In my early career I was an educator and learning & development specialist, experienced in curriculum and program development & delivery in the field of English as a Second and Foreign Language. In my second career I worked as a business manager in the pharmaceutical and medical devices industries across a broad range of functions including customer relationship and supply chain management. I have also managed the implementation and assessment of Business Excellence frameworks, and facilitated business process improvement (LEAN/Six Sigma)/innovation training. As a foundation member of the Australian National eHealth Transition Authority’s Supply Chain Reference group, I represented pharmaceutical companies contributing to the implementation of global standards across Australian healthcare supply chains. My interest in haemochromatosis patient advocacy started in 2010 when I began researching patient advocacy organisations in Australia and was awarded a Doctor of Business Administration by the University of Wollongong in 2017 for research on ‘not for profit’ health consumer organisations in Australia. I believe in the importance of knowing an individual’s risk of iron overload and its impact if not detected and treated early, and am strong advocate for population screening to prevent harm from haemochromatosis. Fortunately C282Y mutations were detected early in my family by chance during genetic testing associated with genome mapping activity in the 1990s.
I joined Haemochromatosis Australia as a volunteer advocate and served as national president for 5 years from 2016 – 2021 and have been a Trustee of Haemochromatosis International since 2017 and president since 2019.