COVID-19 and whether we'll see another pandemic in our lifetime.

Professor Liz Kenny AO has led a distinguished career as a Radiation Oncologist with Queensland Health for more than 40 years. She's published more than 130 scientific papers, she's been the President of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists, she's recognised globally in her field and is a sought-after international speaker. Yet Liz remains passionate about what drew her to medicine some four decades ago - doing the absolute best for her patients each and every day.

Among her many professional hats, Associate Professor Catherine McDougall is an orthopaedic surgeon and Clinical Director of Metro North's new Surgical, Treatment and Rehabilitation Service (STARS). On this International Women's Day we chat with Dr McDougall about her career and the changes she's seen over time in medicine to 'Break the Bias'.

As a rural generalist, Dr Marlow Coates considers his role as a 'Jack of all trades'. In this interview, we talk to Marlow - a member of the Queensland Clinical Senate Executive - about his career and life as a doctor on Thursday Island in the Torres Strait. Marlow is the Executive Director of Medical Services, Torres Strait Hospital and Health Service.

Liz Crowe is the Staff Wellbeing Consultant for the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital. In this special episode of the Queensland Clinical Senate podcast series, we talk to Liz about why it would be normal for clinicians to be feeling anxious in the midst of Queensland's surge of COVID-19 cases, and what we can all do to look after ourselves. She also offers great tips for leaders and managers to support their staff during the pandemic.

After three years, countless meetings and a global pandemic, Senate Chair Dr Alex Markwell's term will come to an end on 31 December 2021. Alex's leadership has been exceptional, steering the Senate through the COVID-19 pandemic, always ensuring frontline clinicians had the most up-to-date information available to support them in their roles. Alex represented clinicians at all levels of the state's COVID-19 health response, while also keeping her finger on the pulse working in fever clinics, vaccination clinics and in her clinical role as an emergency physician at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital. Her desire to achieve the best health outcomes for Queenslanders was never far from her sights, keeping consumers involved every step of the way. We spoke with Alex about her time and achievements as Chair, her career as an emergency physician and what's next in her career.

Dr Tanya Kelly is the incoming Chair of the Queensland Clinical Senate. She is an experienced senior clinician (anaesthetist) and has held clinical leadership roles for the past 10 years, most recently as Director of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine and Clinical Director for Digital Transformation within the Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service. We interviewed Dr Kelly about her career in medicine, her favourite pastime (which almost became her career!) and her initial focus when she takes up the role as Chair.

Russell Bowles has spent 40 years with the Queensland Ambulance Service, working his way up from cadet ambulance officer to Commissioner. As Commissioner, Russell oversaw the QAS during its move from an emergency service into the health system as an emergency health service and has been at the helm during the COVID-19 pandemic. In August 2021, Russell announced his retirement. We spoke with Russell about his four decades in the service and life as the outgoing commissioner.

Dr Anja Dehn is an emergency physician at the Princess Alexandra Hospital and Retrieval Services Queensland (RSQ). We spoke with Anja about why she chose emergency and retrieval and what challenges RSQ has had to overcome during the COVID-19 pandemic as they pick up patients from all corners of the state.

Shaun Drummond has spent the past seven years leading Australia's largest health service, Metro North Hospital and Health Service, in Brisbane. He was Chief Executive for the last three years until he finished in the role in July 2021. We spoke with Shaun about why this was the most rewarding period of his career, why he chose healthcare leadership, and what's next in his career.

Dr Mark Wenitong was one of Australia's first Indigenous medical doctors. Mark spoke to us from Cape York about what inspired him to become a doctor in his 30s and what graduating from medicine meant to his family and the broader community. He shared his goals for his new role with Queensland Health and, during NAIDOC week, what 'heal country' means to him. We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which we work and live, and pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

Ruth Stewart is the National Rural Health Commissioner. Appointed in 2020, she talks to us about her role and what she hopes to achieve. We also learn why Ruth left her home of more than 20 years in country Victoria to come to Queensland's Thursday Island and what inspired her to become a doctor more than three decades ago.

On this International Nurses Day, we talk with three exceptional nurses, including a Brisbane nurse who was working in New York during the city's first devastating wave of COVID-19, a Gold Coast Nurse who was infected with COVID-19 during a deployment to support Victoria's pandemic response, and an Indigenous nurse who started nursing in the city but, by chance, found her way back to the bush to pursue her career.

To celebrate International Midwives Day, we spoke with Queensland midwives Amanda, from a metropolitan health service, and Carolyn, from a rural hospital. And while they have two very different stories, they share the same passion for their profession.

Liz Crowe spent 25 years as a social worker, predominantly in paediatric intensive care and critical care. During that time she developed a passion for clinician wellbeing and started researching how she could support her colleagues. Her passion recently became her profession and Liz now draws on her clinical experience and research in her new role as a staff wellbeing consultant, counsellor and coach in one of Queensland's largest tertiary hospitals. In this interview, Liz shares some of her experiences, along with tips to help fill our tanks, feel less stressed and more engaged, particularly in the midst of a global pandemic.

There is no such thing as a typical day for Dr Carl de Wet. A General Practitioner in Logan, Carl is also the Primary Care Clinical Lead for Queensland Health's Healthcare Improvement Unit and the Gold Coast Primary Health Network (PHN). During COVID-19, Carl has taken on the role of Primary Care Lead for Queensland's COVID-19 pandemic response. We spoke to Carl about this role and whether he thinks the pandemic could assist in the state's efforts to improve healthcare integration.

As COVID-19 vaccines begin to rollout across Queensland, we spoke with Infectious Diseases Physicians Dr Trent Yarwood and Dr Naomi Runnegar to get their expert opinions on the available vaccines and find out what it's been like working as infectious disease physicians and co-chairing the newly established Statewide Clinical Infection Network during the pandemic.

Emily Ragus is an Emergency Nurse who worked at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital for 15 years and with LifeFlight Australia as a Retrieval Nurse before moving to New York City to study a Diploma of International Humanitarian Assistance at Fordham University. Emily is currently deployed to South East Asia as a Health Delegate for the International Committee of the Red Cross. Last year she was awarded the prestigious Sir John Monash Scholarship to study gender-based violence during humanitarian disasters.

Professor John Fraser is an intensive care specialist at the Critical Care Research Group at the Prince Charles Hospital and Director of Intensive Care at St Andrew's War Memorial Hospital in Brisbane. During COVID-19, John led The COVID Consortium to support intensivists across the world responding to the pandemic. The consortium grew to a group of ICU specialists from 54 countries and almost 400 hospitals.

Dr Mark Little recently returned from deployment to Papua New Guinea where he led an Australian Medical Assistance Team (AUSMAT) to assist with the country's COVID-19 health response. An emergency physician at Cairns Hospital, Mark spoke with he Queensland Clinical Senate about his experience in PNG during the pandemic and how he adjusts after deployments to humanitarian disasters in our region. We spoke with Mark via phone.

This NAIDOC Week, we speak with Haylene Grogan about the highlights of her first 12 months as Queensland's first Chief Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Officer, what we can all do to show leadership and embrace the opportunity to drive health equity across the system, and why her dad is her inspiration.

Professor Keith McNeil spoke to the Senate about his role as Queensland Health's first Chief Clinical Information Officer and how that role has changed during the response to COVID-19. And he shares the key areas where digital technologies can continue to support positive changes in how care is delivered after the pandemic.

In this International Year of the Nurse and Midwife, the Queensland Clinical Senate sat down with the state's Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer, Adjunct Professor Shelley Nowlan, the Director of Nursing and Co-Chair of the Division of Surgery at Princess Alexandra Hospital, Sean Birgan, and Townsville University Hospital's Midwifery Unit Manager of the Birth Suite, Sari Holland, to find out what it means to them.