Medical leaders selected to develop sector plan

The state government has appointed an industry reference group to develop a growth plan for WA’s health and medical life sciences sector to be chaired by Peter Klinken.

The group was established as part of the WA government's Health and Medical Life Sciences Industry Growth Plan to create jobs and diversify the economy.

It will develop the growth plan over the coming months and release it in the second half of the year.

Along with chief scientist of WA Peter Klinken as chair, the group includes health and financial experts Michael Winlo, Katharine Giles, Liddy McCall and Abdul Ekram.

Prior to Dr Klinken’s appointment as chief scientist in 2014, he was the executive director at Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research for over a decade.

Mr Winlo became the chief executive of medicinal cannabis research company Emerald Clinics in 2019 after working as chief executive at Linear Clinical Research.

Clinician and OncoRes Medical chief executive Dr Giles will bring clinical and financial experience to the board. She trained and works as a doctor, was an investment manager at Brandon Capital Partners and is a member of the commercialisation advisory board at Curtin University.

Ms McCall is investment director at Yuuwa Capital and is a non-executive director on several boards in the health field including Ear Science Institute Australia and AdAlta.

For the past six years, Mr Ekram has worked as a senior trade advisor at Austrade in international health.

The industry reference group will explore opportunities in medical research, new gene technologies, phenomics, medical technology, long-term population health studies and data linkage and digital health solutions.

Health minister Roger Cook said Perth was emerging as one of Australia’s top life sciences hubs experiencing substantial growth in recent years.

“We have a fantastic opportunity to further support our local health and medical life sciences industry which continues to deliver world-leading innovations that improve health outcomes for people in our state and globally,” Mr Cook said.

“This plan will complement a range of existing initiatives and strategies, including the Sustainable Health Review’s priority to foster a culture of innovation in the WA health system to deliver better patient care.”