About us

BSc GradDipEd MBA MAICD

Appointed to the Eastern Health board 1 July 2018

Current professional positions

• Eastern Health Board of Directors
• Board Director Dental Health Services Victoria and Chair Audit & Risk Committee
• Board Member Health Information & Management Systems Society (HiMSS) Asia Pacific
• Chair of Health Information & Management Systems Society (HiMSS) Asia Pacific Governance Council
• Board Member, Victoria Legal Aid
• Principal and Director Red Mosaic Pty Ltd

BA MDisRes

Appointed to the Eastern Health board 1 July 2019

Current professional positions

• Immediate Past President, Industrial Relations Society of Victoria
• Committee Member, Resolution Institute Mediation PDG

Sue Emery is passionate about patient and family centred care. She wants all patients and families to feel that they have a voice and role in the circle of care that leads to the best outcomes for the patient.

Sue’s health care journey started over 40 years ago when her youngest sister was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis (CF). An interest in making a difference was sparked and she became a Medical Laboratory Scientist in Haematology and Blood Bank. She has worked at a number of public hospitals including Box Hill and Maroondah.

Following the birth of her son (1994) with CF she stepped up her CF volunteer work, which includes peer support, public speaking, advocacy and research, fundraising.
Sue is a member and speaker for the Health Issues Centre and on the Eastern Health Consumer Register and Expert Blood Transfusion Committee as a Consumer representative.

Sue feels her strong connection with Eastern Health as a previous staff member and patient, her local community involvement and her many years of experience as a carer is a useful combination for her role on the Eastern Health Community Advisory Committee.

Raj Liskaser is a General Nurse by profession, having completed her training at St Vincent’s Public Hospital in Fitzroy, Melbourne, in 1986, followed by a Bachelor of Applied Science in Nursing. During the course of her employment, Raj’s passion for ensuring that patients received the highest quality of healthcare during hospital admission led her to be involved in various committees, such as Policy and Procedure and Quality Assurance.

During her time at St Vincent’s, Raj was appointed Associate Nurse Unit Manager in addition to being in charge of the Peritoneal Dialysis Unit. In this role, she managed all aspects of the department while striving to deliver high-quality care to over 40 patients. Additionally, she found herself involved in advocating for each patient’s needs, conducting research into improving patient care during and after hospitalisation, and educating culturally and linguistically diverse patients and their families. In the last 17 years, Raj has been actively involved in representing her children’s school community in positions of Year Level Liaison and Class Representative - roles which required her to bridge the gap of communication between parents and the administration board. She has also been the Director of Liskaser Medical Services for the last 20 years. Raj has also been a member of the Clinical Deterioration Expert Advisory Committee since 2016, and is currently also a member of the Consumer Advisory Committee and the Quality Account Advisory Group of Eastern Health.

Having a thorough understanding of the healthcare system and the impact it has on the wider community - especially its effect on various cultural groups - Raj believes that her own multicultural background, professional training and management skills will allow her to serve the community and contribute to the committee to the best of her abilities.

David Plunkett joined Eastern Health in 2002 and in February 2010 was appointed to the role of Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer. In addition to this role, David was also appointed as Executive Director of Acute Health in May 2013, where he held both positions until September 2016 when he was appointed as Chief Executive, Eastern Health. Previously, David has held senior roles at Epworth Richmond and Latrobe Regional Hospitals. He holds a Master of Business Administration and is a surveyor with the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards. He is a registered nurse with post graduate clinical qualifications.

A first generation Australian, born to Italian immigrants, Joanne is a qualified diagnostic radiographer and ultra-sonographer by profession. She has worked in both the public and private health sectors in several senior roles. Whilst raising her 2 children she became actively involved in her children’s school communities, having had various roles ranging from President of Parents Association , year level representative to year level liaison. She was also a fund raising coordinator, raising funds for Jesuit Missions  

Joanne is a director and owner of a family run business in the healthcare sector. .Currently, she also holds the position of international liaison and is a board member of the Family Advisory Board for  her son’s college in the USA.

Being a member of the CAC allows her to serve the Eastern Health community and Joanne is honoured to be able to contribute to help Eastern Health  provide and achieve  the best in Healthcare .

Zoe Simmons is an award-winning journalist, speaker, author and disability advocate who’s been published hundreds of times around the globe—including by News.com.au, New York Post, POPSUGAR, Daily Mail, New Idea, That’s Life and more. Zoe runs an SEO copywriting and editing business, where she helps businesses find their perfect word, particularly in the health and disability space.

A passionate disability advocate, Zoe lives with chronic pain and fatigue, thanks to fibromyalgia and undiagnosed adenomyosis, as well as bipolar, autism and anxiety. Zoe candidly writes and speaks about her experiences with disability to raise awareness, smash stigma, create change, and help others know they aren't alone. She uses her lived experience to ensure disabled perspectives are represented throughout the healthcare system, particularly those with invisible and dynamic disabilities.

Zoe made her speaker debut at the 2021 National Young Writers’ Festival, before speaking at the 2022 National Youth Disability Summit, a headspace panel on mental health allyship, and the 2022 National Young Writers' Festival. She was also a keynote speaker at the 2023 National Youth Disability Summit, where she spoke about medical gaslighting and late diagnosis of disability. Since then, she's also appeared on a number of podcasts, as well as radio and TV--including an episode of the BBC's World's Deadliest Weather on surviving bushfires, and a Channel 10 segment about the great resignation and working with pain.

Stephen has a long career in public health, health promotion and community development in private, public and not for profit organisations.

He ran his own national Corporate Health business before joining a multi-national health services organisation and then consulting within the health services sector.

He worked in the organ and tissue donation sector and then worked for the YMCA for nearly 10 years. He had various roles including stints as Chief Executive for YMCA Victoria and for YMCA NSW before joining the national YMCA Australia in an advocacy role.

He is currently a public health consultant and works with the Alannah & Madeline Foundation in their advocacy efforts. In 2018 he was responsible for integrating Dolly's Dream into the Foundation.

Dilnaz Billimoria, a woman of colour, migrated to Melbourne 20 years ago. Having lived and worked in India, Middle East, and other countries, she considers herself a global citizen. Dilnaz has done her MBA, specialising in marketing and finance, and has worked for over 30 years in banking and finance.

Dilnaz's interest in Multiculturalism and Multifaith was sparked while living abroad and she has continued her passionate volunteering over decades. Having always lived in Whitehorse, she is familiar with the evolving demographics of our Eastern Catchment, works closely with Culturally And Linguistically Diverse [CALD] Communities and Interfaith Networks.

She is on the Board of Governance of Women’s Health East, Committee of Communities Council On Ethnic Issues [CCOEI], Elder Abuse Strategic Advisory Group, and others. Dilnaz is an active volunteer with Eastern Community Legal Centre; Interfaith Networks of Whitehorse, Manningham, Boroondara; Engaging Communities in Democracy with Parliament of Victoria, Whitehorse Manningham Libraries, Local Government Committees, Swinburne and Deakin Universities.

Dilnaz has been recognised for her achievements with Excellence in Service to Multicultural Communities Award 2020, Victoria Police Multicultural Award 2020, Chisholm Volunteering Award 2019.

Bill Bennett has a professional background as an industrial chemist under multi-national companies and an owner and director of a small business.

His interest in community involvement is reflected through his current involvement with the local Lions International Service Club and the Men’s Shed organization. He was elected as Councillor to Whitehorse Council in 2012 and as Mayor in 2019. At the time he represented Council on various committees including the Eastern Regional Group of Councils and chaired the Whitehorse Reconciliation Advisory Committee.

In 2014, Bill was diagnosed with Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and underwent extensive chemotherapy treatment. As a part of an ageing demographic, the experience galvanized him to aim for the best possible health outcomes for everyone in the community. As a member of the community, he aims to feed in relevant information and experiences from the wider community to assist the board with their decision making.

“As a recent breast cancer survivor (2015) and a carer of elderly parents, I decided to re-evaluate my life and focus on matters that are important to me. I changed from being career ambitious to being life ambitious and wanted to utilise my varied skills and knowledge in assisting the community to achieve better outcomes. Living in the Eastern Health catchment area led me to keep an eye open for potential opportunities with this organisation. To my delight, I spotted an ad inviting members join the Community Advisory Committee. The opportunity to provide community input and support a healthcare organisation in providing patients and their families with superior service was too hard to resist.”

Irene is an autonomous self-starter and hands on strategist who is motivated to work with people to unpack and solve meaningful problems.  A senior professional specialising in project management and business analysis, Irene empathises the customer’s journey through their lenses and collaborates with people of diverse capabilities to improve customer’s experience (i.e. keep it simple). 

She is particularly interested in community engagement and social justice.  She believes everyone can make the world 1% better every day by making conscious decisions with respect and dignity and understanding its impacts. 

Identifying as a queer Asian migrant, Irene is aware of individuals’ intersectionality and the challenges that may come with it.  She is currently involved in multiple diversity and inclusion initiatives within and outside of work.  Privately, she enjoys walks with her partner, the outdoors, sports and reading. 

Daniel is an executive with extensive strategic and operational leadership experience in corporate services and business transformation, and more specifically in project delivery across the Victorian Government on major reform programs including the National Disability Insurance Scheme, criminal justice, and fire services.

He has delivered on establishment functions and value-added propositions across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors in the industries of education, human services, justice and emergency management; providing Daniel with the ability to look at Eastern Health’s community participation agenda from different viewpoints.

Daniel is a second-generation Australian of Chinese descent and has been active in the Chinese Christian community for over 30 years and is also a long-term supporter of the Australian Red Cross.

Daniel is excited to have the opportunity to bring his professional, community and cultural knowledge to support the important work of Eastern Health’s Community Advisory Committee.

Jean has lived in the region serviced by Eastern Health since 1993 and has been a consumer of the services of Eastern Health in various ways across this time. She also has diverse experience in the health sector through work and volunteer activities.

She has worked as an Occupational Therapist in various settings including hospital, schools, and other services with people across the lifespan. She has been a trained volunteer Breastfeeding Counsellor with the Australian Breastfeeding Association for more than 20 years whilst she has been raising her four children 

Jean is very interested in the health and well-being of all people across the lifespan and how systems can work to bring about the best health outcomes for all people. Being part of this committee would help her to make a contribution in this area