40under40 Winner - Lachlan Henderson

After almost a decade in clinical practice, Perth GP Lachlan Henderson decided he needed more of a challenge to his career.

The decision led him to undertake a masters in health services management, which he is due to finish this month, and to take on his current role at Murdoch Hospital as the director of medical services.

Dr Henderson said the decision was tough in that it challenged the traditionally comfortable, conservative medical career, however it has been rewarding.

At Murdoch, which will soon become the seventh largest private hospital in Australia with almost 1,000 staff and more than 600 doctors, Dr Henderson reports to the chief executive officer in an administrative role but he also maintains his medical skills.

The shift nearly failed from the outset when an incumbent group of specialists decided to leave the hospital.

However the disaster was ultimately turned into a success through negotiation with the group’s junior colleagues, in which Dr Henderson played a key role.

The change gave the hospital a new specialist set offering the latest in state-of-the-art facilities.

Dr Henderson counts among his other successes the attraction of new specialists to the hospital and the provision of an after-hours specialty cover, which is thriving when many other similar private facilities are struggling.

Also a keen sportsman, outside of work the 39-year-old doctor has a family and volunteers his medical services to sporting events such as the Sydney 2000 Olympics.