Board
The Australian Self-Care Alliance is a collaboration between healthcare consumers, health promotion charities, policy experts and industry partners.
Karen Booth, RN – Independent Chair
Karen Booth is a Registered Nurse with a keen interest in health policy, workforce development and advocating for the role of the nurse in primary care. Karen is currently the President of the Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA), a position which she has held for the past six years. She has worked as a manager in general practice and has set up systems to support a team approach to care, including nurse clinics for preventative health and supporting people with chronic health conditions. Karen is currently a member of the Primary Health Reform Steering Group advising the Commonwealth on the National Ten-Year Primary Health Plan and the primary care committees of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and the Australian Commission for Safety and Quality in Health Care. Karen is passionate about self-care because prevention is a key role for nurses.
Karen Booth, RN
President
Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association
Ben Harris
Director, Policy and Research
Private Healthcare Australia
Ben Harris – Director
Ben Harris is the Director, Policy and Research, at Private Healthcare Australia. An economist by training, Ben has been working in health and community services policy for over thirty years. He has worked for governments, professional associations and consumer groups, as well as a stint with the Australian Health Policy Collaboration where he contributed to the development of ‘Self-Care for Health: A National Policy Blueprint’, which underpins the work of the Alliance. Ben has long promoted self-care, health equity and reducing the burden of treatment. His publications include Australia’s Mental and Physical Health Tracker, and Australia’s Health Tracker by Socio-economic Status.
Linda Funnell-Milner - Director
Linda Funnell-Milner is the Chairperson & Co-Founder of Health Coaches Australia & New Zealand Association (HCANZA). Health & Wellness Coaches advocate and support patients and clients in mobilising internal strengths and external resources to support their health journey.
Linda holds degrees in Law and Education, Adv. Dip Nutritional Medicine, Dip Clinical Hypnotherapy, Certs NLP, and Health & Wellness Coaching certificate from the Functional Medicine Coaching Academy. Until recently, Linda worked as a consulting Nutritionist, Health Coach and Clinical Hypnotherapist in clinical practice. For four years, Linda served as a Non-Executive Director on the board of the Australasian Integrative Medicine Association (AIMA). Prior to being a health practitioner, Linda held corporate managerial and senior executive roles internationally, developing strategic policies on global issues.
Linda is passionate about self-care for health because “By elevating individual self-care, we enhance the autonomy and self-efficacy within each patient or client – improving their quality of life.”
Linda Funnell-Milner
Chairperson & Co-Founder
Health Coaches Australia & New Zealand Association (HCANZA)
Professor Sharon Lawn
College of Medicine and Public Health
Flinders University
Professor Sharon Lawn – Director
Professor Sharon Lawn is a lived experience researcher at Flinders University and is Executive Director of Lived Experience Australia. Her research has included a focus on the service system interface, self-management, physical health and mental health, peer work, service user and family perspectives, and addictions. She is a former SA Mental Health Commissioner and Director of Flinders University’s Psychiatry Research Unit. Prior to academia, Sharon worked in mental health, aged care, and disability services. She has led many research projects examining the involvement of service users and their families in shared care, with a particular focus on the person’s expertise and experience in self-care. Sharon is a passionate advocate who believes that human rights sit at the core of self-care.
Judy Stenmark, BSc, MPH – Director
Judy Stenmark is the CEO and nominee director of Consumer Healthcare Products Australia. Prior to joining CHPA in January 2025, Judy served as Director General of the Global Self-Care Federation (GSCF) in Switzerland from 2018 to the end of 2024. During that time, she directed a restructure and re-branding of the organisation and implemented a new direction, The Future of Self-Care Strategy, which enabled self-care to be considered an integral part of global health policy.
Judy has a background in health with a degree in physiotherapy and a master’s degree in public health. A long-standing career leading global and national NGOs in the health arena, with an eight-year tenure as head of the International Osteoporosis Foundation in Switzerland (before GSCF) and nine years leading Osteoporosis Australia.
An Australian national, Judy has just returned home after spending 16 years living and working in Switzerland. In this time, she established a strong network within global healthcare institutions, including the World Health Organization, international scientific academia and among many global health organisations.
Judy Stenmark
CEO
Consumer Healthcare Products Australia
Chris Campbell
Head of Policy and Strategy
Pharmaceutical Society of Australia
Chris Campbell – Director
Chris is the Head of Policy and Strategy at the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia. His work focuses on improving medicine safety and quality through pharmacists and has contributed to many of the major advances in pharmacists’ scope of practice, including immunisation, administration of medicines and prescribing.
Chris leads PSA’s strategic agreements, policy and advocacy work, and oversees major projects, publications including the Australian Pharmaceutical Formulary and Australian Pharmacist, industry partnerships, and standards and guidelines.
Chris trained as a hospital pharmacist and has worked across community pharmacy and industry for over 20 years. He is a community pharmacy owner, an Adjunct Senior Lecturer at The University of Queensland School of Pharmacy, and a Research Fellow at the Queensland University of Technology
Louise Hardy – Director
Louise Hardy is the CEO of Arthritis Australia. Louise has over 15 years of health sector experience, spanning roles in regulation, operations, and policy and advocacy across government, membership organisations and charities, including as General Manager of Policy and Advocacy at the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. Louise sees the critical role self-care and education can play in empowering people with chronic conditions like arthritis to improve their overall health and wellbeing.
Louise Hardy
CEO
Arthritis Australia
Dr Christopher Pettigrew
HCF Research Foundation Head
Dr Christopher Pettigrew – Director
Dr Christopher Pettigrew is the Head of the HCF Research Foundation, having joined HCF in March 2021. The Foundation is one of Australia’s leading funders of health services research, with a focus on translating research into practice to deliver benefits for patients, healthcare professionals and the broader health system.
Christopher has more than 10 years’ experience as a researcher across breast cancer, prostate cancer, retinal degeneration and muscular dystrophy. He has also led strategic research funding initiatives across the health and medical research sector, including as Deputy Director of the NHMRC National Institute for Dementia Research and Director of Research Investment at the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Christopher is a strong advocate for self-care, believing that engaged and empowered patients are essential to achieving better health outcomes and a more effective system.
Professor Rosemary Calder, AM – Policy Advisor
Professor Rosemary Calder is a respected health and social policy expert. She is Professor of Health Policy at the Mitchell Institute of Health at Victoria University in Melbourne, Victoria. She is also director of the highly successful Australian Health Policy Collaboration after which the Australian Self-Care Alliance is modelled. Rosemary has extensive experience working in and with peak non-government organisations in health and social issues. She has held positions as a senior executive in health policy and administration in both state and Australian departments of health and was head of the Office for the Status of Women in the Australian Government and served as Chief of Staff to a state minister for Health. Rosemary and her team at the Mitchell Institute have conducted the foundational research into self-care in Australia including the 2017 literature review, The State of Self-Care in Australia, and most recently, our landmark 2020 report, Self-Care for all: A national policy blueprint. Rosemary is committed to self-care because she believes it is important that consumers and clinicians ‘listen to one another’. She says, ‘the best way to change healthcare is to change how we support people to navigate their way through the system’.
Professor Rosemary Calder, AM
Professor of Health Policy
Mitchell Institute of Health
Victoria University
Randall Pearce
Managing Director
THINK: Insight & Advice Pty Ltd
Randall Pearce, MPA, GAICD – Chief Executive Officer
Randall Pearce has been a driving force behind the Alliance for over a decade, helping to establish it as a registered charity and company limited by guarantee in 2021. Since then, he has served as a non-executive director, company secretary, and public officer. From 1 July 2025, Randall assumes the CEO role on a part-time basis, continuing his consultancy work through THINK: Insight & Advice.
Randall brings deep leadership experience, including as the former CEO of the 63,000-member Ontario Society of Engineers. With a career spanning Australia and Canada, he has worked with health charities, industry groups, professional associations, and grassroots organisations. He holds a Master’s in Public Administration from Harvard University and governance qualifications from both the AICD and the Governance Institute.
Randall believes that the time for self-care has come. It can help us all prevent disease, manage chronic conditions, and reduce the burden of disability. Just as importantly, it can help the government ease pressure on the health budget and support the sustainability of Australia’s world-class healthcare system.