Staff
Dr Helen Zorbas
Director
MBBS FASBP
Dr Helen Zorbas, MBBS FASBP, is Director of National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre (NBOCC). She has been responsible for directing a number of key national projects and programs in evidence-based practice, clinical guidelines, monitoring, service improvement and psychosocial support to improve cancer care.
Helen has been a member on a number of key National Cancer and Health committees and was recently appointed a member to the National Health Committee of the NHMRC for the triennium 2006-2009; and Chair of the BreastScreen Australia Evaluation Advisory Committee. Helen was also named a Finalist in the 2006 Telstra Business Women's Awards.
Helen was a GP for 14 years before becoming a breast physician and she now has a staff specialist appointment working one day a week at the Rachel Foster Breast Clinic, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney.
Dr Anne Nelson
General Manager
A/Professor Christine Giles
General Manager
BA, MA, FAIM
A/Professor Christine Giles brings a wealth of experience in health policy, health services planning and management to her position as General Manager at the National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre. Christine’s professional experience covers the public and private sectors in Australia and overseas, where she was an advisor to the World Bank in health policy and reform for seven years. Closer to home, Christine has been responsible for the development of state and Commonwealth health policy directions and the design and delivery of health and community services across a range of settings.
Christine holds a Masters in Public Policy from The University of Sydney and a Bachelor of Arts Degree majoring in politics and sociology. Christine is a fellow of the Australian Institute of Management and was previously a member of faculty at Monash Mount Eliza Business School. Christine currently lectures in the Masters of International Public Health and the Graduate Certificate in Health Policy at The University of Sydney, and is an Associate of its Australian Health Policy Institute.
Professor David Roder AM
Manager, Population Health
David is the Group Executive, Research and Information Science, at the Cancer Council South Australia. He also works under contract for Cancer Australia, the National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre and the Cancer Institute NSW. He has Professorial status at Flinders University.
David was Director of the SA Epidemiology Branch from 1980 to 2001 where he administered the State Cancer Registry and established the SA clinical registry network. He was a Board member of the International Association of Cancer Registries from 1996 to 2000, while also Chairman of the Australasian Association of Cancer Registries. He has been an international consultant on cancer registration for WHO and maintains ongoing consultancy roles with cancer registries in the Malaysian States of Penang and Sarawak. David is presently a member of the National BreastScreen Review Reference Committee, the National Quality Management Committee of BreastScreen, the SA BreastScreen Accreditation Committee, and the Cervical Screening National Safety Monitoring Committee. He also Chairs the NSW Cancer Screening Advisory Committee and was Chairman of the Review of the National Pilot Bowel Screening Register in 2004. He is the current Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Biostatistics Collaboration of Australia.
He has authored approximately 160 peer-reviewed journal publications, predominantly on cancer. He was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2000 for contributions made to cancer epidemiology. He has served on numerous technical committees of the NHMRC, the Cancer Council Australia, state/territory governments and the NZ Health Research Council. David has presented papers and chaired sessions at a large number of national and international scientific forums and supervised postgraduate students at both Masters and Doctoral level. He regularly reviews cancer papers for international journals.
Dr Julie Thompson
Manager, Primary Care
MBBS, Grad Dip Ed
Dr Thompson is NBOCC’s primary care manager. She is responsible for the development, implementation and evaluation of national programs supporting and educating health professionals working in primary care, including general practitioners.
Julie has 25 years experience working as a GP in both rural and urban practice and continues to work half time in general practice.
Current appointments: member of Cancer Australia Advisory Council, member Victorian Mental Health Advisory Committee, board member General Practice Divisions- Victoria, member NSW Cancer Institute general practice advisory group, member Pharmaceutical Health and Rational use of medicines committee.
Past appointments include: chair Australian Divisions of General Practice, member General Practice Partnerships Advisory Council, member Joint Advisory Group on Population Health, member AHMAC National Mental Health working group.
Jane Salisbury
Public Affairs Manager
Jane Salisbury has worked in marketing, sales, media and PR for the past ten years, co-ordinating marketing and sales for grid-interactive solar energy company Pacific Solar for three years, followed by four years with Barnardos Australia as PR & Communications Manager. In her present role at National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre, Jane communicates with NBOCC’s key stakeholders and multiple audiences and oversees the Public Affairs and Communications team, which deals with media, website, events and marketing, public information campaigns and other communication projects, with all the challenges of reaching different target audiences with important health messages in the ‘information’ era.
Caroline Nehill
Program Manager
RN, BHSc, MPH
Caroline joined the National Breast Cancer Centre (NBCC)* in January 2001. On joining the NBCC* Caroline was responsible for coordinating the development and implementation of the BreastScreen NSW Radiology Training Program. Caroline is currently responsible for the management of a range of program areas including the NBOCC’s Communication Skills Training Initiative.
Alison Pearce
Program Manager
B App Sci (Occ Th)
Alison joined the NBCC* in August 2007 as a Program Manager. In this role she coordinates a range of projects aimed at translating research evidence into clinical practice. Alison originally trained as an Occupational Therapist, and specialised in neurological rehabilitation. However her passion for research led her away from clinical practice, and prior to joining the NBCC Alison was an Assoc Oncology Program Manager at the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, where she coordinated the lung cancer trials program (through the Australasian Lung Cancer Trials Group) and collaborated with the Cancer Institute NSW to provide support to investigators in NSW wishing to undertake oncology clinical trials.
Lisa Robinson
E-Communications Manager
BA
Lisa Robinson has worked as E-Communications Manager with the NBCC* since June 2003 overseeing the redevelopment and management of the suite of NBCC websites. Lisa has a BA in Marketing Management and before joining the NBCC and has worked in several marketing and communication roles before specialising in the Internet. Lisa has managed a range of website projects for OzEmail, Macquarie Bank, AMP and Tourism New South Wales.
Ornella Care
Program Manager
BA
Ornella joined NBCC* in July 2005. Ornella works across a range of projects including the development of clinical practice guidelines and consumer information. Ornella has a background in behavioural sciences and psychology and has been working in health for nine years. Prior to working at NBOCC Ornella worked for NSW Health, Shine SA (Sexual Health, Information, Networking and Education), and Children, Youth and Women’s Health Service, SA developing and facilitating a range of health promotion programs including sexual health and relationship education programs for young people, women, and health professionals.
* In February 2008, National Breast Cancer Centre (NBCC) changed its name to National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre (NBOCC).
Complete Staff List
last updated December 2007
| Alison Pearce | Program Manager |
| Dr Anne Nelson | General Manager |
| Bree Stevens | Senior Communications and Policy Officer |
| Caroline Nehill | Program Manager |
| Christine Hyde | Office Coordinator |
| A/Professor Christine Giles | General Manager |
| Professor David Roder | Manager Population Health |
| Ellin Lede | Communications Assistant |
| Emma Durkin | Business Administrator |
| Emma Hanks | Project Officer |
| Fiona Booth | Executive Assistant, Director |
| Fluer Webster | Coordinator Data Projects |
| Dr Helen Zorbas | Director |
| Heidi Wilcoxon | Senior Project Officer |
| Holly Goodwin | Senior Project Officer |
| Jane Francis | Program Coordinator - Ovarian cancer |
| Jane Salisbury | Public Affairs Manager |
| Janelle Webb | Project Assistant |
| Janice Peterson | Project Officer |
| Dr Julie Thompson | Manager Primary Care |
| Julie Binakaj | Finance Officer |
| Kaley Payne | Communications Assistant |
| Katrina Anderson | Project Officer - Research |
| Lisa Robinson | E-Communications Manager |
| Melissa Chan | Personal Assistant |
| Ornella Care | Program Manager |
| Phillipa Hastings | Project Officer |
| Robert Cotter | Resource Assistant |
| Roman Balla | Graphic Designer/Production Coordinator |
| Rosemary Vagg | Senior Project Officer - Research |
| Vivienne Milch | Senior Project Officer - Clinical |