Our Board is committed to improving the health of the community by enabling:
- innovation, flexibility and value for money
- engagement with community and staff
- partnerships and collaboration
- initiatives contributing to research, learning and teaching.
The Governor in Council appoints members of the Board on the recommendation of the Minister for Health.
Dr David Rowlands OAM (Chair)
MBBS (Qld), MRACGP, FAICD
- Original appointment date 01 April 2022
- Current term until 31 March 2026
David is a graduate of The University of Queensland. He served as a Medical Officer in the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps and worked in Accident and Emergency in the United Kingdom, before deciding on a career in General Practice. He is the co-owner of a mixed billing General Practice, where he works part-time in clinical practice.
David also has an extensive career in governing health care organisations, and in ensuring that safe and efficient care is delivered to the community they serve. He has high level skills in the areas of corporate governance, clinical governance, fiscal management, patient safety and patient experience.
He is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and has more than 25 years’ experience as a company director. In 2019, he was awarded Fellowship of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He is currently also serving as a director of a not-for-profit organisation which provides medical outreach services to rural and remote communities in Queensland.
David was instrumental in establishing both the Gold Coast Medicare Local and the Gold Coast PHN and served as Chair of both organisations. He has extensive experience in community engagement and has also served as Chair of the Gold Coast Health and Wellbeing Council.
In 2021, David was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for services to Medicine, in General Practice.
Mr Terrence Bell
BA, Grad Cert P.S. Mgt, MBA, DoPS
- Original appointment date 18 May 2020
- Current term until 31 March 2026
Terry is a long term resident of the Sunshine Coast having bought his first property in Mooloolaba in 1978 and has lived here on the coast ever since. Terry is a Bundjalung man of the Southern Gold Coast and Northern NSW regions.
Terry has a B.A., Grad. Cert Public Sector Management, MBA and currently undertaking a Doctor of Professional Studies. Terry has extensive experience in leadership roles in the public, private and tertiary sectors and is currently undertaking Doctoral studies at Central Queensland University and working as Business Consultant to improve Indigenous employment outcomes.
Terry has been heavily involved in Sunshine Coast Sport where he has played and coached Rugby
League and participated heavily in Surf Lifesaving competing at National levels and successfully holding management positions.
Ms Debra Blumel
BA, BSocWk, MSocWK, MBA, GAICD
- Original appointment date 18 May 2019
- Current term until 31 March 2026
Debbie has extensive experience in organisational and strategic leadership in health, disability and housing organisations facing disruptive challenges and transformational change. Her roles include CEO of a Medicare Local and a Sunshine Coast regional health and National Disability Insurance Scheme provider organisation.
Debbie is interested in meeting contemporary challenges, such as increasing health system demand and costs, through smarter integrated care models that span hospital, community, family and private care services. Debbie is committed to safe quality services and chairs the Board’s Safety and Quality Committee.
Debbie was the inaugural Chair of Regional Development Australia Sunshine Coast and served as a Sunshine Coast Councillor where she held the Major Projects Portfolio and represented council on the Council of Mayors’ Infrastructure Committee.
Debbie’s worked for almost three decades in Queensland Health including as Manager Public Health Planning and Research and worked on a range of national policy, strategy and costing forums. Debbie has made a significant contribution to women’s issues through a pioneering research project, “Who Pays? The Economic Cost of Violence Against Women” which was used by the Queensland Government in its Stop Violence Against Women campaign.
Mr Rodney Cameron
BComm (Honours), FCPA, MBA, MFM, FAICD
- Original appointment date 10 June 2021
- Current term until 31 March 2026
Mr Rod Cameron has more than 35 years’ domestic and international experience with multinational ASX and NYSE listed and unlisted companies operating in sectors including:
- energy
- resources
- manufacturing
- professional services
- disability services.
Rod is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and has been a director of sophisticated non-for-profit and for-profit companies for more than a decade.
He has held a host of leadership roles in sophisticated organisations, including:
- Chief Executive Officer of Autism Queensland
- Chief Financial Officer of Endeavour Foundation
- Chief Financial Officer for an ASX listed company
- Chief Financial Officer of the subsidiary of a NYSE listed multinational corporation.
Rod is also a qualified accountant, being a Fellow of CPA Australia. He holds an Honours degree in Commerce, Master of Business Administration and Master of Financial Management.
Mr Bruce Cowley
BComm/LLB (Honours), FAICD
- Original appointment date 18 May 2021
- Current term until 31 March 2026
Mr Bruce Cowley was, until 30 June 2019, Chair of Australia's largest law firm, MinterEllison, and has practiced as a corporate lawyer for nearly 40 years. In this role he specialised in mergers and acquisitions, director's duties and corporate governance. He has authored “Directorship in Context”, a practical guide to the intricacies of being a modern board director, and co-authored the book entitled “Duties of Board and Committee Members”.
Bruce has been Chair and Board member of a number of not-for-profit Boards, including the Children’s Hospital Foundation Queensland and CPL (formerly Cerebral Palsy League).
Bruce is currently:
- a director of Australian Retirement Trust, South Bank Corporation, Queensland Trust for Nature, Fijian Drua and Klarna Australia Pty Ltd
- a member of the Takeovers Panel
- Chair of Griffith University Business School's Strategic Advisory Board
- a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) Not for Profit Chairs Forum.
Bruce was the recipient of the Australian Institute of Company Directors’ Gold Medal in Queensland for services to governance in 2021 and the Queensland Law Society’s President’s Medal for services to the legal profession in 2022.
Professor Jody Currie
- Original appointment date 1 April 2024
- Current term until 31 March 2028
Jody is currently a Professor of Practice at the Queensland University of Technology in the Health Faculty. Jody has over 20 years’ experience in health, housing and human service delivery, with a particular focus on vulnerable families and Aged Care, working in several executive positions in both the community and government sector.
Jody was most recently Chief Executive Officer of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Health Service (A&TSICHS) Brisbane. She established A&TSICHS Brisbane as a Nationally Registered Early Childhood Education provider, a Nationally Registered Housing provider, and a Registered National Disability Insurance Scheme provider.
Jody is an appointed member to the Federal Government’s National Aged Care Advisory Council and currently a Non-Executive Director on Cape York Partnership, Brisbane North Primary Health Network, Hearing Australia and has expertise in workforce strategy, government and stakeholder engagement.
Ms Sandra McCullagh
BSc, BA, MBA and GAICD
- Original appointment date 1 April 2024
- Current term until 31 March 2028
Sandra is an experienced non-executive director, focussing on complex for-purpose organisations. She has a background in energy, investment banking and IT. She is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, has a B Science (Computer Science, Maths), a B Arts (Computer Science), and a Masters of Business Administration. Sandra is a member of the Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Board Audit and Risk Committee and the Workforce Committee.
Sandra is also a non-executive director of Workcover Qld (chairing the People Committee), ASX listed Australian Ethical (chairing the Investment Committee), and two not-for-profits, Sydney Dance Company (member of the Audit and Risk Committee)and the Clayfield College Foundation (as Chair). She is a member of Chief Executive Women and chairs their Membership Committee. Sandra was previously a non-executive director of QSuper, The Investor Group on Climate Change, and an advisory member of the New Zealand Stock Exchange Corporate Governance Institute.
Dr Sue McAvoy
PhD, MBA, B. Econ, Econometrics (Hons)
- Original appointment date 1 April 2024
- Current term until 31 March 2028
Sue has 28 years’ experience working in both public and private sector financial management leadership roles and 12 years systems thinking research experience working with the UQ Business School and subsequently as Health Systems lead with UQ’s Centre for the Business and Economics of Health.
Sue has expertise in project leadership, governance, regulatory and strategic oversight, policy frameworks, and financial and enterprise risk management. She has more than 15 years’ experience as a Non- Executive Board member including the Edmond Rice Education Australia Board and chairing the Nudgee College Advisory Board.
In her early career as the newly appointed Group Treasurer for AMH Pty Ltd Sue established a full group treasury operation in a company born of an industry rationalisation. More recently, Sue has developed a strong practical competency in systems thinking for policymaking. Projects she has led include developing a pilot system dynamics patient flow model of a public emergency department; exploring the risks and mitigating factors for COVID-19 spread in urban Indigenous communities; using participatory systems approaches to conceptualise and develop a tool for exploring outpatient referral flows and waitlists; and an evaluation of Queensland’s nursing/midwifery ratios trial (as part of a wider evaluation approach).
Sue has completed an AICD New Director’s Course, London Business School’s Leading Change Course, and this year will participate in Oxford University’s Healthcare Leadership residential programme.
Emeritus Professor Birgit Lohmann
BSc (Hons), PhD, GAICD
- Original appointment date 18 May 2019
- Current term until 31 March 2026
As well as sitting on our Board, Birgit Lohmann has been a Board member of a number of not-for-profits.
Birgit was also the Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor of University of the Sunshine Coast from 2011 to 2018.
In that role Birgit was responsible for the academic activities of the University, including the Faculties. Birgit also held the following roles:
- standing deputy to the Vice Chancellor
- Chair of the Academic Board
- member of the University Council.
Birgit previously had academic and management roles at the Australian National University, Murdoch University, Griffith University and the University of Adelaide.
Birgit has also served in a number of leadership roles including:
- Head of the School of Science and Director of the Centre for Quantum Dynamics at Griffith University
- Pro Vice-Chancellor for Learning and Quality at the University of Adelaide.
The Board complies with the Queensland Public Service (QPS) Code of Conduct and has its own Board Charter [PDF 356 kB].
Summaries and committees
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Board summaries
The Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Board is responsible for the overall governance of Sunshine Coast Health.
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Board committees
Our committees support the functions of the Board.