Clinical Directors
Dr Heather Buchan
Dr Heather Buchan is a public health physician who has worked in health policy and medical management roles in New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Australia.
Dr Buchan has a longstanding interest in ways to increase the effectiveness and appropriateness of health care, including methods to improve communication between patients and clinicians, and in the implementation of change in health care settings.
She is now a Senior Medical Advisor at the Commission and undertakes work across a number of programs, primarily with the healthcare variation team or related to embedding safety and quality in health practitioner education. She is also Conjoint Associate Professor, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle.
Dr Carolyn Hullick FACEM
Dr Carolyn Hullick is a Clinical Director at the Commission and is associated with projects focused on aged care, transitions of care and the appropriate use of anti-psychotics. She is also closely involved with comprehensive care and sepsis identification and management.
Dr Hullick is an Emergency Physician in Newcastle, New South Wales. She is a Harkness Fellow having spent 12 months at Weill Cornell Medical School in New York, investigating care for older people in emergency departments. With this expertise in geriatric emergency medicine, she has developed a program to support acutely unwell residents in residential aged care facilities and has geriatric emergency medicine leadership roles with the Australasian College and the International Federation for Emergency Medicine. She recognises that vulnerable and complex older people need a health system which collaborates, communicates and places people and their families at the centre of care.
Associate Professor Liz Marles
Associate Professor Liz Marles is a Clinical Director at the Commission providing strategic leadership to the work focused on primary and community health care. She is also leading the development of the Stillbirth Clinical Care Standard and providing expert advice to the Commission’s work on aged care.
A/Professor Marles is a respected practicing family physician. As Director of the Hornsby-Brooklyn General Practice Unit, just north of Sydney NSW, she has led clinical service delivery to vulnerable groups through the establishment of collaborative clinics, including the award winning Aboriginal Health Clinic - Bungee Bidgel. A/Professor Marles has developed specific expertise in chronic disease management, mental health and Aboriginal health, and has a strong focus on holistic and preventative care.
A/Professor Marles' passion for general practice has led to her involvement in multiple government committees and Boards. She is currently Chair of Therapeutic Guidelines, a member of the PBAC and Cancer Australia Advisory Council, and is a past President of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) and a member of the RACGP Council since 2008.
Professor John Turnidge AO
Professor John Turnidge is a Senior Medical Advisor at the Commission, responsible for implementing national surveillance for antimicrobial resistance and usage in human health.
Professor Turnidge completed his training in Infectious Diseases and Laboratory Microbiology at the Flinders Medical Centre in Adelaide, South Australia. He subsequently undertook research with William A. Craig, MD, in Madison, WI, on the early stages of development of the science of antimicrobial pharmacodynamics. He spent eight years at Monash Medical Centre in Melbourne before returning to Adelaide as head of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, and then as chief of the Laboratory Medicine division at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital.
For the last three years, Professor Turnidge has been Clinical Director of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases for SA Pathology, while continuing to be based at the Women’s and Children’s.
His research career has led to over 300 publications and a range of editorial boards and leadership positions. He has chaired the Australian Joint Expert Technical Advisory Committee on Antibiotic Resistance and the Expert Advisory Group on Antimicrobial Resistance. He is currently a member of the Subcommittees on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing and Veterinary Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute, and chairs the NHMRC’s Antimicrobial Resistance Advisory Committee. He was President of the Australian Society of Microbiology from 2010 to 2012.