-

Board of directors

The WEHI board governs the institute, manages policy and provides strategic direction.

Jane Hemstritch

Jane Hemstritch AO

BSc (Hons) London University FICAEW FAICD
  • Appointed: October 2013
  • Appointed President: May 2019

Jane Hemstritch was managing director Asia Pacific for Accenture Limited from 2004 until her retirement in February 2007. In this role, Hemstritch was a member of Accenture’s global executive leadership team and oversaw the management of Accenture’s business portfolio in Asia Pacific.

She holds a Bachelor of Science with Honours in biochemistry and physiology and has professional expertise in technology, communications, change management and accounting.

Hemstritch is a member of the Council of Governing Members of The Smith Family, the Council of Queen’s College – The University of Melbourne,  and Chief Executive Women. She is a former non-executive director of Lend Lease Corporation Limited and is the former Chair of the Accenture Australia Foundation.

Professor Sir John Savill

Professor Sir John Savill

BA Oxford MBChB Sheffield PhD London FRCP FRCPE FRCSEd (Hon) FRCPCH(Hon) FASN FRSE FMedSci FAHMS FRS
  • Appointed: June 2018
  • Appointed Vice President: March 2021

Professor Sir John is the executive director of the Melbourne Academic Centre for Health (July 2019-present) after having served as an honorary consultant in renal and acute medicine in the UK (1990-2018).

In 2000 he established the Medical Research Council (MRC) Centre for Inflammation Research in Edinburgh as inaugural director. Professor Sir John served as Vice-Principal and Head of the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine at the University of Edinburgh (2002-17) and was appointed to the Regius Chair of Medical Science in 2017. He was Chief Scientist in the Scottish Government Health Directorates (2008-10) and Chief Executive of the UK Medical Research Council (2010-18), having previously served as a member of MRC Council and research board chair (2002-08).

Professor Sir John’s work has been recognised by fellowships of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of London and Edinburgh, the Academy of Medical Sciences, the American Society of Nephrology, The Royal Society of Edinburgh, The Royal Society and honorary fellowships from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. He was knighted in the 2008 New Year’s Honours List for services to clinical science.

Photograph of Malcolm Broomhead

Malcolm Broomhead AO

BE (Civil) MBA UQ FIE (Aus) FAusIMM FAIM MICE (UK), FAICD
  • Appointed: July 2014

Malcolm Broomhead is a professional non-executive director. His directorships include Orica Limited (Chairman) and he is a council member of Opportunity International Australia. He is a former director of BHP Group Limited & Plc.

Broomhead was formerly managing director and CEO of Orica Limited from 2001 until September 2005. Prior to Orica, he was Managing Director and CEO of the global diversified resources company North Limited.

He has had extensive experience in the resources industry, as well as in finance, investment and construction activities. He has worked in management positions with Halcrow (UK), MIM Holdings, Peko Wallsend and Industrial Equity.

Photograph of Associate Professor (Practice) Pippa Connolly

Associate Professor (Practice) Pippa Connolly

MEng Leeds GAICD CPEng FIEAust
  • Appointed: April 2019

Associate Professor Pippa Connolly is a non-executive director at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. Her previous board experience includes positions with the State Board of Arup and the National Association of Women in Construction.

Associate Professor Connolly has a background as a senior executive building engineer, delivering multiple-disciplinary major infrastructure projects including the National Museum of Australia, the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (Te Papa), Olympic Dam infrastructure and the expansion of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. Much of her experience has been gained as a director/principal of Arup in the UK, USA, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia.

She holds a Masters in Architectural Engineering and is an Associate Professor at Monash University where she lectures and coordinates the Capstone Unit in Civil and Environmental Engineering practice and mentors two industry intern programs for Monash University.

Shelly Dolan, WEHI Board Member

Professor Shelley Dolan

BA(Hons) Leeds MSc Institute of Cancer Research PhD Swansea
  • Appointed: January 2024

Professor Shelley Dolan joined the Royal Melbourne Hospital in August 2023 as Chief Executive, previously serving as the Chief Executive of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.

Prof Dolan has successfully led large specialist tertiary hospitals in the United Kingdom, including as Chief Executive of Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Deputy Chief Executive of the Royal Marsden Hospital.

She is a highly respected clinical and research leader with an impressive track record in health care, having successfully led major organisational and cultural change in Victoria and the UK.

Key capabilities include executive and non-executive leadership across national and international bodies, strategy development, delivering excellence in quality and performance, overseeing large capital schemes and innovative research projects that require engagement with a broad range of stakeholders.

Prof Dolan has a PhD in the early diagnosis of sepsis in cancer patients and a master’s degree in advanced practice nursing. She is a Professor (Enterprise) of the Melbourne School of Health Science at the University of Melbourne.

She is Chair of the Western & Central Melbourne Integrated Cancer Service, a Board member of the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre Alliance, the Melbourne Academic Centre for Health, Melbourne Genomics and CRC Participant Director on the Board of Oncology One. In November 2022, the Minister for Health and Aged Care appointed Prof Dolan as a Member of the Cancer Australia Advisory Council.

Photograph of John Dyson

John Dyson

BSc Monash Grad Dip Fin Inv SIA MBA RMIT
  • Appointed: May 2016

John Dyson has been an active participant in the venture capital industry for two decades. He is one of the founders of Starfish Ventures, a venture capital company established in 2001; and former chair of Swinburne Ventures Pty Ltd, the entity responsible for the commercialisation of technology for Swinburne University of Technology.

From 1997 to 2002 he was a director of the Australian Venture Capital Association Limited, including Deputy Chairman in 1998 and Chairman in 1999. He is currently a director of technology companies Aktana, Atmail, Audinate, Design Crowd, Echoview, Hearables 3D and Nitro Software.

Dyson is a former Chairman of the Mount Buller and Mount Stirling Alpine Resort Management Board, which oversees the management of Victoria’s largest alpine resort. He is also a co-trustee of the Dyson Bequest, a $15 million charitable foundation that supports a range of social welfare, education, medical research and environmental causes.

Photograph of Jane Gunn

Professor Jane Gunn AO

MBBS PhD Melbourne FAHMS FRACGP DRANZCOG
  • Appointed: March 2021

Professor Gunn is a distinguished clinician scientist with extensive experience in primary care research as well as hospital and not-for-profit governance. Since 2018 she has held the position of Deputy Dean in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences (MDHS) at the University of Melbourne, and in February 2021 commenced as Dean.

Professor Gunn has played key leadership roles in reforming healthcare, beginning with her work in shared maternity care and cervical screening programs, and more recently in transforming mental health care in primary care settings. Her research and leadership experience led to a Ministerial Appointment to the NHMRC Research Committee (2009-2015) where she Chaired a variety of grant review and fellowship committees.

Professor Gunn is a past Board member of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and a current Board Director of Melbourne Health, The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, The Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, The Melbourne Academic Centre for Health, The Eastern Melbourne Primary Health Network and of Dental Health Services Victoria.

Photograph of Professor Duncan Maskell

Professor Duncan Maskell

M\A, PhD, FMedSci, Hon Assoc RCVS
  • Appointed: March 2023

Professor Duncan Maskell has been Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne since October 2018. Since August 2021, he has also been a non-executive Director of CSL Limited, a major ASX-listed global company.

Professor Maskell’s academic career is centred on leading a large research group studying infectious bacterial diseases of people and livestock. He has co-founded four biotech companies, and has been a member of a range of Institute and company Scientific Advisory Boards, and of Government and International research grant and review committees in the United Kingdom.

Vice-Chancellor Maskell promotes a strong international presence for the University of Melbourne. He believes strongly in public education for the public good, that universities should play a leading role in public discussion and debate, and that they must be places that celebrate diversity.

Prior to becoming Vice-Chancellor in 2018, Professor Maskell held senior leadership roles at the University of Cambridge.

Photograph of Marie McDonald

Marie McDonald

BSc (Hons) LLB (Hons) Melbourne
  • Appointed: October 2016

Marie McDonald was a partner of Blake Dawson (now global law firm Ashurst) from 1990 to 2014. McDonald specialised in corporate and commercial law and, in particular, cross-border mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance.

McDonald was a member of the Australian Takeovers Panel (2001-2010) and Chair of the Corporations Committee of the Business Law Section of the Law Council of Australia (2012, 2013) and a Deputy Chair (2010, 2011).

Prior to becoming a lawyer, McDonald completed a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree with first class honours, majoring in chemistry.

McDonald is a non-executive director of CSL Limited, Nanosonics Limited and Nufarm Limited.

Photograph of Geoff Roberts

Geoff Roberts

BComm Melbourne FCA FAICD Exec MBA AGSM
  • Appointed: August 2022

Geoff Roberts has more than 35 years’ finance experience, including as Group Chief Financial Officer of Seek Limited, Managing Partner of Deloitte Victoria, and as Group Chief Financial Officer of AXA Asia Pacific for seven years. He was appointed to the Melbourne Cricket Club Committee in March 2019 and was formerly a Director of AMP Limited.

Roberts holds an Executive MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management and is a Fellow of both the Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Photograph of Carolyn Viney

Carolyn Viney

LLB/BA Monash
  • Appointed: December 2016

Carolyn Viney has more than 20 years’ experience in construction, property development and real estate investment.

Viney is currently Chief Executive Officer at Super Housing Partnerships, a specialist fund manager focussed on increasing the at-scale supply of BTR residential housing, especially affordable housing.

Prior to joining Super Housing Partnerships, Viney held the role of Chief Development Officer at Vicinity Centres where she oversaw the growth of their $3 billion development pipeline and mixed use strategy, and over a 13-year period she held a number of senior roles at Grocon, including CEO, Deputy CEO, Head of Development and in-house counsel. Before this, she was a senior associate at law firm Minter Ellison.

Viney is Chair of the advisory board to the Victorian Government’s Office of Projects Victoria, an advisory board member of Women’s Property Initiatives, a not-for-profit housing provider to women and children at risk of homelessness. She is a non-executive director of The Big Issue and Homes for Homes, both of which are not-for-profit providers of employment and support to homeless, marginalised and disadvantaged people.  Viney is a former president of the Victorian Division of the Property Council of Australia.

Photograph of Dr Angeli Weller will

Dr Angeli Weller

BA(Hons) Mount Holyoke MBA Cambridge PhD Copenhagen Business School
  • Appointed: February 2022

Dr Angeli Weller has more than two decades of experience as a business ethics and ESG strategist and researcher.

Dr Weller is a passionate advocate for integrity, inclusivity and innovation in business and the capital markets. Dr Weller has used her expertise in this area across startups and multinationals to build ethical organisational cultures and to craft company strategy to improve social and environmental impacts.

Over the past nine years, Dr Angeli has provided strategic consultation to organisations on ethics and social impact through her firm, Weller Worldwide. Prior to this she was the national Director of Ethics at the US firm of KPMG, where she served for more than a decade as a company-wide resource on ethics, compliance and risk management.

Photograph of Kee Wong

Kee Wong

BE (Hons) Grad Dip Computing MBA FAICD
  • Appointed: July 2021

Kee Wong is an entrepreneur with interests in start-ups and established businesses across the technology, retail, property, services, and food and beverage industries in Australia and overseas.

Wong has started several business including being the founder of e-Centric Innovations, a technology consulting firm that operates in Australia, Malaysia and Singapore, serving large multinational enterprises and governments.

Wong is a current Board member for a number of corporate and not-for-profit organisations including the ASX100 listed company Carsales.com, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD), the Arts Centre Melbourne, and the Committee for Melbourne. Wong is also a member of numerous government and academic advisory bodies including the Victorian Government’s Ministerial Advisory Council on International Education and Ministerial Innovation Taskforce, the ANU Centre for Asian-Australian Leadership Advisory Board and Swinburne University’s Technology and Innovation Committee.

Constitution

Approved unanimously at the AGM on 19 May 2022

Board committees

Advocacy and Support Committee

Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee

Commercialisation Committee

Ethical Practice and Integrity Committee

Human Research Ethics Committee

Master Planning Committee

Investment Committee

People and Culture Committee

Sign up to our quarterly newsletter Illuminate

Find out about recent discoveries, community supporters and more.

Illuminate Summer 2023
View the current issue