Medico-Legal Advisory Board – Health Equals Freedom
The Board Health Equals Freedom has two separate components: the Patient Board and the Medico-Legal Board.
These two Boards advise Health Equals Freedom and Founder Dr Rachel Cameron.
The first is the Patient Advisory Board. On this board are members who have first-hand lived-experience with cancer and who are passionate about helping patients newly diagnosed with cancer navigate the complex healthcare system.
The second is the Medico-Legal Board. On this board are members who have medical or legal experienced in health.
Research has shown that patients report, question prompt lists and audio recordings, assist in providing support to remember and understand medical information, Brandes K. et al., 2015; Lipson-Smith et al., 2017; Hyatt A., et al., 2018.
Health Equals Freedom has been setup to provide National Telehealth Service to assist people newly diagnosed with cancer and their families understand the complex medical information that they are presented with to enable better decision-making. This is facilitated through a secure practiced management software and secure Telehealth video platform.
Membership of the Medico-Legal Board:
Elisé Burch
Elisé Burch is an Australian lawyer now based in Melbourne after 20 years of residing in Sydney. She has 20+ years’ experience specialising in employment law and human resources (HR) issues, in a range of settings.
[expand title=”Read More…” swaptitle=”Close”]For the last 7 years Elisé has run her own business HR with a dash of Legal, working with various businesses including the owners of healthcare businesses.Elisé knows that running a business requires passion, hard work and dedication. When you’ve got a problem, you want someone who understands the issue and can provide you with practical advice that you can easily implement. You don’t want the fluff or the legalese. That’s Elisé’s point of difference – she provides a balanced perspective and knows that to run a thriving business the legal and the HR side of things need to work in tandem.
After a nasty accident, which saw Elisé off work and out of action for an extended period, she came into contact with many medical and allied health practitioners. She is now writing about her experience in a book titled “Knocked Sideways”. The book is written for anyone who has, or is staring down long term injury or illness, and those on the journey with them. It is written by someone who has been there, who despite being university educated and English speaking still found navigating the public and private hospital systems, health insurance, income protection insurance, doctors, surgeons, rehabilitation, incredibly difficult and remembered her own parents’ journey who although English speaking, when they migrated to Australia found it difficult to know where to access information and the cultural norms.
Elisé believes that by sharing her experiences, which included six months in a wheelchair, 18 months to receive a diagnosis and a determination to not accept the prognosis, she can assist others and their carers who find themselves in a similar predicament.
Elisé is passionate about making a positive difference by improving and creating excellence in people management, culture and governance outcomes and to provide advocacy in the health arena.
Elisé is delighted to partner with Rachel.[/expand]Cassandra Chui
Cassandra Chiu is a Singaporean Psychotherapist, Social Advocate, and Author. Cassandra completed her degree at Deakin Univeristy in Melbourne. Cassandra Chiu manages The Safe Harbour Counselling Centre in Singapore and works with individuals experiencing Depression and Anxiety.
Cassandra was the first woman to use a Guide Dog in Singapore, her Guide Dogs were bred and trained in Australia by Guide Dogs Victoria, and is known for her advocacy when the social environment was not quite ready. The challenges she faced led to her passion in advocating for and creating equal opportunities for Persons with Disabilities. Her vision as a person living with blindness is to change what it means to be disabled in Asia for the individual, the community and society.
Cassandra has been interviewed by various media outlets, and regularly writes about disabilities, her work has been featured on The Straits Times, 50 Years of ASEAN and The World Economic Forum’s Agenda. Her book ‘A Place for Us’, a narrative nonfiction was launched in March 2019.
She is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, Social Innovation Park Fellow, and a recipient of The Singapore Woman Award.
Martina Clark
Martina Clark is adaptive innovator driving collaborative relationships to solve real-world problems. She is curious about the deeper meaning and implications of service and systems redesign and how innovation can transform experiences and operational outcomes. In healthcare, she has used human-centred design to drive greater articulation of the needs and experiences of carers for loved ones with cancer. This work is multifaceted and draws upon my eclectic skillset to deliver consensus-driven outcomes that make a difference in the lives of organisations and their people.
Martina is CEO of Gravity Care Pty Ltd, a private consulting, systems and technology company with extensive experience across Community Engagement, Cancer Care and Healthcare. Gravity Care Pty Ltd works closely with a range of clients in the public, private, social and human services sectors to apply social technologies to improve outcomes in healthcare.
Carers Couch is the first and frontline product from social enterprise Gravity Care. Carers Couch works in partnership with various community organisations, cancer institutions, research organisations, cancer and non-cancer specialists to help improve cancer and community care.
Dr Beata Edling
Beata consults in health and medical research, in the areas of biotechnology, healthcare management, strategy and governance. Beata has recently been a Non-Executive Director on the Board of Directors of Noxopharm Pty Ltd, an Australian ASX listed pharmaceutical start-up. She is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and Advisory Board Centre Australia and an AHPRA (Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency) registered medical practitioner.
In the pharmaceutical industry, Beata has led small and large Medical Affairs departments and has been instrumental in growing, restructuring and innovating the medico-scientific departments in small and large multinational companies in Australia and New Zealand. Beata has been responsible for large numbers of clinical development trials, launched several new medicines and facilitated innovative medical programs in Australia and New Zealand. In addition, she has co-authored the 18th Edition of Code of Conduct by Medicines Australia. Medicines Australia’s Code of Conduct sets the standards for the ethical marketing and promotion of prescription medicines in Australia. Beata has previously worked as a surgical registrar in the NSW and Victorian public and private hospitals.
Beata has co-founded and co-directed an innovative on-line platform with Insitu Clinical Pty Ltd, which matched clinical trial sites to clinical research professionals to facilitate the on-demand, efficient completion of clinical research-related tasks.
Beata has been President of the member-based not-for-profit Australian Pharmaceutical Physicians Association. Under Beata’s presidency, APPA grew its membership and changed the organisation’s constitution to admit non-medically qualified professionals to become APPA members.
Beata graduated in 1989 from the Medical University in Gdansk, Poland. She is an Australian Citizen since 1994. Beata has received the Australian Medical Council’s certificate and the right to practice in Australia in 1995 and Part I of Fellowship of Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 1998. She has a PhD in Surgery from the UNSW and an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management (USYD and UNSW).
She is a keen yogi, an American Nitrox Divers International (ANDI) certified technical scuba diver and a member of Women on Boards (WOB Australia Pty Ltd).
Lisa Higgins
Lisa is a Vodder-trained Massage/Lymphoedema Therapist who has been practicing since 2006. She has her own practice in Sydney where she focusses on treating Lymphoedema (both primary and secondary) and Lipoedema.
She predominantly uses Manual Lymphatic Drainage but also Craniosacral Therapy. She feels her skill lies in allowing clients to feel heard, supported and held. Her treatment is equal parts physical, emotional and mental.
Lisa has been a member of the Editorial Committee of the Australasian Lymphology Association and is still an Admin on their Facebook support group – Living with Lymphoedema – Australia & New Zealand.
She is also a member of the Active Women Touched by Cancer Celebrating Life support group. She helps find speakers for the monthly meetings and has set up and manages their Facebook page. She has most recently helped the Group move online for their monthly meetings so that they continue to receive the benefit of being in community.
Rose Sexton
Rose has spent close to 40 years working in the health care industry as a Registered Nurse in Victoria, Australia. She has experience in large and small hospitals, both private and public in Geelong and Melbourne, and has spent the past 20+ years working as a clinical leader in a rural health service.
She was drawn to Oncology and Palliative Care early in her career and has pursued post-graduate studies on these specialties.
Her passion for promoting conversations around end of life issues and supporting people more fully in this space has led her to explore the role of End of Life consultant, or “Doula”. In addition, Rose maintains a deep interest in, and conviction to her own spirituality and sees this aspect of humanity as key to wholistic living.
In this capacity, she is able to offer her years of professional and personal experience to those facing an end of life diagnosis, and to the carers and families as well. She believes that by exploring these “taboo” topics, often perceived as scary or unwanted, we can come more fully into fearless living, and maximise our chances of achieving as good a death as possible.
Boards Health Equals Freedom: Please contact us if you have interest in working with us on either the Medico-Legal or Patient Advisory Boards.
