Evaluation Subcommittee (ESC) members

Current members

• Associate Professor Sarah Norris – Chair

  Health economics

  BSc(Hons) MPhil, PhD, GradCertHealthEc

  Associate Professor Sarah Norris is current chair of MSAC ESC and co-Deputy Chair of MSAC, as well as an Associate Professor of Practice, Health Technology Assessment (HTA) at the Leeder Centre for Health Policy, Economics and Data, University of Sydney. She has extensive experience in HTA, evaluating pharmaceuticals, vaccines, medical devices, diagnostic tests and public health programs. Her research interests encompass the methods used to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of emerging health technologies, with a focus on genomics and digital health. Associate Professor Norris provides expertise in the field of health economics.

• Dr Merran Auland

  General practice

  B.Pharm (HONS), PhD, BMBCh (Oxon) JCCA, FACRRM

  Dr Merran Auland is an experienced Rural Generalist Anaesthetist. With a background in the pharmaceutical industry and health economics and living in rural NSW, Dr Auland brings a diverse experience to health technology assessment. She is Deputy-Chair of the Remote Vocational Training Scheme and has been a member of the NSW Medical Council and actively involved in medical regulation for many years. Dr Auland provides expertise in the field of general practice.

• Professor Katy Bell

  Epidemiology and pathology

  MbChB, MMed (Clin Epi, merit), PhD

  Professor Katy (Catherine) Bell is a  Professor of Clinical Epidemiology in the Sydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney. Her research program centres on sustainable healthcare, including evaluation of the potential benefits and harms of medical tests used for screening, diagnosis, and monitoring. She is a past Chair of the International Network for Epidemiology in Policy, and a past Vice President of the Australasian Epidemiological Association. Professor Bell provides expertise in the field of epidemiology and pathology.

• Dr Rohan Bhagwandeen

  Interventional cardiology

  MBChB, FRACP

  Dr Rohan Bhagwandeen is a Clinical Lead and Director of the Structural Interventions/Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) Program at John Hunter Hospital and Lake Macquarie Hospital, Newcastle. His clinical interests as a consultant interventional cardiologist centre around equitable healthcare delivery and education, where he has convened the Essential Percutaneous Interventional Course since 2005 and is a Course Director of the Sydney Valves conference and a member of numerous steering committees including Australia and New Zealand Endovascular Therapies. He is a board member of the Asia Pacific Interventional Council and member of the Cardiovascular Expert Clinical Advisory Group to the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. Dr Bhagwandeen provides expertise in the field of interventional cardiology.

• Professor Emily Callander

  Health economics

  BA, PhD

  Professor Emily Callander is a Professor of Women’s Health Economics at Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation, Monash University, and Head of Discipline, Health Services Management, University of Technology Sydney. Her research focuses on the application of administrative data, economic evaluation alongside clinical trials and modelled economic analysis within maternal and women’s health. She is a member of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee’s Economics Subcommittee. Professor Callander provides expertise in the field of health economics.

• Professor Louisa Collins

  Health economics

  BEc, MPH, PhD

  Professor Louisa Collins is the Research Lead, Cancer Prevention and Survivorship, Viertel Cancer Research Centre, Cancer Council Queensland. Her research interests involve economic evaluations, decision-analytic modelling and applied economic research predominantly in the areas of cancer prevention and screening, supportive care interventions for cancer survivors and the financial burden of cancer to families. She is also a current member of MSAC. Professor Collins provides expertise in the field of health economics.

• Professor Jonathan Craig

  Paediatric nephrology, epidemiology 

  MBChB, DCH, MMed (Clin Epi), FRACP, PhD, FAHMS 

  Professor Jonathan Craig is current Chair of MSAC, an ex-officio member MSAC ESC and of the MSAC PICO Advisory Subcommittee (PASC) and Vice-President and Executive Dean of the College of Medicine and Public Health at Flinders University. He is a paediatric nephrologist/clinical epidemiologist, with research focussed on improving the health of people with chronic kidney disease, children, and the health and well-being of First Nations peoples. His HTA experience is derived through previous roles on the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Advisory Group on the Synthesis and Translation of Research Evidence, NHMRC Health Translation Advisory Committee, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee, and the Life Savings Drug Program Expert Panel. Professor Craig provides expertise in the fields of paediatric nephrology and clinical epidemiology.

• Professor Anthony Gill AM

  Surgical, anatomical pathology

  MBBS, MD, FRCPA, AM

  Professor Anthony Gill is Professor of Surgical Pathology at the University of Sydney, a senior staff specialist in anatomical pathology at the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney and chairman of the Australian Pancreatic Genome Initiative (APGI). His clinical interests include both anatomical (surgical and cytological) pathology and targeted molecular testing of tumours, with an emphasis on biomarker development and companion diagnostic testing for targeted therapies. From 2017 to 2024 he was an editorial board member of the World Health Organization (WHO) / International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) fifth edition classification of tumours which is considered the peak international body in surgical pathology and sets diagnostic criteria for tumours applied around the world. Professor Gill continues to consult for the WHO in the sixth edition classification of tumours in the field of surgical and anatomical pathology.

• Professor Susan Jordan

  Clinical epidemiology

  MBBS, FRACGP, GradDipClinEpi, PhD

  Professor Susan Jordan is a Professor of Epidemiology at the School of Public Health, The University of Queensland. With a background in rural and urban general practice, her current research centres on gynaecological and thyroid cancers, examining aetiology, patterns of care and survival. She uses a wide variety of epidemiological methods in her research and has expertise in patient and clinician surveys, molecular epidemiology, pooling of consortia data, cohort studies and large-scale data linkage. She is also a current member of MSAC. Professor Jordan provides expertise in the field of clinical epidemiology.

• Associate Professor Billingsley Kaambwa

  Health economics

  BA, MA, DipApStat, PhD

  Associate Professor Billingsley Kaambwa is Head of Health Economics, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University. His research focuses on employing econometric and statistical methods in economic evaluation, decision-analytic, and choice modelling of health technologies. He sits on the editorial boards of 'PLoS One' and 'PharmacoEconomics Open'. Associate Professor Kaambwa provides expertise in the field of health economics.

• Associate Professor Caitlin Keighley

  Microbiology and infectious diseases
  MBBS PhD GAICD FRCPA (Microb) FRACP (Infect Dis)

  Associate Professor Caitlin Keighley is a Medical Director, microbiologist and infectious diseases physician at Southern. IML Pathology, an infectious diseases physician at the Illawarra Private Cancer Care Centre, Wollongong Private Hospital and Honorary medical officer at the Wollongong Hospital. She is an adjunct associate professor at the University of Wollongong where she is involved in collaborative research with the Wollongong antimicrobial resistance research alliance (WARRA) and on the ethics committee.

  A/Prof Keighley serves on the TGA Advisory Committee on Medical Devices (ACMD). She is the chair of the microbiology advisory committee of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (RCPA) and on the board of the Australian Society of Infectious Diseases (ASID). She is also co-chair of the Australia and New Zealand Mycology Interest Group (ANZMIG).

• Associate Professor Suzanne Mahady

  Epidemiology, gastroenterology
  M.B.B.S, B.Med.Sci, FRACP, M.Med – Clin. Epi., PhD

  Associate Professor Suzanne Mahady is a senior staff specialist, consultant gastroenterologist at Melbourne Health and an Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Public Health & Preventive Medicine at Monash University. She has research interests in gastrointestinal disorders including fatty liver disease, gastrointestinal bleeding and cancers, and has been the Chair of the International Endpoint Adjudication Committee for Clinically Significant Bleeding for the ASPREE and ASPREE-XT clinical trials. She has extensive experience in teaching epidemiology at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Associate Professor Mahady has previously undertaken advisory roles for Cancer Council Australia and the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare. She is the Chair of the MSAC’s PICO Advisory Subcommittee (PASC), and a member of MSAC. Associate Professor Mahady provides expertise in the field of epidemiology, gastroenterology and liver disease.

• Professor Cathy Mihalopoulos

  Health economics
  BBSc(Hon), GDEcSt, PGDipHthEco, PhD

  Professor Cathy Mihalopoulos has dual qualifications in Behavioural Science and Health Economics. She is currently the head of the Health Economics Group (HEG) at Monash University within the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine. She has a broad range of expertise ranging from the conduct of economic evaluations alongside clinical trials, economic modelling, priority-setting projects, outcome measurement and health service research. Her major field of research interest is the economics of mental health and psychosocial care. She has been invited to sit on committees of national and international significance, including the Economics Subcommittee of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC-ESC) from 2013-2021. Her research has attracted numerous awards including the best within trial economic evaluation inaugural award by the Australian Clinical Trial Alliance in 2023. Professor Mihalopoulos provides expertise in the field of health economics. 

• Professor Andrew Mitchell

  Health economics

  BPharm, MMS

  Professor Andrew Mitchell is an Honorary Professor in the Department of Health Economics Wellbeing and Society at the Australian National University (ANU). He has extensive experience within health technology assessment, in a career spanning several decades in the Office of Health Technology Assessment of the Department of Health and Aged Care (now the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing). He applied long experience in reviewing clinical and economic evaluations of medicines and other health technology types. He also helped steer the development of several approaches to use this information systematically to guide resource allocation decisions in Australia’s publicly funded health care system. Professor Mitchell provides expertise in the field of health technology assessment. 

• Ms Kristine Pierce

  Consumer member

  MHealthSc (HealthProm&HealthEd), MWellness, Nursing

  Ms Kristine Pierce is a distinguished leader in consumer involvement and advocacy within the healthcare sector. She is the Director of Consumer Involvement at Child Unlimited, University of New South Wales and has developed and implemented consumer engagement frameworks and led patient-centred initiatives. She has co-founded and leads SCN2A Australia and has contributed to the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE), Global Genes, and The Epilepsy Foundation. Ms Pierce provides expertise in the field of consumer advocacy and engagement. 

• Professor Michael Schuetz

  Trauma surgery, orthopaedic surgery

  Professor Michael Schuetz is a practicing orthopaedic surgeon and research leader in the field of trauma care and orthopaedic trauma research. In August 2018, he commenced as the Director of Jamieson Trauma Institute based at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital campus in Brisbane and Chair of Trauma, Queensland University of Technology. The Jamieson Trauma Institute strives to advance the optimal trauma patient’s outcome by focusing on the patient’s journey to include the prehospital, acute care, rehabilitation and long-term outcomes for people who suffer a traumatic injury. Improvements can range from models of care to specific interventions and developing new devices. Professor Schuetz is actively involved in clinical knowledge translation and commercialisation of novel orthopaedic surgery technologies across Australia and the world.

• Associate Professor Joanna Sutherland

  Anaesthesiology

  FAICD MBBS (Hons) FANZCA MHPol MClS

  Associate Professor Joanna Sutherland is an Honorary Medical Officer Anaesthetist at Coffs Harbour Health Campus and a Conjoint Associate Professor with the University of New South Wales Rural Medical School. Her research interests are centred on evidence-based medicine, rural health and medical education, specifically workforce training patterns, clinical outcomes and decision making. She is a past Chair of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) Safety and Quality Committee and a current member of MSAC. Associate Professor Sutherland provides expertise in the field of anaesthesiology.

• Associate Professor Vanessa (Ness) Tyrrell

  Genomics, precision medicine

  Associate Professor Vanessa (Ness) Tyrrell is Head of the Clinical Translation Research Division, and Program Director of the Zero Childhood Cancer National Precision Medicine Program at Children’s Cancer Institute. With over 30 years of experience in all disciplines of genetic testing, she is a recognised leader in her field. She is a Fellow of the Human Genetics Society of Australasia (HGSA), Associate to the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (RCPA), and Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD). Most recently she was appointed to the Board of Directors for the Australian Genome Research Facility (AGRF), and the Australian Genomics National Steering Committee.

• Dr Christine Walker

  Consumer member

  PhD

  Dr Chirstine Walker is a health sociologist, who is principal researcher for The Australian Longitudinal Study Into the Social Impact of Epilepsy. Her research interests are in the role of consumer experience and participation in the health system and health research, focusing on safety and quality in all aspects of healthcare to benefit health consumers. She is a member of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Expert Committee on Quality Care and a Board Member of Consumers’ Health Forum, Epilepsy Foundation and Epilepsy Australia. Dr Walker provides expertise in the field of consumer advocacy and engagement.

Related information

• Members
• How to become a member
• Managing conflicts of interest
• ESC meetings
• ESC terms of reference

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