The Future of Health and Health Care Forum

Chris Blake

Group CEO, St Vincent’s Health Australia

Chris Blake is Group CEO of St Vincent’s Health Australia, Australia’s largest not-for-profit health and aged care services provider. He brings more than 30 years of leadership experience, having guided major Australian organisations through periods of transformation and change. Prior to joining St Vincent’s in 2022, Chris held senior leadership roles at Latitude Financial Services, Australia Post and National Australia Bank, following an earlier consulting career as a Partner at PwC.

Chris has a long connection with healthcare and medical research. He is a Board Member of The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, a member of the Advisory Committee for the Australian Epilepsy Project, and was previously Chair of the Brain Research Institute.

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Martin Cook

CEO, Co-Founder & Board Member, VenstraMedical

Martin Cook is a recognised leader in mechanical circulatory support (MCS) with more than two decades of experience advancing cardiac assist technologies. He previously served as Vice President of Product Development at Sunshine Heart and held key leadership roles at Ventracor (LVAD) and Percutaneous Cardiovascular Solutions (acquired by Edwards). Martin has directed multiple device development programs through CE mark and FDA approval and has advised CEOs and CTOs across the MCS sector as a consultant and mentor to MedTech startup leaders.

He holds undergraduate degrees in aerospace engineering and physics, a PhD in fluid mechanics, and is the author of numerous scientific publications as well as the inventor of multiple patents. Martin also contributes to the broader MedTech community as a reviewer for medical technology journals and related grant programs.
 

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Tara Croft

Chief Executive Officer , Baymatob

Tara, GAICD, MBA, B.Eng, B.MedSci is a MedTech executive and CEO of Baymatob, dedicated to advancing maternal and fetal health through AI-enabled, clinically actionable diagnostics. Combining 20+ years of experience in deep-tech commercialisation with a background in navigating complex regulatory pathways, she scales companies to global markets. A staunch advocate for innovation in women’s health, she serves on multiple industry boards and lectures on translating science into real-world impact.

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Hashan De Silva

PWN Member, Founder & Managing Partner, KP Rx

Hashan was the Head of Healthcare at Karst Peak Capital leading the firm's investments in healthcare. Prior to Karst Peak Capital, Hashan was the Lead Healthcare Analyst at CLSA Australia and the Associate Healthcare Analyst at Macquarie Bank, covering ASX-listed healthcare companies. Preceding his entry into finance, he gained industry experience while working at Eli Lilly. He was also a Lieutenant in the Australian Army Reserves, serving from 2006 to 2014. Hashan holds a Bachelors degree in Medicine, a Masters degree in Finance from UNSW and is a CFA Charterholder.

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Cameron Ferris

Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer , Inventia Life Science

Cameron Ferris is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer at Inventia Life Science, a position he has held since March 2018. Based in Sydney, Australia, his work focuses on transforming drug discovery and biomedical research through advanced 3D cell models.

Before founding Inventia Life Science, his career included roles spanning commercialization, R&D, and academia:

• Commercialisation Manager at The iQ Group Global (2016–2018), Manager - Research & Development at EY (2013–2016) and  Technology Research & Development Associate at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science.

He is a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Biofabrication from the University of Wollongong and a Graduate Certificate in Business Administration from the Sydney Business School, University of Wollongong. He is also an active voice in his field, recently participating in roundtables and publishing content on the need for reproducible, scalable 3D biology to improve preclinical research and decision-making in the pharmaceutical industry.

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Jack Gance

PWN Member, Co-Founder, Chairman and Director , Chemist Warehouse and Sigma Healthcare

Jack Gance opened his first pharmacy store in 1972, promptly developing a distribution business through pharmacy. He created the Le Specs, Le Tan, Australis and Colours of Australia brands of sunglasses, suntan lotion, fragrances and cosmetics. Through his operation, Jack created the largest pharmacy distributor business in Australia. He sold that business in 1991, and after completing an MBA at Monash and NYU Stern School of Business, he returned to pharmacy to revolutionise the industry.

By 1993, Jack was running 35 stores through the My Chemist Pharmacy chain. This had phenomenal growth over the years, with 50 stores by the year 2000. It was then that Jack decided to radically change the face of pharmacy. Chemist Warehouse was created, becoming a major industry disruptor of the industry. Chemist Warehouse took the industry by storm, allowing Jack, his partners and team create a multibillion-dollar chain, commanding over 50% market share front of store and around 20% of all prescriptions.

It is now in New Zealand with around $1.3 B  sales out of 57 stores.  Ireland with over 12 stores and has 3 succesful stores in Dubai.

With  over 650 stores world wide  and over $10 Billion sales Chemist warehouse is well placed for further expansion nationally and internationally  In 2024 Chemist Warehouse underwent a rverse take over of Sigma on of Australias largest wholesalers and is now a Public Listed company with a market cap of over A$34Billion  and arguably the largest successful Pharmacy group in the world. 

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Roo Harris

General Partner, Scale Investors

Roo Harris is a leader at the intersection of venture capital and diversity. As the co-owner of Scale Investors, she is a driving force behind investments in women-led startups.

With a background in commercial law and a global career that includes advising Qatar’s ruling family on venture deals, Roo has a unique perspective on how capital can be a powerful lever for both economic and social change. This experience fueled her belief in conscious capital - a human-centered model of capitalism that is both relational and sustainable - and ignited a passion for impact innovation, particularly in the care and climate sectors.

Beyond her work at Scale Investors, Roo is a staunch advocate for the neurodivergent and disability communities, serving on the boards of several disability tech startups. She is also a member of the advisory board for the T-EDI Standards (Tech Council of Australia) and Just Gold's Autistic Pride Day initiative. Roo is an active participant in Equity Clear, a gender transparency initiative spearheaded by Scale Investors, which was recently recognized on Fortune's "Change the World" list.

Roo believes that achieving impact doesn't require returns to be concessionary, a philosophy backed by her long history of startup investing, which includes an early 27x return.

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Brenda Shanahan

Chair, ACMD

Chair of the ACMD Board, Brenda Shanahan has had her exceptional achievements recognised in this year’s Australia Day Honours List. Brenda was awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to medical health research, to the business and finance sectors, to corporate governance, and to philanthropy.

Brenda’s contributions are wide and varied. She has taken an active role in medical research in Australia, with roles (among others) at St Vincent’s Health, St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research and the ACMD.

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Cather Simpson

Chief Executive Officer , Orbis Diagnostics

Cather Simpson is a New Zealand-based, American-born academic and entrepreneur who serves as the CEO of Orbis Diagnostics, a company developing "point-of-cow" milk analysis and rapid, lab-on-a-disk diagnostics for health. As a Professor of Physics and Chemistry at the University of Auckland, she specializes in laser technology and photonics.

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Kristiane Theda

A/Prof. CMO, Executive Director, Navi Ltd

Doctor of Medicine University of Cologne, Neonatal Fellowship & MBA at Johns Hopkins University. Christiane completed her basic medical training in Germany before completing training in paediatrics in the United States. She worked for more than 20 years in the Johns Hopkins NICU and received an MBA from Johns Hopkins University. She moved to Melbourne and commenced work at the Royal Women’s Hospital as a Senior Neonatal Consultant, and works in the PIPER paediatric retrieval team at the Royal Children’s Hospital. Christiane leads clinical research and supports the engineering activities at Navi.

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Professor Angela Webster

Professor of Clinical Epidemiology, University of Sydney

MBBS (distinction) MM(Clin Epid) PhD FRCP(UK) FRACP FAHMS. Angela is an NHMRC Leadership Fellow. She is a Clinical Epidemiologist, Nephrologist and Transplant Physician, having trained in England, Scotland and Australia. She studied Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Sydney, and was awarded a PhD in 2006. She now splits her time working as Professor in Clinical Epidemiology in the Sydney School of Public Health, Director of Evidence Integration at the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, and as a Senior Staff Specialist in Renal Medicine and Transplantation at Westmead Hospital. International roles include funding arbiter for Cochrane 2015-2020, responsible for overseeing resolution of financial and professional conflicts of interest with authors, peer reviewers and editors, as part of the broader landscape of research integrity. From 2007-2015 she was deputy coordinating editor of the Cochrane Kidney and Transplant, where she remains an Editor. She is on the Editorial Board of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases, and was previously an associate editor for Transplantation. She is a former member of the Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) executive committee. KDIGO is an independent global organization producing international clinical practice guidelines, guideline updates and clinical controversies conferences for whom the executive committee provides strategic direction. Nationally, Angela is the Executive Officer of the Australian and New Zealand Islet and Pancreas Transplant Registry, and former member of the New South Wales Transplant Advisory Committee. She is a member of the Gender Equity and Diversity committee and former Chair of the Scientific Program and Education Committee (SPEC) of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Nephrology, and sits on the council of the Transplantation Society of Australia and New Zealand.

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