
Adelaide born and raised, Michele completed her nursing studies at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in the late 1980s and worked as a registered nurse in private and public hospitals – including the Repatriation General Hospital, Stirling Hospital and Lameroo District Hospital – across both metropolitan and regional South Australia.
She moved into health administration and management some 15 years later, serving in various executive positions with the Country Health SA Local Health Network (CHSALHN) and developing strong financial, staff and project management skills.
After initial periods as Executive Officer and Director of Nursing for Eastern Eyre Health and Aged Care and Chief Executive Officer for Mid-West Health and Aged Care Incorporated, she was appointed Regional Director, Eyre Far North in 2007, with responsibility for 11 hospitals, 10 aged care facilities, two medical centres and a range of community-based services over a vast area of some 200,000 square kilometres.
She was also the driver behind the introduction of a range of new services across the region, including elective surgery, renal dialysis, chemotherapy, residential aged care, community care packages and Aboriginal Health programs, and counts among her major achievements the successful $42m and $36m redevelopments of the Port Lincoln and Ceduna Hospitals respectively.
Her passion for health planning, innovation, quality and safety saw her lead Eyre Far North to the CHSALHN’s top performer in the 2016/17 financial year.
An Associate Fellow of the Australasian College of Health Service Managers and an Australian Council on HealthCare Standards (ACHS) Surveyor, Michele looks forward to guiding NECH through an exciting new growth phase, where its patient-first philosophy and unique connection with the community will lie at the heart of a drive to entrench the organisation’s envied standing as a provider of healthcare excellence from birth to aged care.