The addition of four new directors to the board of East Timor Hearts Fund will help support the ongoing expansion of the organisation’s work in areas such as preventative health and community and health practitioner education.
The new directors have skills in clinical practice and research, business strategy, marketing and law. They were elected at a meeting on 5 August 2019, following a rigorous selection process.
Board chair Ingrid Svendsen said the appointments came as the organisation continued its transition from its origins as a small-scale charity focussed on providing surgery in Australia.
“As we build on our proud foundation of surgery for individual patients in Australia, in the coming years we will continue to expand our role in supporting systemic public health solutions and the growth of in-country capacity,” Ms Svendsen said.
“We will be undertaking more surgery in Timor-Leste in collaboration with local health authorities. This will include, for the first time, open heart surgery.
“Our board is now better placed than ever to provide governance oversight to support the effective delivery of these more complex projects and services.”
The new appointees are heart failure nurse practitioner and researcher Professor Andrea Driscoll; change management professional Belinda Macdonald; former community bank board chair David Mayne; and lawyer and experienced company secretary David Thomas. An additional clinically qualified director was also expected to join the board in the coming months.
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