Welcome to the new BHI website. During its staged implementation, earlier reports not available on this site can be accessed on the old website.


Our staff

BHI’s highly specialised staff include health services researchers, biostatisticians and data analysts, graphic designers, communication and data visualisation specialists, and corporate support professionals. We promote respect, understanding and compassion in the ways we work, and we are committed to highlighting opportunities to improve equity and inclusion in healthcare. We celebrate the diverse backgrounds of our staff and are committed to having a workforce that reflects the communities we serve.

Our staff work in several teams that collaborate to publish our independent reports and information products:

  • Surveys team
  • Performance Reports team
  • Data Management, Governance and Analyses team
  • Communications and Strategic Relations team
  • Corporate Affairs team.

They are supported by the BHI Senior Management Team.

BHI Senior Management Team

Photo Dr Diane Watson

Dr Diane Watson – Chief Executive

Dr Diane Watson is the Chief Executive of BHI. She has led the establishment of three reporting agencies in Australia that use big data to drive decisions on healthcare provision nationally and locally.

Dr Watson was the inaugural Chief Executive of BHI from 2009 to 2012 before returning to the role in 2018 to further drive its work reporting on the performance of the NSW healthcare system.

In between these tenures at BHI, Dr Watson was the inaugural Chief Executive of the National Health Performance Authority, established by the Australian Government to monitor, and report on, the performance of 1000+ public and private hospitals and 300+ health regions. She was also the inaugural Chief Executive Officer of the Victorian Agency for Health Information, established to monitor and report on public and private services that stimulate quality and safety improvements, increase transparency and accountability, and inform the community.

Dr Watson has held senior management positions for more than 30 years measuring, monitoring and reporting on the performance of healthcare systems to drive improvements in health, patient care and productivity. During this time, she has set the future direction of high profile, board-governed agencies and inspired a strong sense of purpose among a highly talented and specialised workforce.

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Photo Dr Alison Witchard

Dr Alison Witchard – Senior Director, Performance Measurement and Reporting

Alison joined BHI in 2019 and currently provides leadership, direction and management to BHI teams responsible for patient surveys, data management and analyses, and performance reports. She oversees the preparation of BHI's portfolio of reports and information products in collaboration others who are responsible for strategy, stakeholder engagement and communications.

Her previous experience includes extensive work in health and social policy, including at the Mental Health Branch in NSW Health and the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Prior to working in the public service, Alison worked in academia as a scholar and researcher. She has a PhD in medical anthropology and a Bachelor of Philosophy (Honours) from the Australian National University. She conducted ethnographic research into the experiences of women at risk of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer, resulting in a number of peer-reviewed publications. During her PhD, Alison was a Visiting Fellow and Fulbright Scholar at Harvard University and a guest lecturer at the Australian National University.

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Photo Hilary Rowell

Hilary Rowell – Senior Director, Communications and Strategic Relations

Hilary Rowell joined BHI in June 2017 to strengthen engagement with key stakeholders and maximise the value and impact of our information. Hilary leads strategy development and is the Senior Director responsible for the communications function.

Her previous experience includes extensive work in healthcare policy and strategy, principally in the United Kingdom (UK). Improving healthcare through the effective use of information has been a recurrent theme in her work, particularly in terms of better measurement, greater transparency and clearer alignment between people’s needs for information and what is available to them.

Hilary’s career has included leadership roles in the UK healthcare regulator, Dr Foster Intelligence, ZPB and the NHS consumer-facing digital service. She has provided board-level advice to organisations including Picker Institute Europe, Academic Health Science Networks and The Kings Fund. She has been responsible for a number of influential publications, including the Dr Foster Hospital Guide, the Intelligent Board report series and thought leadership on topics such as outcomes-based healthcare and the central role of effective staff engagement in the quality and safety of patient care. Hilary holds a Bachelor of Science in Politics and Economics from the University of Bristol in the UK.

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Photo Aleksandra Petrovski

Aleksandra Petrovski – Director Corporate Affairs and Chief Audit Executive

As Director of Corporate Affairs, Aleks is responsible for ensuring BHI has effective infrastructure and business processes to meet its statutory obligations and operations.

Aleks has extensive experience in leading a wide range of corporate functions to address and strengthen organisational capability and sustainability, and to support a culture of performance and accountability. As BHI’s champion for business excellence and efficiency, Aleks provides leadership and strategic direction to a diverse range of portfolios, including corporate governance, risk and compliance, finance and performance, policy, company secretarial duties, information and technology, operations, workforce and culture.

Aleks has extensive international and domestic experience spanning multiple sectors. She holds a Master of Sustainability from the University of Sydney and has a special interest in Corporate Sustainability.

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BHI Board

Chair

Photo Professor Carol Pollock AO

Professor Carol Pollock AO

Professor Carol Pollock AO has an international reputation and has published more than 280 papers in clinical medicine and basic science. She is a renal medicine specialist with extensive experience as a clinician, researcher, lecturer, mentor and advocate.

Professor Pollock is an inaugural Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (2015), was conferred a Vice Chancellors Award for Excellence in Research Supervision (2012), recognised as a ‘Distinguished Professor’ by the University of Sydney (2012) and received the Ministerial Award for Excellence in Cardiovascular Research (2014).

Her health leadership roles have included inaugural Chair of the NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation, Chair of the Clinical Excellence Commission, inaugural Chair of the Northern Sydney Local Health District Board and Director of Kidney Health Australia since 2014.

Professor Pollock chairs the NSW Cardiovascular Research Network and chairs the International Society of Nephrology Meetings Committee, responsible for delivering research and educational meetings and policy forums across the globe. She was the Scientific Chairman of the World Congress of Nephrology in Hong Kong in 2013.

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Board members

Photo Ms Katherine Boiciuc

Ms Katherine Boiciuc

Ms Katherine Boiciuc serves on the boards of BHI, Knoxbrooke and InfoXchange and is the former CTO and Director at Maximus International. She is a global leader with extensive experience in the technology and telco industries and has held senior and influential roles focused on the global impact and enablement of technology.

Ms Boiciuc joined Maximus after 19 years at Telstra where her team, across 20 countries, delivered services such as risk and compliance, strategic execution, customer experience strategy and Net Promoter Score measurement, and digital enablement including deployment of Tableau, Salesforce and Einstein.

Ms Boiciuc is an advocate and global keynote speaker on diversity and women in technology, and women in data. She is an accredited futurist and was one of 29 Australian women recognised for her contributions to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). She has a rich catalogue of blogs and articles on mentoring advice to women in digital, data, STEM and tech leadership roles.

With a focus on supporting leaders to adapt and grow by embracing disruption, experimenting with new technology and embedding new ways of leading in daily practice, she enjoys enabling leaders and their teams to be future ready and thrive amongst increasingly complex change.

Ms Boiciuc has worked with organisations including AGL Australia, CyberCX, Transport for NSW, and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

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Photo Robert Lagaida

Mr Robert Lagaida

Mr Robert Lagaida has held a number of senior executive roles in the NSW public health system across several local health districts and the Ministry of Health.

With more than 25 years in the public health sector, Robert has extensive experience in health policy, strategic planning, delivery of hospital and community health services, financial, asset and corporate services management, strategic procurement and contracts, and ICT development. Mr Lagaida is also a former Director of Performance, and Director of Private Health Branch, at the NSW Ministry of Health.

In the Australia Day 2018 Honours List, he received a Public Service Medal in recognition of his contributions to the NSW public hospital system.

His qualifications include a Bachelor of Economics and a Master of Commerce with professional memberships as a Fellow of Certified Practising Accountants, and a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

He has experience in Audit and Risk Management portfolios across several NSW Government agencies and local councils. Mr Lagaida is also a member of the NSW Medical Council and a Trustee for NSW Government’s Responsible Gambling.

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Photo Dr Karen Luxford

Dr Karen Luxford

Dr Karen Luxford is the Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS) and ACHS International. She has extensive experience in governance, strategic planning, safety and quality, healthcare standards, stakeholder engagement and organisational change

Dr Luxford is a senior executive in health with more than 25 years’ experience in a range of leadership roles in the public, not-for-profit and private sectors including CEO of the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons, A/CEO and Executive Director of the Clinical Excellence Commission, and General Manager of the National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre.

Dr Luxford is a Board member and President-elect of the Australian Skills Quality Authority, Board member of Camp Quality, former Board Chair of Endometriosis Australia, Council member of Standards Australia, member of the International Society for Quality in Health Care Accreditation Council, Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Certified Health Executive and Fellow of the Australasian College of Health Service Management and the Australian Institute of Managers and Leaders.

Dr Luxford is an alumni Harkness Fellow in Healthcare Policy and Practice at Harvard Medical School in Boston and is passionate about healthcare.

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Photo Sallie Pearson

Professor Sallie Pearson

Sallie Pearson is the Professor of Health Systems at the School of Population Health and Theme Principal for Health Systems Research, UNSW Faculty of Medicine and Health. She is also the Director of the National Health and Medical Research Council Centre of Research Excellence in Medicines Intelligence.

Professor Pearson is a leading authority on population-based research using routinely collected data, particularly regarding the quality use of prescribed medicines. She has led national and international studies leveraging ‘big health data’ to generate real-world evidence on the use, benefits and safety of prescribed medicines.

Professor Pearson has published more than 300 peer reviewed manuscripts in leading journals including Lancet Oncology, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Annals of Oncology, JAMA Internal Medicine, NEJM and Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety.

Professor Pearson is a longstanding advocate for the safe and productive use of data to benefit the Australian community. She has written widely on maximising the value of data for decision-making in health and is an active member of peak medicines policy and health data linkage committees and advisory groups. These include the Drug Utilisation Subcommittee of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (2011–current) and the National Data Advisory Council. During her tenure as Chair/Deputy Chair of the NSW Population Health Service Research Ethics Committee (2006–2017), Professor Pearson shaped policy around the ethics and governance of health data linkage for research.

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Photo Dr Diane Watson

Dr Diane Watson – Chief Executive

Dr Diane Watson is the Chief Executive of BHI. She has led the establishment of three reporting agencies in Australia that use big data to drive decisions on healthcare provision nationally and locally.

Dr Watson was the inaugural Chief Executive of BHI from 2009 to 2012 before returning to the role in 2018 to further drive its work reporting on the performance of the NSW healthcare system.

In between these tenures at BHI, Dr Watson was the inaugural Chief Executive of the National Health Performance Authority, established by the Australian Government to monitor, and report on, the performance of 1000+ public and private hospitals and 300+ health regions. She was also the inaugural Chief Executive Officer of the Victorian Agency for Health Information, established to monitor and report on public and private services that stimulate quality and safety improvements, increase transparency and accountability, and inform the community.

Dr Watson has held senior management positions for more than 30 years measuring, monitoring and reporting on the performance of healthcare systems to drive improvements in health, patient care and productivity. During this time, she has set the future direction of high profile, board-governed agencies and inspired a strong sense of purpose among a highly talented and specialised workforce.

Read more