Commission welcomes new chair and board members

The Health Quality & Safety Commission is pleased to welcome a new board chair and five new board members. 

Our current deputy chair Dr Dale Bramley has replaced Professor Alan Merry as chair. Prof Merry has chaired the board since the establishment of the Commission and has made an enormous contribution over the past nine years. There will be a formal farewell for Prof Merry in November.

The new board members are:

• Rae Lamb, deputy chair
• Dr Jenny Parr
• Mena Antonio
• Shenagh Gleisner
• Professor Peter Crampton.

They join existing board members Dr Gloria Johnson and Mr Andrew Connolly.

Chief executive Dr Janice Wilson says this is an exciting time for the Commission.

'As an organisation we have been privileged to have an extremely committed and effective board and chair, and the new appointees continue this high standard.

'Professor Alan Merry’s vast experience in health and academia and extremely high standing among his peers have been instrumental in guiding the Commission. His input will be greatly missed. We will also miss the commitment and valuable input of outgoing board members Bob Henderson and Dr Bev O’Keefe, as well as Dame Alison Paterson and Gwen Tepania-Palmer who leave in November.

'We are delighted to welcome Dr Dale Bramley as our new chair. Dale has been a valued Commission board member and we look forward to his input as chair.'

The full Commission board and their bios are below.

New chair

Dr Dale Bramley is the appointed chair until November 2021. Dr Bramley, MBChB, MPH, MBA, FAFPHM, FNZCPHM is a 2003–04, Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy and Practice. He is the CEO of Waitematā District Health Board. Dale is a practising public health physician and is the chief examiner of the New Zealand College of Public Health Medicine – a function he has held for the last eight years. He is also an adjunct professor at Auckland University of Technology.

New board members

Raewyn (Rae) Lamb is appointed immediately as deputy chair for three years. Since earlier this year, Rae has been working as the CEO of Te Pou o te Whakaaro Nui, a non-governmental organisation focused on mental health and disability workforce and information development. She has an extensive background in journalism and has worked as deputy commissioner in the office of the Health and Disability Commissioner (HDC) and as aged care complaints commissioner for all of Australia. She was a New Zealand Harkness Fellow 2001/2002.

Dr Jennifer (Jenny) Parr is appointed immediately for three years. Jenny is the chief nurse and director of patient and whānau experience at Counties Manukau Health. She has held a number of senior nursing, professional and management roles over 22 years at Waitematā DHB and in London, England. Jenny is a registered nurse and qualified midwife with a Doctorate of Health Science (DHSc) (AUT 2019).

Philomena (Mena) Antonio is appointed immediately for three years. Mena has a long history of community service with the philanthropic, creative, social and education sectors, and a real focus on equity of outcomes for Wairarapa people. As an executive leadership coach and mentor, she specialises in cultural intelligence and diversity strategies for businesses and organisations. She is the inaugural chair of the Consumer Council at Wairarapa DHB, and also brings to the board, a Pacific perspective.

Shenagh Gleisner is appointed from 30 November, for three years. Shenagh was chief executive of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, acting chief executive of Child, Youth and Family Service and acting deputy chief executive of the Department of Labour. She has also worked in senior positions in the State Services Commission, in the health sector and as a director of KPMG. She currently runs workshops on policy leadership for the School of Government. She is on a number of boards in the non-governmental organisation sector and serves on the risk and audit committees of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Education Review Office. Shenagh is an independent consultant working in both the public and the NGO sector and is also the new Executive Director for the Institute of Public Administration New Zealand from June this year.

Professor Peter Crampton is appointed from 1 April 2020 for three years. Professor Crampton is a professor of public health in Kōhatu, the Centre for Hauora Māori at the University of Otago. He is a specialist in public health medicine. His research is focused on social indicators and social epidemiology, health care policy, and health care organisation and funding. He has served on numerous advisory panels in a variety of policy areas related to public health, health services, and medical education. He has taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses related to public health, health systems, and health services management. Professor Crampton is also currently assisting the Simpson review.

Existing board members

Mr Andrew Connolly graduated from the University of Auckland in 1987 and is a general surgeon at Counties Manukau Health, specialising in colorectal surgery. He has a strong interest in education, training and clinical governance and has been head of department at Counties Manukau Health since 2003. Andrew was appointed to the Medical Council of New Zealand in 2009; the latter five years as Chair, completing his tenure in February 2019. He has served on various ministerial committees to review aspects of the health system including the 2015 capacity and capability review.

Dr Gloria Johnson is the chief medical officer at Counties Manukau Health. She is a graduate of the University of Auckland Medical School and completed training as a psychiatrist in Western Australia. As a specialist, she worked initially in an academic post with the University of Western Australia, where her major research interest was psychiatric sequelae of stroke. Dr Johnson moved into a full-time private practice as a psychiatrist in both urban and rural settings, before returning home to Northland in 2003. She was the Clinical Director of Northland District Health Board's Mental Health Services for four years, before taking up the post of Chief Medical Advisor from December 2007.