EnableNSW Advisory Council Biographies

Co-Chair

Dr Chris Poulos is a Senior Staff Specialist in Rehabilitation Medicine for the South Eastern Sydney Illawarra Area Health Service, where he is also Network Clinical Director of Medicine, Emergency, Cardiac Services, Neurosciences and Rehabilitation for the Southern Hospitals Network.

Dr Poulos is an active member of the Australasian Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine and is Clinical Associate Professor with the Graduate School of Medicine, University of Wollongong. He has extensive experience in the rehabilitation management of amputees and has been involved in a number of consultative committees and working groups addressing rehabilitation services.

He is a member of the NSW Artificial Limb Service Components Committee.

Co-Chair

Mrs Lesley Gild cares for her adult daughter who has acquired both intellectual and physical disabilities through illness. In the role as carer Mrs Gild has first hand experience of the NSW Artificial Limb Scheme and the Program of Appliances for Disabled People.

Mrs Gild has been a facilitator in the Self Managed Community Participation Option with Lifestyle Solutions and has worked with young people with physical disabilities who have equipment and support needs. 

Mrs Gild is a director of OzHarvest and the President of Access Ezer and has responsibility for the organisation as a principal resource for referral, networking, distribution, initiatives and compliance.

Ms Alina Carroll-Roper is an Occupational Therapist with experience in disability service provision in rural and remote NSW.  She was the recipient of a SARRAH Scholarship and has experience as a clinician, manager and advisor in equipment and home modification services.

Ms Carroll-Roper is well positioned to represent the views of both clinicians and clients of rural NSW accessing disability support services.

Ms Ann-Mason Furmage is a person with a physical disability and consumer of disability support services. She has been a member of the PADP Advisory Committee and has served on the Management Committee of the peak body representing persons with physical disability in NSW.

Ms Furmage is currently the president of the Physical Disability Council of NSW Inc.

She will also bring her previous business experience as an accountant and financial controller to contribute to the work of the Council.

Ms Tonina Harvey is a Registered Nurse and senior manager with experience in both public health and non-government service provision. As General Manager of Community Services for ParaQuad NSW, Ms Harvey is currently responsible for primary health care, personal care and accommodation services and programs for people with Spinal Cord Injury across NSW.

Ms Harvey has participated as a member of many committees and working groups including the PADP Advisory Committee, the Physical Disability Expert Advisory Committee for the Department of Ageing Disability and Home Care, National Disability Services, Aging and Disability Subcomittee, and the Lifetime Care and Support Authority’s Rural Spinal Cord Injury Project.

Ms Harvey has a background in working in the community sector with specific experience in service provision for people with community ventilation support needs.

Mr Greg Killeen is a person with a physical disability (quadriplegia from a spinal cord injury) and a consumer of various disability support services. Mr Killeen is a member of a number of disability organisations and an active representative on a number of committees associated with disability, community, technology and health services as well as being linked in with many consumer network forums.

Mr Killeen is an inaugural member of the NSW PADP Advisory Committee since 1999 as a representative of NDS (formerly ACROD NSW) and has been the consumer representative on the local NSW PADP Advisory Committee at Prince of Wales Hospital since 2002.

Mr Killeen works for Spinal Cord Injuries Australia (SCIA) in Sydney in the Information, Policy and Advocacy Department and represents SCIA at many meetings, forums and conferences.

Ms Sylvana Mahmic is the parent of a teen with a disability and the manager of an early childhood intervention service.

As well as personal experience as a consumer of PADP Ms Mahmic brings experience in supporting children with disabilities in the early intervention environment and is the current President of the Early Childhood Intervention Australia (NSW Chapter).

Ms Mahmic is from a culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) background and will be able to advocate for equitable access to services in the disability sector, for families from CALD backgrounds.

She is also a member of the Disability Council of NSW

Mr Alan Membrey is President of both the Amputee Association of NSW Inc. and the Amputee Association of Sydney Inc., and is a consumer of the NSW Artificial Limb Service. He has been involved in the Amputee Association of Sydney Inc. since 2004 as a peer support volunteer.

Mr Membrey has also been a member of the NSW Health Amputee Advisory Committee and been involved in the NSW Artificial Limb Service Components and Discretionary Committees.

Mr Membrey will also bring his previous business experience and participation in various community groups to the Council.

Ms Angela Stark is a physiotherapist with extensive experience in service provision for people with physical disabilities. Ms Stark represented the Australian Physiotherapy Association on the NSW ALS Clinical Guidelines Reference Group and has contributed to several other committees and working groups.

She also has experience as a clinician accessing PADP, ALS and Home Respiratory Services on behalf of consumers of the service.

A/Professor Karen Waters is a Paediatric Respiratory Physician and is Head of the Respiratory Support Service at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead. A/Professor Waters brings her experience in service delivery including assessment and prescription of equipment and support services for people with a physical disability to the Council.

Her specific expertise is in the assessment and provision of services to patients with respiratory failure and with respiratory disorders in sleep, and particular with the delivery of home oxygen and home ventilation services.

Ms Cathrine Lynch has been nominated by the Director-General NSW Department of Health to represent NSW Health on the EnableNSW Advisory Council.

Ms Lynch is the Director of Primary Health and Community Partnerships Branch of NSW Department of Health. In this capacity Ms Lynch has responsibility for NSW Health’s primary health programs, including those provided for people with disabilities, living in the community.

Ms Alix Goodwin has been nominated by the Director-General as the Department of Ageing Disability and Home Care’s (DADHC) representative on the EnableNSW Advisory Council. Ms Goodwin is the Executive Director, Strategic Policy and Planning at DADHC. In this role Ms Goodwin has responsibility for developing and implementing reforms to the community care system, managing cross agency priorities, particularly those relevant to Better Together and State Plan initiatives and administering  the Home and Community Care, Boarding House and Younger People in Residential Aged Care programs.  

Ms Goodwin will provide the important link between NSW Health and DADHC on the strategic development of EnableNSW services.

Mr Dougie Herd has been nominated by the Disability Council of NSW (DCN) as their representative on the EnableNSW Advisory Council. The Disability Council of NSW is the official advisory body to the State Government on disability matters.

Mr Herd is Executive Officer of the DCN and as a person with a disability will draw from his professional and personal experience to contribute to the work of the Council.