Movers and Shakers - Summer 2023 - Health Informatics New Zealand

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Movers and Shakers - Summer 2023

Monday, 6 February 2023

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NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

Linda Bird
Linda Bird has been appointed as the SNOMED CT implementation lead for the CanShare programme at Te Aho o Te Kahu - Cancer Control Agency.

Bird has global expertise in SNOMED CT implementation, information modelling, data analytics, semantic interoperability and HL7 FHIR.

Before joining the CanShare team, she worked at SNOMED International, where she led their global implementation support team. She also served as head of education and developed a number of international standards/guides, including the SNOMED CT query language (ECL), machine readable concept model and COVID-19 guide.

Prior to this Bird has worked for MOHH Singapore, NEHTA Australia, DSTC Australia and Asymetrix USA.

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Sonny Taite
Sonny Taite, Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Awa, has been appointed national chief information security officer (CISO) for Te Whatu Ora, with responsibility for cyber and information security across New Zealand’s health sector.

Taite was formerly CISO for the Te Waipounamu region. He has over 30 years’ technology experience in defence and corporate environments, and a huge passion for cyber security and upskilling young people to join the cyber workforce.

He has been working collectively with Tokona Te Raki, iwi and organisations to support the development of skill pathways for rangatahi Māori and non-Māori to work in cyber security and the health technology area. Together they’ve developed the NZ Cyber Security Diploma delivered by Te Pūkenga, and shortly a new equity-based future talent initiative for Te Whatu Ora – The Cyber Academy – will be launched.

Andrew Slater
Andrew Slater has been appointed chief people officer at Te Whatu Ora and will commence his role in April 2023.

Slater was the founding chief executive of Whakarongorau Aotearoa / New Zealand Telehealth Services, leading a number of digital health services including the National Telehealth Service. He led the organisation’s surge in people numbers, from 100 in 2015 (at launch) to over 4,000, at the peak of the organisation’s Covid-19 response.

An announcement from Te Whatu Ora chief executive Fepulea’i Margie Apa says that throughout his tenure, Slater achieved significant transformational change, improvement in health equity for Māori, and focussed on leadership development.

“This is experience which will stand him in good stead as we continue our journey towards achieving Pae Ora, Healthy futures,” it says.

Carey Campbell
Orion Health has appointed Carey Campbell to the role of clinical director: New Zealand and Australia.

Campbell joins Orion Health from Southern Cross Healthcare, where she was the director of nursing since 2008. Prior to this, she worked at Waikato District Health Board, where she held a number of clinical, nursing education and nursing leadership roles.

Campbell was the clinical lead and product owner for the innovative partnership between Orion Health and Southern Cross Healthcare that developed and successfully implemented the electronic patient record across the 16 Southern Cross hospitals throughout Aotearoa.

Brad Porter, Orion Health chief executive says: “we know the expertise Campbell brings from her time at Southern Cross Healthcare and Waikato DHB puts her in an excellent position to hit the ground running at Orion Health”.

Andrew Gilbert
Andrew Gilbert is the new programme director for the National Cyber Security Uplift Programme at Te Whatu Ora. This critical national role oversees a three-year initiative to deliver a significant cyber security capability uplift to the New Zealand health sector.

Gilbert took up the role in October 2022 after working as digital lead for the Northern Region Health Coordination Centre (NRHCC) during the Covid-19 response.

“The unique circumstances, intense pressure to solve problems, to develop processes and digital systems was truly an amazing experience – we literally ‘built the plane while flying it’,” he says.

Before his move to the data and digital space, Gilbert spent 17 years, both overseas and locally, building a successful career in IT financial services.

Becky George
Becky George has left her position as clinical director for the Hira Programme, to focus on her doctoral research.

“My objectives were to ensure that Hira was designed, developed and implemented to be effective, safe and add value,” she says.

“These are no small feats to aim for but provided the team with a scope to engage with our national and international colleagues in order to ensure we were evidence based and maturing the digital clinical approach to health and disability services. “

George says her doctoral research is addressing health systems leadership and how to enable allied health clinicians to step into health systems leadership roles.

“This research has identified a legacy of vocational based leadership that may limit implementing the type of change our future health and disability system has been asked to make,” she says.

Alistair Vickers
Alistair Vickers is moving on from his role as chief information officer (CIO) at Tū Ora Compass Health, to become CIO for Horizon Energy Group.

He says his five years at Tū Ora has been an incredible experience, including some exciting and tough challenges, such as a major cyber incident, a digital transformation and Covid-19 response.

Vickers was named CIO of the year at the 2022 IDC conference and summit. During his tenure at Tū Ora the primary health organisation became the 2nd health organisation globally to attain HIMSS INFRAM Level 6 accreditation.

Vickers says, "I am very excited to join Horizon as they grow and develop their portfolio of technology products and services."

Jerome Ng
Jerome Ng has taken up the job of clinical director, clinical governance at Te Whatu Ora Counties Manukau

Ng was previously a pharmacist at Counties Manukau where he helped to develop standardised medicines reconciliation processes and tools which are still nationally used today.

He returns after 14 years having worked in a number of clinical governance, quality improvement and informatics leadership roles in practice, policy, and research in Aotearoa New Zealand.

These include chief strategic advisor at the Pharmacy Council of New Zealand, clinical director delegate at Te Akai Whai Ora Te Pare o Toi team and clinical director: quality and patient safety in the Bay of Plenty.

Ng is also interim chair of the national Clinical Informatics Leadership Network advisory group, which is supported by HiNZ.

Cara Maennchen
Cara Maennchen has joined the Digital Health Association (DHA) as general manager.

She recently returned from Germany, where she spent the past five years working for a medical education software startup to launch their English-language product in the United States, and is eager to represent the digital health industry at a time of huge transformation for health in Aotearoa.

Prior to her time in Germany, Maennchen worked in the New Zealand healthcare system for 10 years, originally training as a Radiation Therapist, then working for the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners, C&CDHB and ACC.