Board of Directors

Mr Michael Gorton AM is an accomplished senior partner at Russell Kennedy Lawyers, bringing more than 30 years of experience advising the health and medical sector. He has assisted numerous boards of health organisations to understand their legal obligations, implement effective governance structures and policies, and introduce robust risk management strategies.

Mr Gorton currently serves as Chair of Wellways Australia and Holmesglen Institute (TAFE), and is a Board member of Latrobe Regional Hospital. He was previously Chair of Peninsula Health, Alfred Health, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA), and the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, as well as a past Board member of Ambulance Victoria, Melbourne Health and the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine.

Through his extensive experience in legal practice and board leadership, Mr Gorton contributes deep insight and strategic direction to Monash Health, supporting the organisation as it addresses both present challenges and future opportunities in the healthcare sector.

Ms Aurélia Balpe is an international humanitarian leader, Provisional Psychologist, strategy consultant, and executive coach. She has undertaken field missions in over 50 countries across Asia, the Pacific, the Americas, Africa, and Europe.

With extensive experience in transnational programming, Ms Balpe has overseen initiatives in disaster risk management, disaster law, climate change adaptation, water and sanitation, and health. She has served as a strategic advisor to governments, United Nations agencies, regional inter-governmental organisations, and civil society on humanitarian action, development programming, and multinational coordination.

Aurélia has been working and volunteering within the International Red Cross Red Crescent Movement for over 20 years. Aurélia is also an Industry Fellow at Monash University, providing thought leadership on sustainability and sustainable enterprises and Treasurer of the Victorian Association of Gestalt Practitioners. She is currently completing her Master of Clinical Psychology.

Mrs Jane Bell is a banking and finance lawyer and non-executive director with more than 30 years’ experience in leading law firms, financial services and corporate treasury operations in Australia and overseas. Mrs Bell has served on 14 boards, including nine health and medical research boards. She is currently a Director of Mesoblast Ltd, (ASX:MSB) (Nasdaq:MESO) and Amplia Therapeutics Limited including Chair of its Audit and Risk Committee (ASX:ATX).

Mrs Bell is a former Chair of Melbourne Health (Royal Melbourne Hospital) and Biomedical Research Victoria, Deputy Chair of Westernport Water Corporation, Director of UCA Funds Management, WorkSafe Victoria, Hudson Institute of Medical Research, Monash Institute of Medical Research, Prince Henry’s Institute of Medical Research, Queensland Institute of Medical Research Trust, Australian Red Cross (Qld),Victorian Women’s Housing Association and former Member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

In the King’s Birthday Honours List 2023, Jane was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her significant service to governance in the medical research, healthcare, and not-for-profit sectors.

*Kitaya Holdings Pty Ltd operates Jessie McPherson Private Hospital

Ms Helen Brunt is a senior governance and technology delivery executive with extensive local and international experience in digital technology and large-scale transformation in complex business environments, including Coles and Westpac.

Ms Brunt is skilled in developing strategies to leverage innovative technology to support business strategy and drive business benefit. Ms Brunt is passionate about diversity and using technology to transform customer and employee experience. She previously served as an associate board member for the VIC ICT for Women in IT and served as an elected Member Director of the Wesfarmers Super Trust Policy Committee.

Professor Susan Elliott is Provost and Senior Vice-President of Monash University. Professor Elliott has a distinguished reputation as a deeply experienced senior leader with a broad record of engagement in universities, nationally and internationally, and a celebrated international profile of collaboration. Over the course of her career, Professor Elliott has successfully led a broad range of portfolios and entities and has held numerous directorships and positions on national and international committees.

Professor Elliott holds degrees in medicine and surgery, and a doctorate in medicine, from the University of Melbourne. She also holds qualifications in health economics and higher education from Monash University and the University of New South Wales and is a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. In 2018, Susan was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to education, including as an academic administrator, a clinician in gastroenterology and service to educational institutions in Asia-Pacific.

Dr Peter McDougall trained in paediatrics as a neonatologist at the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne (RCH) and the Bristol Maternity Hospital, UK, before starting his consultant career in newborn medicine at Sydney’s Royal North Shore Hospital.

Dr McDougall returned to the RCH in 1984. In 1998, after completing his MBA, he was appointed Director, Division of Medicine and Head of Neonatology at the RCH and was made Chief of Medicine in 2005. In 2010, he was appointed RCH Chief Medical Officer, Executive Director of Medical Services and Clinical Governance. He served as Clinical Lead of the Victorian Paediatric Clinical Network, Safer Care Victoria from 2014 to 2018 and facilitated the statewide introduction of the Victorian Children’s tool for Observation and Response. He was appointed Honorary Clinical Professor with the University of Melbourne Department of Paediatrics in 2015. He was a member of Council and Senior Medical Advisor to the Consultative Council on Obstetric and Paediatric Mortality and Morbidity, Safer Care Victoria from 1984-2023.

He was recently awarded honorary Life Membership of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

Mr Hamish Park is as an accomplished executive adviser and board director, with over 20 years of strategic leadership experience. As Director of Melbourne Leadership Group and Senior Fellow at the University of Melbourne’s Melbourne Law School, Mr Park specialises in leadership development, empowering boards and executives to lift the performance capability of their organisations and achieve robust governance outcomes.

Mr Park’s extensive public sector service includes advisory roles in several high-profile government portfolios, where he guided teams through complex policy, legislative, and operational challenges. In the private sector, he has consulted for many large organisations including Ernst & Young, PwC, KPMG, National Australia Bank, ANZ Bank, and Telstra. In addition to bachelor degrees in commerce and arts, he has a master’s degree in management from Harvard University.

Mr Park is also a former board director for Peninsula Health, and a founding member of Dine For A Cure, a charity which has raised over $2 million in medical research funding.

Ms Fiona Pearse has extensive commercial and financial expertise gained from a long executive career at global companies BHP Billiton and BlueScope Steel. She has subsequently served on over 10 boards spanning ASX-listed, private, large government, and high-profile not-for-profit boards. Her experience covers a broad range of industries, including technology, financial services, heavy industrial, utilities and health.

Her current and former directorships include City West Water, World Vision Australia, Scotch College, ASX-listed Smart Parking, a pioneering developer of Smart Cities technology with international operations and U Ethical, an ethical fund manager. She served as an Advisory Board member for a fintech based in Stone & Chalk, and she is an independent member of the Victorian Parliament Audit Committee. Ms Pearse holds a Bachelor of Economics and a Senior Executive MBA. She is a Fellow of CPA Australia and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Ms Felicity Topp is a highly respected executive and clinical leader with over 35 years of experience in public health across Victoria. As the former Chief Executive of Peninsula Health, Ms Topp led major health system transformations, including the $1.1 billion Frankston Hospital redevelopment, the acquisition of Frankston Private Hospital, and the opening of the Frankston Public Surgical Centre. Her extensive leadership career also includes senior roles at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Barwon Health, and the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

Ms Topp brings deep expertise in governance and strategy, serving on multiple boards and committees. She is currently a Council Member at Victoria University and a Non-Executive Director of the Australian Community Support Organisation.

Passionate about ethical leadership and mentoring, Ms Topp now works as an executive consultant and facilitator partnering with boards and leaders to drive meaningful and sustainable healthcare transformation.