Accurate, balanced evidence-based information about medicines
NPS staff member biographies
Julie Eisenberg, Executive Manager, Strategy & Communications
The Strategy and Communications unit is made up of two teams: Corporate Affairs and Strategy; and Audience and Content. They include professionals from a range of disciplines including marketing, media, advertising, content development, public affairs and strategy.Julie has a particular interest in innovation strategies that extend and deepen the impact of NPS on its audiences.
As a former executive of SBS, she worked with CEO and Board on corporate strategic planning and policy, external affairs, government relations and research through a time of dynamic industry change and audience evolution. She advocated the public interest in media policy with the Communications Law Centre, where she also wrote extensively, trained working journalists and lectured in postgraduate and undergraduate media/communications law for UNSW. A former specialist media content lawyer with an interest in free speech, she acted for media corporations with a major law firm and in-house at the ABC.
Julie is currently on the advisory board of the Centre for Media and Communications Law at Melbourne University. Former industry roles include president of the International Institute of Communications Australian chapter, advisory board member of youth media/arts organisation Vibewire, and board member of Digital Broadcasting Australia and the Telephone Information Services Standards Council.
Monique Heighes, Executive Manager, People & Development
Since her arrival at NPS, Monique has effectively promoted and repositioned the human resource function to be recognised as a significant strategic driver within the organisation. As part of the executive leadership team, Monique is responsible for developing strategies that contribute to and support a strong corporate culture and ensuring that our people practices support us to achieve our organisational goals.
Prior to joining NPS in March 2006, Monique had managed and delivered strategic and operational human resource services in executive and managerial appointments across a diverse range of environments. Her experience includes a mix of high-level consulting and in-house roles.
Monique has a Masters in Organisational Psychology, a Diploma in Human Resources and is a certified executive coach. This unique combination complements our forward-thinking organisation and brings a unique perspective to our people and development strategies.
Caroline Lamb, Executive Manager, Business and Corporate Services
Caroline has degrees in economics and law. She worked as a solicitor at Mallesons before moving to in-house corporate roles in steel manufacturing and building products in Australia and South East Asia. She experienced the heady days of the 1980s as an investment banker with Australian Industry Development Corporation (AIDC) and Westpac where she financed large scale construction projects in Australia and off shore, and developed funding vehicles for venture and start-up capital in a wide range of industries including biotechnology.Her 10 years at AMP saw the achievement of measurable success in general and project management spanning business development, operational management and business support functions.
Caroline has experience in corporate development, from start-up through development and implementation of business strategies to change management in the mature organisation. She has proudly marketed Australian expertise, sourced partners and established new ventures in Europe and Asia.
Caroline has retained her solicitor’s practising certificate and has consulted to major private and public organisations on corporate governance and compliance. She is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the St Vincent’s Hospital Human Research Ethics Committee.
Michele Adair, Manager, Healthy Communities
Michele joined NPS in October 2009. She brings extensive management experience and a passionate interest in health and social equity to her role.
An early career in marketing resulted in Michele establishing a consultancy that specialised in business development and performance management. Although Michele’s clients included government departments, corporate and professional service firms, the community sector has always been her first priority. During the 19 years she was consulting Michele worked with a wide range of environmental and arts organisations. She continues to volunteer her expertise on boards and community projects.
After owning a cafe and an architectural restoration business, teaching part-time and consulting, Michele made the transition to senior management positions at Mission Australia, The Smith Family and then Alzheimer’s Australia. She holds a Master of Public Advocacy and Action, and a Master of Management, and has qualifications in marketing, planning and accounting.
Yeqin Zuo, Manager, Program Evaluation
Yeqin manages the Program Evaluation team at NPS, which develops and implements evidence-based evaluation of NPS’s entire suite of initiatives and projects, with a strong focus on continuous improvement. These evaluations encompass all areas of NPS interventions including quality use of medicines and diagnostic referrals.As a public health physician, Yeqin is widely experienced in population health research, policy development, program planning and evaluation. Prior to joining NPS, she worked in cancer screening program management, national immunisation policy development and chronic disease control. She has been involved in health program and policy development at both state and federal government levels.
Yeqin also has long-standing interest in development in China, and has served as a public health expert for AusAID, WHO and other international agencies.
Yeqin holds a Bachelor of Medicine, a Graduate Diploma of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and a Master of Public Health. She became a fellow of the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine in 2009.
Dr John Dowden, Editor, Australian Prescriber
Dr Dowden is the Editor-in-Chief of Australian Prescriber, Australia’s national journal of drugs and therapeutics. He has worked in hospital medicine and general practice in several countries.
He is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Australian Medicines Handbook and also a member of the Board of Therapeutic Guidelines, where he has contributed to the development of treatment guidelines in psychiatry, respiratory medicine and general dentistry.
At NPS, Dr Dowden contributes to the New Drugs Working Group and the Communications Working Group.
Judith Flaxman, Office Manager
Judith has worked at NPS since September 2006. She manages a large administration team who provide administration and project support to the organisation and to NPS Working Group members. She also manages the facilities for the NPS offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra.Judith was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. She started her career in the field of hospitality management in 1999, working in five-star hotels and managing guest services. Judith brings a strong customer service focus to the organisation as well as high-level business, process, management and negotiation skills. Judith has recently taken on the role of risk manager at NPS.
Georgina Green, Business Manager, Strategy and Communications
Georgina is the business manager and deputy to the executive manager of the Strategy and Communications unit. Georgina works with staff from across the organisation as the chair of the NPS senior managers’ group and as manager of a new initiative to improve pain management.Georgina had an early career in health and has since had many years of management and public affairs experience in corporate, small business, public service and not-for-profit environments. She holds postgraduate qualifications in public affairs.
In recent years her interest in the application of positive psychology and coaching principles at work has influenced her approach to management and developing networks and capacity within professional partnerships. Georgina has recently completed yoga teacher training, which promises to add yet another level of flexibility to her management expertise!
Tony Harrison, Chief Technical Officer
Tony has been involved in the information technology arena throughout his career, working his way through programming, helpdesk support and coordination to management and now his current position with NPS as chief technical officer. Working for a variety of organisations has enhanced his ability to quickly solve issues, understand what is required, provide leadership and keep abreast of current and future trends in information technology. Experience working for US-based companies allowed Tony to travel extensively throughout the US and Asia identifying the best practices for information technology usage and how to apply them locally.The systems employed by NPS are a result of this experience and represent the appropriate technology employed at the right time to deliver maximum business benefit.
Tony holds a master’s degree in management and bachelor’s degree in computer science. He is a keen pilot who holds a commercial pilot’s license and can be seen most weekends either at or near a local airport.
James Reeve, Manager, Pharmaceutical Decision Support
James manages the Pharmaceutical Decision Support team at NPS, which facilitates access to evidence-based information about medicines by health professionals at the point of decision-making.James graduated with a Bachelor of Pharmacy from the University of Tasmania in 1986. Afterwards he managed a community pharmacy for six years, and then worked as a hospital pharmacist. James holds a PhD; his thesis is titled Utilisation and Evaluation of Information Technology to Improve the Quality and Safety of Medication Use. He also holds a Graduate Diploma of Information Technology.
James has worked on a number of quality use of medicines projects, in particular, academic detailing to general practitioners, writing materials for health professionals and consumers, and developing and implementing web-based resources for health professionals. He has worked as an electronic production editor and editor for Therapeutic Guidelines. His current interests include the use of information technology to support decision-making and safe medication use.
Michelle Koo, Manager, Curriculum & Training
Michelle manages and leads the Curriculum and Training team at NPS. The team, with their expertise in educational design and online learning, is responsible for developing and implementing online learning resources for health professional students and new prescribers. Prior to her current appointment, Michelle had been part of the Practice Systems team in NPS since 2005.
Michelle holds a Bachelor of Pharmacy (Honours) and a Doctor of Philosophy from the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Sydney. Her background is in clinical pharmacy and research. She is a practising community pharmacist.
Trish Tuffin, Manager, Publishing
Trish manages the NPS Publishing team. This team ensures the organisation’s products meet the highest editorial quality standards, provides project management for production and publishing related work such as website design, and ensures NPS’s print products are delivered efficiently and on time.NPS has a range of online and print materials which are distributed to both health professionals and consumers and each one follows a rigorous workflow and production process. NPS is innovative in its publishing and information design, using technology and new ideas to give audiences products in the most appropriate formats.
Trish has a strong editorial and production background in a range of consumer magazines, corporate publishing for a range of clients and professional online and print updating content for legal, tax and HR audiences.
Margaret Williamson, Manager, Research & Development
Margaret is the Manager of Research & Development at NPS. She has a clinical background in hospital pharmacy and training and expertise in public health, epidemiology and health informatics. Margaret has a wide range of experience in the design and conduct of research to evaluate the efficacy, effectiveness and quality of a range of health interventions and services.
A large proportion of her work over the last decade has been managing and/or evaluating large outcome-based projects, including designing evaluations of the impact of electronic medication management systems on patient safety, establishing and managing the NSW Health Survey Program, and developing guidelines and indicators to monitor chronic diseases (asthma and diabetes).
Her work over the last two years at has concentrated on developing Quality Use of Medicines research capacity within NPS and across Australia. Most recently she has been involved in studies to examine the information needs and preferences of consumers and health professionals around complementary medicines and the evaluation of the impact of electronic medication management systems on patient safety and quality of care.
Raymond Hill, Senior Manager, Data Management and Analysis
Raymond joined the National Prescribing Service in November 2008. He is responsible for information policy, data architecture, metadata architecture and for ensuring the quality of NPS's information resources.Raymond has been involved in the Information Communications and Technology industry throughout his career, working in a variety of government, academic and commercial settings. His extensive experience enables him to marry data management, information technology, business process, organisational behaviour and governance to support business outcomes.
Raymond holds a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Sydney and has postgraduate qualifications in information systems management, computing and political economy. He also holds a number of industry certifications in service management, enterprise technology governance and project management.
Raymond has particular interests in technology governance, database modelling, information warfare and military history. He is a keen scuba diver who regularly travels to Micronesia (Chuuk) to dive World War II wrecks.
Kerren Hosking, Manager, Corporate Affairs and Strategy
Kerren has responsibility for stakeholder management, government relations, corporate strategy, corporate communications, media relations, policy development and internal communications. Her team also runs major NPS events like the biennial National Medicines Symposium.Since joining NPS in October 2008, Kerren has played a key role in strengthening NPS’s external relationships. NPS is a highly collaborative organisation, and ensuring stakeholders are engaged in what we do is critical to the success of our programs and activities. Her background includes seven years working in the health sector as a senior communication and corporate affairs practitioner. She previously worked in government, sales and marketing and in consulting services with a focus on human resources, training and recruitment.
Kerren holds a Graduate Certificate in Public Relations and a Master of Communication, and is completing a Master of Health Policy.
Greg Laws, Chief Financial Officer
Greg commenced with NPS in December 2008 and is responsible for the leadership and management of all financial functions for NPS. This includes coordination of financial management reporting (to assist management and the Board in decision making), as well as overseeing the budgeting process, development and implementation of financial policies and providing leadership to the finance team.Prior to joining NPS, Greg worked in various not-for-profit enterprises including a national charity, a credit union and an employer association. Prior to these roles, Greg worked with a Government Trading Enterprise as Financial Controller following a long career in banking which included over ten years in senior financial roles.
Greg has a Bachelor of Business (Business Administration) and a Graduate Diploma in Accounting and has been a CPA for 15 years. He brings a range of experience in financial management from different industry sectors including commercial, government and not-for-profit.
Roshmeen Azam, Manager, Primary Care Practice
Roshmeen is responsible for design, planning and coordination of national and local interventions for improving prescribing and medicines use and for coordinating training and support for NPS facilitators in the Australian General Practice Network. Roshmeen has a particular interest in public health and promoting systems to improve quality use of medicines across the continuum of care. She has a commitment to ensuring a cost-effective approach to enhanced care in primary care settings.Roshmeen has a background in clinical medicine, health economics and holds a Master of Public Health, focusing on health promotion and clinical epidemiology, from the University of New South Wales. She has had a long-standing interest in therapeutics, quality use of medicines, drug utilisation and clinical practice improvement as well as rational drug use in developing countries.
Aine Heaney, Manager, Quality Diagnostic Referrals
Aine leads this new area for NPS which focuses on promoting judicious, appropriate, safe and effective use of pathology and diagnostic imaging services by GPs and consumers. She has been working at NPS since March 2007, starting in the health professional QUM programs.Aine has experience in research, program design and implementation. She has a background in clinical pharmacy and has worked in the UK, New Zealand and in Australia, where she specialized in pain, palliative care and rehabilitation medicine.
Steve Gilhooley, Manager, Audience and Content
Steve has over 20 years of experience in advertising in the UK and Australia, working on iconic brands like Qantas, Telstra and Nokia and the relaunch of Panadol. His previous roles included mainstream advertising, multicultural communications, experiential marketing and employer branding so he brings a broad perspective to the Strategy and Communications team.Steve helps extend the reach of NPS’s messages to a wider consumer audience, raising awareness of the quality use of medicines concept and of our brand.
Gemma Lambert, Manager, People and Development
Gemma provides expert advice and support to managers and staff within NPS about the entire employment cycle. She plays a key role in the development and implementation of strategic organisational development projects, including workforce planning, leadership capability development, talent management and succession planning, and employee engagement.Gemma has recently return to Australia after ten in the UK and New Zealand, working across a broad range of industries including, banking and finance, engineering, IT and more recently commercial real estate.
Gemma is currently completing a Graduate Diploma in Business Studies (Employment Relations Management).
