Membership of Medicines Australia Code Committees

Members of the Code of Conduct, Appeals and Monitoring Committees will not discuss complaints with a healthcare professional, member of the general public or pharmaceutical company. Any contact from or discussions with Complainants or Subject Companies will be declared by the Committee member prior to reviewing a complaint or materials before the Monitoring Committee.

All questions relating to particular complaints or the Code of Conduct more broadly should be directed to the Secretary of the Code of Conduct Committee at Medicines Australia.

Phone: (02) 6122 8500
Email: secretarycodecommittee@medicinesaustralia.com.au

Information about the Code and the complaints process can be found on this website.

A 'Complaints Submission Form" for non-industry complainants can also be accessed from the website.

Committee Membership

Panel of Chairs - all Lawyers with trade practices experience

(Only 1 Chairman participates in each Code of Conduct or Appeals Committee meeting)

Mr Michael Daniel is Chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers Legal. Mr Daniel is an experienced dispute resolution and litigation practitioner with a wide experience in trade practices law. Qualifications include: B Comm (with merit), LL.B (NSW).

Mr Michael Gorton is a Partner at Russell Kennedy. Mr Gorton has been the President of the Health Services Review Council and the Health Complaints Statutory Body in Victoria. He has been Deputy Chair of the Infertility Treatment Authority in Victoria and Chair of the Victorian Government’s Biotechnology Ethics Advisory Committee. He is a Board member of Melbourne Health and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Authority. Qualifications include: LL.B (Melbourne); B.Comm (Melbourne); Fellow, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (Honorary); Fellow, Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (Honorary).

Mr John Kelly is a Principal at John G Kelly & Associates. Mr Kelly was formerly a partner at Blake Dawson Waldron and Corrs Chambers Westgarth. He has also been Chairman of the Commonwealth Aged Care Complaints Resolution Scheme and a member of the Nurses & Midwives of NSW Conduct Committee. Qualifications include: Grad Dip Legal Practice; LL.B (NSW); BA Psychology (Hons) (QLD); BA Organisational Management and Education (QLD); Registered Nurse.

Mr Alan Limbury practised as a solicitor for over 30 years in major Australian law firms, including for 20 years as a partner in Minter Ellison, specializing in litigating intellectual property (particularly pharmaceutical patents), trade practices and administrative law cases. He trained in negotiation at Harvard and has taught with Harvard Professors Roger Fisher and Frank EA Sander in Australia and the United States. He started mediating in 1987 and was a founder member and Chairman of LEADR. He has recently obtained Australian National Accreditation as a mediator.

In 1996 Alan became Managing Director of Strategic Resolution, a dispute resolution consultancy. He has mediated over 1,000 disputes with legally represented parties and arbitrated over 300 domain name disputes. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (both as an Arbitrator and as a Mediator), a Chartered Arbitrator, a member of its Board of Management, Chairman its Practice and Standards Committee and former Chairman of its Mediation sub-committee. He is also a member of the board and Vice President, Mediation of the Australian Branch of the Institute. He is presently convenor of a working party of the Institute to formulate a workable protocol for Med-Arb. Qualifications include: BA (Hons) (Jurisprudence) (Oxford); MA Oxford; Master of Dispute Resolution (UTS). Mr Limbury is a Chartered Arbitrator and Specialist Accredited Mediator.

Mr Bernard O’Shea is a Partner at Deacons. Mr O’Shea has extensive experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries and heads the Deacons team nationally in this field. Qualifications include: LL.B (Melbourne); B.Sc (Melbourne).

Mr Ian Tonking SC is a Barrister based in Sydney and specialising in trade practices and competition law and other commercial and equity litigation and advice. Mr Tonking was formerly a partner in Allen Allen & Hemsley for 17 years. Qualifications include: BA (Sydney), LL.B (Sydney), LL.M (London).

Independant Members of the Committees

Australian General Practice Network (AGPN)
Dr Ruth Ratner is a general practitioner nominated by the AGPN. Dr Ratner is the Principal of a general practice in Northbridge and is also a tutor for the Northern Clinical School of Sydney University Faculty of Medicine. Qualifications include MB.BS (NSW)

Australian Medical Association (AMA)
(Only 1 AMA nominee participates in each Code of Conduct or Appeals Committee meeting)

Dr John Gullotta AM is a general practitioner nominated by the AMA. Dr Gullotta is the Principal of a general practice in Sydney and is also a qualified pharmacist. Dr Gullotta is Chairman of the AMA Therapeutics Committee and an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sydney. Qualifications include B.Med (Hons); FRACGP; B.Pharm; MPS; MACPP

Dr Brian Morton is a general practitioner nominated by the AMA. Dr Morton is co- owner and Director of a Group Medical practice in Sydney. He is the President of AMA (NSW) and Deputy Chairman of AMA Council of General Practice (Federal). Dr Morton is a clinical supervisor at the University of Sydney Faculty of Medicine. He is a contributor to and editor of several health columns in magazines and newspapers. Qualifications include MB BS FRACGP FAMA

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP)
(Only 1 RACGP nominee participates in each Code of Conduct or Appeals Committee meeting)

Dr Harry Nespolon is a general practitioner nominated by the RACGP. Dr Nespolon is the Principal of 2 general practices in Sydney and is also a Fellow of the Australian College of Legal Medicine. Dr Nespolon also has experience in public health and general practice policy. Qualifications include BM.BS, Dip RACOG, FRACGP, B.Ec, LLB (Hons), GCLP, FACLM, MBA

Dr Martine Walker is a general practitioner in Sydney nominated by the RACGP. Dr Walker is full time general practitioner in Sydney, general practice medical educator and examiner for the Royal Australian College of General Practice. She has post graduate qualifications in Paediatrics and Women’s Health.

Dr Marcela Cox is a general practitioner in Sydney nominated by the RACGP. Dr Cox is also a medical educator, currently involved in teaching general practice registrars training with the Sydney Institute of General Practice. Qualifications include MBBS (Hons I), FRACGP, Dip. Child Health.

Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP)
(Only 1 RACP nominee participates in each Code of Conduct Committee meeting)

Professor Christian Gericke is the Professor and Chair in Public Health Policy and Director of the Centre for Health Services Research at the University of Adelaide. He is also Co-Director at the Australian Institute of Health Policy Studies. He is an Honorary Fellow, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (a partnership between WHO, World Bank, European Investment Bank, European governments and academic institutions. Qualifications include MBBS; MD, DSc Berlin; MPH Cantab; MSc London; DTMH Marseille; FRCP Edin; FACP; FAFPHM

Dr Avi Lemberg a specialist physician nominated by the RACP. Dr Lemberg is a paediatric gastroenterologist at the Sydney Children’s Hospital and has research experience in evaluating the utility of drugs in a variety of research and clinical situations. Qualifications include BSc (Med); MB.BS; Dip.Paed; FRACP

Dr Catherine Streeton is a specialist physician nominated by the RACP. Dr Streeton is a public health physician and epidemiologist specialising in infectious diseases and vaccine development. Dr Streeton maintains a keen interest in preventative medicine, immunisation & all aspects of travel medicine. She has extensive experience in vaccine research and development (clinical trial design, implementation and evaluation), and health outcomes research including quality use of medicines. She is also Medical Officer of Health for both Darebin and Moreland City Councils. Qualifications include MBBS, MAppEpid, FAFPHM, Grad Cert Health Economics; CTM.

Australasian Society of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacologists and Toxicologists (ASCEPT)
(Only 1 ASCEPT nominee participates in each Code of Conduct or Appeals Committee meeting)

Professor Richard Day AM is Professor of Clinical Pharmacology at UNSW and St Vincent's Hospital Sydney. He has a clinical practice in Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology and Rheumatology. He has interests in promoting the quality of use of medicines and research into the rational treatment of the rheumatic disorders. He was chair of PHARM for the Federal Government, a director of MBF and the Drug Information Association, Chair of the Federal Medication Safety Taskforce and was recently appointed chair of NSW medication safety committee. He is the academic in charge of the Post Graduate Drug Development programme in the Faculty of Medicine, UNSW.

Professor John Miners is a specialist pharmacologist nominated by ASCEPT. He is currently Professor and Head of the Department of Clinical Pharmacology of Flinders Medical Centre and the Flinders University School of Medicine, and Associate Dean, Flinders Medical Science and Technology. Professor Miners has more than 30 years experience as a pharmacologist in both academic and tertiary hospital settings. His major interests include factors that influence variability in drug elimination and response (particularly drug-drug interactions and pharmacogenetics) and the quality use of medicines. He is the author of 230 peer reviewed publications in these areas. Qualifications include BSc, MSc, PhD and DSc.

Professor Paul Seale is a specialist physician/clinical pharmacologist nominated by ASCEPT. Professor Seale is a Professor of Clinical Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine. He is a Consultant Physician in the Department of Respiratory Medicine at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Honorary Consultant Physician, Respiratory Medicine Royal Price Alfred Hospital and Research Leader, Clinical Trials Unit and Deputy Director Woolcock Institute of Medical Research. Professor Seale is Chair of the following organisations:

NSW Health Shared Scientific Assessment Committee for clinical trials
Drugs & Therapeutics Committee, Royal Prince Alfred (RPA) Hospital
Drugs & Therapeutics Committee, Sydney South West Area Health Service (SSWAHS)
Tuberculosis (TB) Advisory Committee SSWAHS

Professor Seale is a member of the Clinical Trials Subcommittee, Ethics Committee, RPA Hospital and the TB Advisory Committee, NSW Health. He is also a lecturer in National Prescribing Service (NPS) programs and has over 130 publications in peer reviewed journals on clinical pharmacology and respiratory diseases. Qualifications include MB BS (Syd); PhD (London); FRACP; FRCP.

Associate Professor Ken Williams is a specialist pharmacologist nominated by ASCEPT. Dr Williams is the Deputy Director and Principal Scientist at the Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, St Vincent’s Hospital. Qualifications include BSc (Hons 1), PhD (UNSW).

Consumers’ Health Forum of Australia (CHF)
(Only 1 CHF nominee participates in each Code of Conduct or Appeals Committee meeting)

Ms Anne McKenzie is a consumer representative nominated by CHF. Ms McKenzie works as the Consumer Research Liaison Officer, a position dedicated to increasing consumer and community participation in health and medical research at The University of Western Australia School of Population Health and the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research. Anne has a health background and established the role of Parent Advocate at Princess Margaret Hospital, Perth’s only tertiary children’s hospital.

Anne has a strong history of health consumer advocacy and is involved as:

Deputy Chair, current Board Member and consumer representative for the Health Consumers’ Council, Western Australia’s peak consumer organisation;
Consumer representative for Consumers Health Forum of Australia on national Ehealth and Quality Use of Medicine committees;
Member of the Cochrane Consumer Network;
Lay member on the Silver Chain Nursing Association Human Research Ethics Committee. This is a statewide in-home aged health care and nursing support service.

Ms Sharon Caris is a consumer representative nominated by CHF. Ms Caris is the Executive Director of Haemophilia Foundation Australia. Qualifications include Master of Health Administration (UNSW); BA/Bachelor Social Work (La Trobe)

Ms Judith Maher is a consumer representative nominated by Consumer Health Forum Australia. Ms Maher joined Breast Cancer Network Australia at its inception, undertook consumer advocacy training and has served on a range of health related and other committees in this capacity for about ten years. Ms Maher retired from the Australian Public Service in 2006, where her work included complaints management. Ms Maher’s career includes a five year term as a member of the Commonwealth Administrative Appeals Tribunal, some years as chairman of grievance and appeal committees for a number of Victorian statutory authorities, and a period as a private mediator. At the present time Ms Maher serves as a member of the Complaints Resolution Panel of the Therapeutic Goods Advertising Code Council, and of the Property Services Advisory Council to the NSW Minister for Fair Trade. Ms Maher’s qualifications include a Post Graduate Diploma in Commercial Arbitration.

Ms Patti Warn was a researcher on ABC TV’s 4 Corners program before working as a policy advisor for Federal Ministers for Social Security, Health and Community Services. After a 5 year term as a Member of the Immigration Review Tribunal, she cared for a friend with dementia for 2 years. In retirement, she serves as an Official Visitor to psychiatric facilities in NSW, is on the Board of Uniting Care Ageing for the Sydney region and is member of the NSW Advisory Committee on the Ageing. She is a lay member of the NSW Law Society and has served on Ethics Committees for NSW Health and the NSW Cancer Institute. She is a member of the Consumer Health Forum of Australia.

Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)

(Only 1 TGA nominee participates in each Code of Conduct Committee meeting)
Mr Craig Davies is the Director, Advertising and Export Section in the Office of Non-Prescription Medicines. From 1999 – 2002, Craig worked in the TGA’s medical devices program, where he undertook the functions of Secretary to the Therapeutic Device Evaluation Committee and the Global Harmonization Task Force, during Australia’s period as Chair of that international organisation. In January 2003, he was appointed to his current position of Director: Advertising and Export Section in the Office of Non-Prescription Medicines. This Section is responsible for participating in the co-regulatory system of advertising, administering the advertising requirements under the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 and Regulations and also administering the export medicine arrangements under the legislation.

Dr Peter Bird is a representative of the Advertising Section of the TGA. Dr Bird has significant experience in the regulation of medicines. Qualifications include BSc(Hons), PhD

Monitoring Committee Membership

Panel of Chairs - all Chairman have pharmacetical industry experience

(Only 1 Chairman participates in each Monitoring Committee meeting)

Dr Michael Wyer is a pharmacist, retired from positions as Director of Pharmacy, Prince of Wales and Prince Henry Hospitals in Sydney (1969-1990), and as Medical Director, Janssen-Cilag Ltd, Australia and New Zealand (1990-2001). Qualifications are Pharm D, FSHP, MPS.

Mr Russell Edwards is a veteran of the pharmaceutical industry with a career spanning 36 years, 20 of which as a senior manager or CEO. He was Managing Director of Pharmacia before founding the Australian operations of Amgen as Managing Director. He was a Senior Director of Amgen Inc. He is currently a Director of the National Prescribing Service (NPS).

Independent Members of the Committee

Consumers’ Health Forum of Australia (CHF)
(Only 1 CHF nominee participates in each Code of Conduct or Appeals Committee meeting)

Ms Sheila Rimmer AM is a consumer representative nominated by the Consumers’ Health Forum of Australia. After retirement from university lecturing, Ms Rimmer became NSW President and later National President of the Council of the Ageing (COTA). She is a member of the Governing Committee of the Consumers’ Health Forum and represents consumers on a committee of the Australian Medical Council (AMC) and the Medical Services Advisory Committee (MSAC). Qualifications include: B.Sc (Econ) London University and MA (Political Science) Columbia University, New York

Mr Henry Ko is a consumer representative nominated by CHF. Mr Ko is a researcher in tissue engineering and biomaterials at the University of New South Wales, as well as a project officer at the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre at the University of Sydney working on Cochrane Collaboration systematic reviews. He has professional interests in socio-cultural issues surrounding emerging health technologies, as well as public communication of biosciences.

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP)
Dr Sue Whicker is a specialist pharmacologist. She has extensive experience in the management, development, implementation and evaluation of education programs, research projects and programs at local, national and international levels, particularly in therapeutics and the quality use of medicines (QUM).

Australian Medical Association (AMA)

Dr Robyn Napier is a general practitioner in Sydney nominated by the AMA. Dr Napier is also a general practice medical educator and Medical Director of AMA (NSW). She chairs the AMA (NSW) Council of General Practice and provides the secretariat for the Ethics Committee. Dr Napier is also on the Council of MDA National, is a member of the NSW Medical Board and on the BEACH Advisory Board.

Procedure of appointment

Chairman – following a public call for expressions of interest, a panel of suitably qualified and experienced lawyers are appointed by the Medicines Australia Board for a period of five (5) years.

Committee – members of the Code Committee are nominated by a peak body and appointed for a period of three years

Conflict of Interest
All attendees for a particular Committee meeting will be appointed taking into consideration that the person has no conflict of interest with therapeutic area/s or company/ies against which a complaint has been lodged or with the complainant.

In addition to the requirement to disclose a direct or indirect pecuniary interest in a matter about to be considered in a meeting of the Code Committee, members should also disclose a conflict of interest if a reasonable third party would conclude that there was a likelihood that a member of the Code Committee may be influenced in reaching a decision by factors other than the merits of the case as presented by the Subject Company and Complainant.