Board of management
The VSA is governed by a Board of Management comprising a team from business, health services, vocational training and education, and higher education. The purpose of the Board is to develop, implement and direct the key strategic operations of the VSA.
Executive board members
Debra is Professor and Lead for Interprofessional Education & Simulation in the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences at Monash University. She has held previous roles as a Clinical Chair with oversight of the Holmesglen Simulation Centre and Director of Medical Education and Simulation at Monash Health. She is a founding member of the VSA and is the current chair, having worked in the field of simulation for over 30 years.
Her interest in simulation first began at Monash University designing a suite of computer-based simulation initiatives such as “The Virtual Patient” and “The Virtual Ward”. This extended to major roles in simulation training, curriculum development, research and evaluation. Her simulation areas of interest are simulation leadership, simulated participant methodology, integration of simulation into curriculum and the use of virtual/mixed reality.
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Beverley has extensive experience in senior healthcare positions and is currently the CEO of Health Education Australia Limited (HEAL) and the Australasian Institute of Clinical Governance (AICG, a division of HEAL). Previous to this she held executive positions as the Director of Medical Support Services at Northern Health and the Director of Medical Education at Austin Health.
Beverley has an MBA, qualifications in IT and Graduate Certificates in Health Professions Education and Clinical Simulation. She is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD) and a Fellow of the Australasian College of Health Service Management (FACHSM). Her interest in simulation began as a registered nurse and midwife but was cemented when working at Monash University where she managed a number of significant projects including a national project for Health Workforce Australia on simulated learning environments.
Julie Cartwright has a strong business and clinical background with a focus on quality and safety. As a UK trained RN1 Critical Care nurse who came to Australia in 1987, Julie went on to complete her BA Business (Accounting) at Monash University in 1991, followed by her CPA and MBA at Deakin University.
Julie is a surveyor for the ACHS and Australian General Practice Accreditation Limited (AGPAL). Currently working as a Business Manager at a large independent medical practice, Julie also undertakes some private nurse consulting in chronic disease.
Julie has no actual skills in the simulation environment but hopes to add a different dimension to the board's considerable knowledge base.
Board members
Brendan represents rural Victoria in the simulation world and utilise simulation training within medical student education and for interprofessional communication training, with intern and nursing staff, at South West Healthcare.
He is a clinical senior lecturer in the Greater Green Triangle Rural Clinical School, within the Deakin University School of Medicine, with a background in rural general practice.
Brendan is also the Deputy Chair, Education Sub-committee, Postgraduate Medical Council of Victoria.
Karen works in nursing simulation leading its implementation at Victoria University. More recently she has branched out to work with other discipline groups including midwifery and paramedicine.
Karen has also led simulation in a large interprofessional education program. Simulated Patients from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds have been the focus of Karen’s research, work activity and PhD.
- Discipline leader – Nursing RMIT University
- Director Cultural Respect Encompassing Simulation Training (CREST) program
- Foundation VSA board member, VP June 2016 - 2019
Liana is an experienced B2B marketing professional, skilled in Customer Relationship Management (CRM), go-to-market strategy, project management and account management. She has led national marketing strategies across a variety of industries and is currently the Director of Operations at Health Education Australia Limited (HEAL), where she launched a new business division to market; the Australasian Institute of Clinical Governance (AICG).
Debra Nestel is Professor of Simulation Education in Healthcare, Monash University, and Professor of Surgical Education, Department of Surgery, University of Melbourne, Australia. Debra is Editor-in-Chief, BMJ Simulation and Technology Enhanced Learning (STEL), the journal of the Association for Simulation Practice in Healthcare (ASPiH). She is program lead for Graduate Certificate in Clinical Simulation (Monash University). Debra leads a national faculty development program for simulation practitioners – NHET-Sim and a virtual network in simulated patient methodology.
She has received national awards for her work in healthcare simulation (Ray Page Award for service to the simulation community, Simulation Australasia and a Program Innovation Award, Australian Government) and a Presidential Citation from the Society for Simulation in Healthcare. Debra has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers in health professions education, edited books on simulated patient methodology (2015), healthcare simulation (2017), surgical education (2019) and research methods for healthcare simulation (2019).
Tess has an extensive background in the establishment and management of hi fidelity simulation centres, the coordination and training of facilitators and program development.
She is currently the Director of Clinical Education and Simulation for Epworth HealthCare expanding all aspects of interdisciplinary Clinical education across the organisation campuses.
She has been involved in the design and implementation of national and state simulation based training programs. Tess comes from Critical Care Nursing Background in Peri operative and Emergency Nursing.