Our team

Dr Barbara Daveson is the National Director of PCOC. Dr Daveson has over 20 years of experience in health services research, clinical practice and palliative care in Australia and internationally. Committed to collaborating to advance policy, practice and knowledge, her contributions often involve an emphasis on equity. The majority of Dr Daveson’s peer-reviewed articles, feature original research conducted with patients requiring palliative care. Dr Daveson has supervised a range of PhD candidates and has been involved in public and philanthropic funded health research in nine countries. Before joining PCOC, Barb was the Cicely Saunders International Lecturer in Health Services Research in Palliative Care at King’s College London.

P: +61 (0)2 9266 1375
E: bdaveson@uow.edu.au

View Dr Daveson's UOW Scholars profile

Associate Professor Kirsten Auret joined the PCOC program as PCOC's Chief Investigator for WA, NT and SA in February 2021. Associate Professor Auret is a palliative care and general physician with an academic appointment in the Rural Clinical School in the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Western Australia. Her research interests cover advance care planning and palliative care especially in rural areas and has collaborations and publications with Australian and international universities.

Distinguished Professor Yates is a PCOC Chief Investigator and holds an Honorary Professorial Fellow appointment with the University of Wollongong. Distinguished Professor Yates (PhD, RN, FACN, FAAN) is jointly appointed as Executive Dean, Faculty of Health at Queensland University of Technology, Lead Researcher for the Cancer Nursing Professorial Precinct at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, and Director for Queensland Health’s statewide Centre for Palliative Care Research and Education (CPCRE). Distinguished Professor Yates has over 30 years of experience in research, education and clinical practice in cancer and palliative care. Distinguished Professor Yates is a past-President of PCA and is President of the International Society of Nurses in Cancer Care. In the 2020 Queen's Birthday List, she was honoured with a Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia.

Professor Katherine Clark (MBBS MMed (pain) PhD FRACP, FAChPM) is PCOC’s National Clinical Director and a palliative care physician who has worked as a clinician, manager, teacher and researcher in palliative care. Professor Clark is the inaugural Clinical Director for Palliative Care (Northern Sydney Local Health District Cancer and Palliative Care Network (NSLHD). She accepted this position as part of NSLHD’s commitment to developing palliative care services with the aim of ensuring all residents of northern Sydney have reliable access to evidence based palliative care based on their clinical needs.

Sabina Clapham is the Quality and Education manager for the Australian Palliative Care Outcomes Collaboration (PCOC) and a Research Fellow at the Australian Health Services Research Institute (AHSRI) at the University of Wollongong. Since first joining PCOC in 2007, Sabina has been instrumental in developing and embedding the programs assessment and response framework into clinical practice across the country. The information collected by this framework, which includes routine patient reported outcome measures, forms the basis of the data collection for the outcome measurement and benchmarking processes of PCOC.

Sabina is a Registered Nurse with a Masters in Nursing and Certificate IV in Training and Assessment. Sabina has worked in aged care, acute care and palliative care in various clinical, education, quality and project management positions. In her current position, Sabina ensures the implementation and sustainability of the PCOC program and leads clinical practice changes within PCOC services.

P: (02) 4239 2372
E: sabinac@uow.edu.au

Stacey has qualifications in psychology and palliative care. She has worked previously in a regional palliative care team as the psychosocial support coordinator and various community health roles. More recently Stacey was the Healthy Ageing and Palliative Care Manager with Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network, where she developed a PCOC model of care for general practice, in collaboration with the PCOC team. Stacey joined the PCOC team as the National Education Lead in 2023. Stacey is particularly interested in improving access to timely, quality palliative care for all Australians.

P: (02) 4239 4632
E: sheer@uow.edu.au

Anna has qualifications in biomedical science and public health. She has worked previously in research and program management with a focus on health system development in developing contexts, including research for the Asia Pacific Observatory for Health Systems and Policies and the Health Information Systems Knowledge Hub.  This work has focused on the evaluation of health systems and the strengthening of information systems to enable the effective collection and use of data to inform policy and practice. Anna has research interests in areas including:  policy development, infectious disease, sexual and reproductive health, disability and rehabilitation. She has also worked as a monitor of clinical pharmaceutical trials and in health promotion. 

P: (07) 3138 6122
E: anna.mcpherson@qut.edu.au 

Emily has extensive clinical experience and expertise in providing specialist palliative care and oncology services, across community settings and tertiary and non-tertiary hospitals. Emily has a Bachelor of Speech Pathology, a post-graduate qualification in Health Management, and has also completed advanced training in palliative care and cancer care. Emily has over ten years’ experience working in the health sector and has worked in various roles including clinical education management and project management. During this time Emily has led many service improvement initiatives at a health service and state-wide level, aimed at evaluating and improving clinical practice and implementing new models of care. Emily also has strengths and experience in strategic and operational planning, change management, quality improvement and research. Emily joined the PCOC team in July 2021 as an Improvement Facilitator for Queensland, bringing together her passion in palliative care and service improvement, to enhance palliative care outcomes for patients and their carers.

P: (07) 3138 6433
E: emily.beric@qut.edu.au

Jane has a 26 year history in palliative care and Graduate Certificate in Palliative Care. Jane's history encompasses clinical inpatient nursing, Nurse Unit management and Senior Service level management. Jane joined CHSD in 2011 as a PCOC Quality Improvement Facilitator. 

P: (02) 4221 5537
E: jconnoll@uow.edu.au

Kylie Joined AHSRI, specifically the PCOC team, in April 2023.  Kylie has worked in the palliative care sector for 32 years and developed extensive skills and knowledge in this space.  Kylie has a Bachelor of Nursing, Graduate Diploma in Palliative care, Diploma in Dementia Care, Graduate Certificate in Consumer and Community engagement and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD). Kylie started her career as a palliative care nurse at Caritas Christi Hospice in Melbourne and then moved into the community and worked with Eastern palliative care (EPC) for 24 years. Kylie was the Manager of Nursing and Medical services at EPC for most of this time and part of the senior management team. Kylie is a committee member of the Palliative Care Nurses Australia (PCNA).

P: (02) 4239 2043
E: kdraper@uow.edu.au

Le-Tisha joined the PCOC team in March 2019 and has a Master’s in Nutrition and Dietetics. Le-Tisha has worked in various roles across the health sector and has diverse experience in clinical and community dietetics, public health, group facilitation and health/quality improvement. Her most recent experience is in cancer control, having contributed to a range of initiatives aimed at improving the experiences and outcomes for people affected by lung cancer in Australia. 

P. (02) 4221 3026
E: lkable@uow.edu.au

Maree joined PCOC in 2005 and was a key member of the team in the initial set up and development of PCOC across the country. Maree resigned in 2014 and re-joined in 2021 to continue in the ongoing and progressive work of PCOC.

Maree is a registered nurse with a Masters in Nursing (Management) and has many years of experience in palliative care both at a clinical and management level. Maree’s passion has always been to use standardised clinical assessment tools that drive quality care with appropriate resources to meet patient/carer need and identify opportunities for quality improvement activities.

Maree has a long history and strong commitment in palliative care having held a range of positions in government, health and palliative care peak bodies.

P: (02) 4221 8095
E: banfield@uow.edu.au 

Martin Kaltner commenced with PCOC as an Improvement Facilitator in 2019.

P: 0419 340 491
E: mkaltner@uow.edu.au

Tanya has 20 years’ experience in health, including clinical practice (clinical and management, in inpatient, community and telehealth settings), health research and quality improvement. She is a Registered Nurse and recently completed the Master of Public Health at the University of Western Australia. In addition to a Bachelor of Science (Nursing), Tanya has a Cert IV in Training and Assessment and a Bachelor of Creative Industries (graphic design). Tanya joined PCOC in 2010 as a Quality Improvement Facilitator (QIF) for Western Australia, based at the Cancer and Palliative Care Research and Evaluation Unit, UWA. More recently she has become the QIF for the Northern Territory. Tanya works as part of the PCOC team which includes providing support and education for other states and projects with the PCOC national team. Prior to joining PCOC Tanya was employed at the WA Centre for Ageing, UWA, as a Research Officer, and the WA Centre for Cancer and Palliative Care as a Research Assistant on the Liverpool Care Pathway evaluation project. Tanya has been and continues to be involved in a number of palliative care research projects, and has co-authored several journal publications. 

P: (08) 6151 1120
E: tanya.pidgeon@uwa.edu.au

Alanna joined AHSRI in July 2013 after working at BlueScope Steel for a number of years. She has tertiary qualifications in Engineering and Applied Statistics. Alanna is currently working on PCOC. 

P: (02) 4221 5640
E: alannah@uow.edu.au

Megan Blanchard is a Research Fellow (Applied Statistics) who joined AHSRI in 2010 after working at the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Since joining AHSRI, Megan has been part of the core team working on the development of classifications such as the Australian Refined Diagnosis Related Group (AR-DRG) classification v7.0 and Australian National Subacute and Non-Acute Patient (AN-SNAP) classification v4.0. Megan also has experience in health outcome measurement – she was the statistician for the electronic Persistent Pain Outcomes Collaboration (ePPOC) for 7 years and is now responsible for the statistical components of the Palliative Care Outcomes Collaboration (PCOC). 

P: (02) 4221 8185
E: mblancha@uow.edu.au

Sam joined the PCOC team in the role of Data Analyst in January 2018. This follows graduation from a Medical and Health Sciences Degree at the end of 2017. 

P. (02) 4221 3216
E: bsamuel@uow.edu.au

Sue Heald joined AHSRI in August 2022 as the Senior Administrative Officer, providing support to the PCOC team in both the Sydney and Wollongong offices. Sue has completed a Diploma of Business (Human Resources) and a Diploma in Management at TAFE NSW – Illawarra Institute.  Sue has extensive administrative experience having worked for a variety of Registered Training Organisations over many years, most recently as a Clinical Placement Officer (WSU Online) in the School of Nursing & Midwifery at Western Sydney.

P: (02) 4239 4393
E: sheald@uow.edu.au

Arjun joined PCOC in November 2020. In his current role, he provides technical support to the Data, Education & Training and the Research teams of PCOC.  He graduated from University of Wollongong in 2018 and holds a degree in Engineering Management. He has taken up research assistant roles as a student and has worked with other departments of the University of Wollongong such as UOWx and Sydney Business School before taking up his role at PCOC.

P: (02) 9266 1334
E: arjun@uow.edu.au