December 2024 - Ausimed

Sandy Benjamin OAM and Norman Same join the AUSiMED Board of Directors

We are delighted to welcome two new directors who joined the AUSiMED board in December 2024. Sandy Benjamin OAM and Norman Same.

Sandy has degrees in psychology and Social Work and practiced for seventeen years in family psychiatry and adoption. She lectured in the social work school at La Trobe University, played a leading role in the reform of adoption law in the state of Victoria, Australia, and ran a private counselling service for people with fertility problems. She has serves as Chairman and President of the Jewish Museum of Australia and was Director of the Foundation of the National Gallery of Australia from 2007 to 2017.

Norman is a director of EQ8 Accountants with a Bachelor of Economics and a Graduate Certificate in Leadership and Organisation Dynamics. He has extensive experience working with small-to-medium sized enterprises, particularly with family businesses. He is a Chartered Tax Adviser of the Taxation Institute of Australia and an affiliate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. He is a passionate hockey player and is currently the Finance Director of World Masters Hockey.

We look forward to the invaluable contributions Sandy and Norman will bring to our organisation.

Putting the AUS front and centre in AUSiMED

In 2022, with COVID still high on the public health agenda, AUSiMED facilitated the visit to Israel, of fifteen of Australia’s leading Public Health experts.

Led by Professor Sharon Lewin, the Director of the Doherty Institute, the 15-person group, including the Chief Health Officers (CHO) of NSW and South Australia, the Deputy CHO of Victoria, engaged with their Israeli counterparts in a rewarding exchange of learnings from the battle with COVID-19. This was made possible by the generosity of our supporters.

A further major outcome of the Lewin mission was the connections made between the Australian delegates and their Israel counterparts in the Digital Health Innovation space.

In 2023, AUSiMED is working to strengthen these connections and facilitating exciting Digital Health initiatives with Israeli experts that will benefit Australia’s health care system.

The benefits of shared experiences are highlighted by delegation members ProfJodie McVernon, Director of Doherty Epidemiology, Doherty Institute and Dr Fergus Gardiner, Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), Director of National Emergency Response, Public Health and Research.

“We can learn from Israel about turning complex record systems into data sets that can used as ‘information for action’ by practitioners and epidemiologists.”ProfJodie McVernon

“The introduction ofgame-changing Israeli telehealth technology to facilitate remote medical examinations could result in major health benefits for Australians living with chronic diseases and people living in remote and rural communities.” Dr Fergus Gardiner